Politicians and their hobbies

[krishna]

British left wing MP Jeremy Corbyn collects photographs of manholes

Now that's a very peculiar hobby to say the least

[Offa]

Now that's a very peculiar hobby to say the least

And corbyn is a very peculiar person

[FosseWay]

And corbyn is a very peculiar person

If you think Jeremy Corbyn is peculiar, you should read about his brother Piers.

[Offa]

If you think Jeremy Corbyn is peculiar, you should read about his brother Piers.

I have 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Figleaf]

So I had to look up if there were any other politicians with remarkable hobbies. From memory, I could only think of John Kennedy and his great liking of Ian Fleming's Bond books (yes, youngsters, there were books before there were movies).

My best catch so far: Boris Johnson likes turning empty wine boxes into busses.

Peter

[Figleaf]

And here's another guy better known for his eccentricity than for the results he achieved: Jean-Claude Juncker

Jean-Claude Juncker a également dévoilé un talent caché plutôt inattendu. «Je suis un brillant joueur de flipper. J'en ai un dans mon garage. D'ailleurs, il n'y a plus de pièces de rechange parce que je pratique des sports qui datent du XVIIIe siècle. J'aime ça, surtout à cause du bruit, j'aime faire du bruit».

Jean-Claude Juncker also unveiled a rather unexpected hidden talent. "I'm a brilliant pinball player. I have one in my garage. However, there are no more spare parts because I practice a sport that date back to the 18th century. I like it, especially because of the noise, I like to make noise".

Peter

[FosseWay]

"I like to make noise".

Thus spake the politician

Ken Livingstone, erstwhile mayor of London and left-wing politician who makes Corbyn look centrist, apparently keeps newts.

[chrisild]

Konrad Adenauer, first chancellor (head of government) of the Federal Republic of Germany, liked gardening and particularly loved roses. He also found boccia (a game similar to boule/pétanque) fascinating. He learned it in Italy when he was about 80 (Adenauer was still in office then), then had a lit boccia range in the garden of his private house in Rhöndorf, and even in the park of Palais Schaumburg, the chancellor's office in Bonn.

And then ... this may not be a hobby, but president Walter Scheel once recorded a folk song about horse carriages (Hoch auf dem gelben Wagen) which became pretty popular and was in the single charts for several weeks. Meh.

[krishna]

Konrad Adenauer, first chancellor (head of government) of the Federal Republic of Germany, liked gardening and particularly loved roses. He also found boccia (a game similar to boule/pétanque) fascinating. He learned it in Italy when he was about 80 (Adenauer was still in office then), then had a lit boccia range in the garden of his private house in Rhöndorf, and even in the park of Palais Schaumburg, the chancellor's office in Bonn.

Even the first indian PM, Mr. Nehru, was a rose lover (rose flower), He wore a red rose flower daily to mark the life lived with his then late Wife, Ms. Kamala Nehru, who passed away in 1938

[eurocoin]

If you think Jeremy Corbyn is peculiar, you should read about his brother Piers.

A true hero 

https://d3shap7zclwtek.cloudfront.net/geenstijl/media/2023/07/31/asset-5590170-1690803991065993.mp4

[chrisild]

That hero is a weirdo indeed.   Background: This - quoting Wikipedia - "climate change denier, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist" went into a cashless store (Aldi somewhere in London, I think) and wanted to buy strawberries using cash.

Have I mentioned this is a cashless store? Now in my opinion, stores should be obliged to accept various means of payment including cash. But I surely hope this is not a hobby for him ...

[Figleaf]

It must be a hobby. He ate only one strawberry and traded his duplicates for smiles and applause.

I wonder why the lady didn't pay for the strawberries herself and pocket the cash.

Peter

[krishna]

That hero is a weirdo indeed.   Background: This - quoting Wikipedia - "climate change denier, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist" went into a cashless store (Aldi somewhere in London, I think) and wanted to buy strawberries using cash.

Have I mentioned this is a cashless store? Now in my opinion, stores should be obliged to accept various means of payment including cash. But I surely hope this is not a hobby for him ...

Although gone a bit cuckoo, in this instance, he has proven to be a worth cog in propagating the use of coins and has in turn promoted numismatics unintentionally
All hail cuckoos of the Corbyn cuckoodom

[chrisild]

Hmm, I wonder what this guy does in front of a vending machine that only accepts card payments ...   Yes, I realize that this may be another one of his hobbies and is therefore perfectly suitable for this topic. And as I wrote, I applaud "cash (too) please" campaigns. But in my opinion, performing such a disgruntled weirdo show is not helpful ...

Funny by the way - in the city where I live, we have a store that is open 24/7, is not staffed but full of vending machines. The kind that you also find at train stations, except they do not sell drinks and candies only but also ramen (to be heated up at home) and hygiene articles, not sure what else. All these machines accept both cash and cards. It can be done.

The former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing loved 18c art, porcelain and furniture. And Helmut Schmidt, former German chancellor, liked ... cigarettes? Yeah, definitely.   But he also enjoyed playing piano and organ, and apparently did it pretty well. (All the more tragic that in his last years he could hardly hear any more.)