The Top 10: Unusual hobbies of famous people
Unexpected ways in which notables pass, or passed, their time
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1. Painting model buses: Boris Johnson. “I get old wooden crates, and I paint them. It’s a box that’s been used to contain two wine bottles, and it will have a dividing thing. And I turn it into a bus. I paint the passengers enjoying themselves on a wonderful bus.” Nominated by Ian Moss.
2. Thumb wrestling: Norman Mailer. He claimed to have invented it. Thanks to Graham Sutton.
3. Naked trampolining: Gerry Adams. With his dog. From Xlibris1.
4. Catching flies and stabbing them with a sharpened stylus: Emperor Domitian. Ruled Rome AD81 to 96. Suetonius, who may or may not be reliable, wrote that he would “spend hours in seclusion each day, doing nothing but”. This may count more as a pathology than a hobby, admitted Stewart Slater.
5. Pigeons: Nikola Tesla. The scientist and inventor fed pigeons, and went looking for sick ones to take back to his room to nurse back to health. There was one pigeon he particularly loved: “I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.” Nominated by Robert Boston.
6. Collecting sunglasses: Elton John. He has 250,000 pairs, in case the sun doesn’t go down on him. One of several nominations from Will Arnold and Adam Greves.
7. Collecting Barbie dolls: Johnny Depp. Including many limited edition celebrity dolls. Thanks to Will Arnold and Adam Greves again.
8. Model railway: Rod Stewart. He has a 124ft fully functional city model. Another from Will Arnold and Adam Greves.
9. Collecting typewriters: Tom Hanks. If he were stuck on a desert island he would ask for a Blickensderfer Electric, according to Will Arnold and Adam Greves.
10. Writing romantic novels: Saddam Hussein. Really. He wrote Zabibah and the King (cruel ruler of medieval Iraq marries and rapes beautiful commoner), 2000, and The Fortified Castle (delayed wedding of the Iraqi hero of the war against Iran to a Kurdish woman), 2001. Nominated by Steven Fogel.
No room, therefore, for photographing manhole covers (Jeremy Corbyn: nominated by Ian Moss); collecting clocks (Nicholas Parsons, presenter, appropriately, of Just a Minute: Robert Boston); or raising peacocks (Flannery O’Connor).
There’s always one: James of Nazareth suggested “compiling Top 10s”.
Next week: Misapplied Tabloid Titles, such as the “Coughing Major” (it wasn’t he who coughed).
Coming soon: Songs with speeches in them, such as “Everglow” by Coldplay, which features a speech by Muhammad Ali.
Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk
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