What No Popcorn?
As usual custom among visiting dignitaries to the White House, Prime Minister Brown and President Obama exchanged gifts this week as a token of our good relations. PM Brown presented Obama with a pen holder fashioned from the oak timber of HMS Gannet, a Navy vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off Aftica. He also gave the President a framed commissioning paper for the HMS Resolute, a Royal Navy ship that came to symbolize our relations when it was rescued by the US and given to Queen Victoria. He also gave our President a first edition of Martin Gilbert’s seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill.
President Obama gave the Prime Minister a DVD of Star Wars. Actually, it was part of a 24 DVD package that he bought on E-Bay. PM Brown’s reaction to this gift is not known although he is not known as a movie buff.