What to give? President Barack Obama opted for a technological gift Wednesday in paying a formal visit to Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. He did add a personal touch, though. The president, who was accompanied by the first lady, gave her majesty an iPod loaded with video footage and photographs of the queen’s 2007 visit to Virginia. He also gave the queen a songbook signed by composer Richard Rodgers.
Car fixation: There has been endless fascination with the president’s limousine in the British press, focusing on some of the particularly cool aspects: It is sealed to withstand a chemical attack! It carries bags of the president’s own blood! So after “The Beast,” as the big black Cadillac with D.C. license plates is known, was flown over the Atlantic to meet the First Passenger, the British Broadcasting Corp. posted a 90-second video showing the president’s driver executing a turn in front of 10 Downing St.
Buddies: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was visibly tickled when Obama said that not only was he enjoying his hang time with Brown but he had also gotten a kick out of Brown’s young sons. Obama said he “talked about dinosaurs” with the Brown boys.
