BRITISH AMBASSADOR Julian King presented a distinctly informal image to schoolchildren as he arrived in an open-necked shirt and an eight-year-old car – albeit a Jaguar – at St Anne’s School in south Co Dublin yesterday.
The ambassador spent a relaxed few hours at the school kicking a rugby ball – ultimately successfully – between poles held in place by pupils. He also appeared to hugely enjoy the children’s Gaelic version of the Maori dance, the haka, before telling them his homeland was a great country, with many high achievers and Nobel laureates. But he said, it had nothing to compare with Jedward.
Pressed by The Irish Times to reveal if he was in fact a fan of the brothers from The X-Factor, the ambassador revealed he was first and foremost a diplomat: “I was telling the children there are lots and lots of good things about British music, sort of seven or eight of the top 10 worldwide last year were British. But I said we didn’t have anything to compare with Jedward,” he said smiling.
The visit was part of a Windows on the World project being run by the local Lions Club, Bray Chamber and the St Patrick’s Festival committee. Over the week, the ambassadors of 17 states have visited schools in the Bray area. Ambassadors from Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium and India were among those who met schoolchildren.
In turn, the pupils will now decorate a shop window on Bray’s Main Street in the colours of their visitor’s country. The ambassadors are also meeting Bray Town Council, which is promoting the area for foreign direct investment.
