1. He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics.
2. He was known as “O’Bomber” at high school for his skill at basketball.
3. His name means “one who is blessed” in Swahili.
4. He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father.
5. He is left-handed — the sixth post-war president to be left-handed.
6. He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali.
7. He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can’t stand ice cream.
8. He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia.
9. He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president — he didn’t.
10. He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia.
11. He can bench press an impressive 96 kilograms.
12. His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy.
13. He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
14. He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal.
15. Obama and his wife bought a house on Chicago’s South Side in June 2005 for $1.65 million (Dh6.05 million). It has four fireplaces.
16. He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes.
17. He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13).
18. He was given the code name “Renegade” by his Secret Service handlers.
19. His heroes are Martin Luther King Jr, Mohandas Gandhi, Pablo Picasso, and John Coltrane.
20. Barack Obama’s first children’s book was for his daughters and is Of Thee I Sing – A letter to my daughters.
