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President makes a beeline for JK and says I love Harry Potter
Terry Kirby2 Apr 2009
WHILE their other halves were discussing global debt, sealed inside a conference centre and surrounded by cordons of police and angry demonstrators, the G20 First Wives Club took to the stage at the Royal Opera House today.
Sarah Brown and Michelle Obama were among 13 spouses who were treated to extracts from works by Ravel, Handel, Stravinsky and others by stars of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet. The event was compered by broadcaster Mariella Frostrup and included a reading by JK Rowling.
As the women posed for pictures, Mrs Obama continued to dazzle, while Russian first lady Svetlana Medvedeva was greeted with hugs and a kiss by Mrs Brown.
The women had bonded last night when they attended the special "spouses dinner" at Downing Street, during which they were seated among an array of successful British women from business, sport and the arts.
After the separate dinners for G20 leaders and their wives were over, President Obama made a beeline for Rowling, telling her he is a big fan of her Harry Potter books.
An onlooker revealed: "He asked for her autograph and told her he had read all the Harry Potter books to his daughter, Malia, so counted himself a big fan of hers. Joanne was clearly very flattered."
Mrs Medvedev, the wife of the Russian President, also asked for Rowling's autograph. The Obamas stayed for coffee until nearly 11pm and made time to thank No 10 staff who had helped at the dinner, with Mrs Obama hugging female aides.
Olympic medallist Kelly Holmes sat next to the President's wife at the dinner and gave her tips to help Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics.
Actress Ruth Jones, who plays Nessa in Gavin and Stacey, was the comic hit of the party, revealing to laughter that she initially threw away her invitation after seeing the date on it and assuming it was an April Fool joke.
Chef Jamie Oliver, who produced both meals, greeted her with the words: "I should've known you'd be here!" He and his apprentices from his Fifteen restaurant joined the party later, still wearing their chef's whites.
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was later seen deep in conversation with supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Speaking on GMTV, today Dame Kelly said Mrs Obama was "really warm, open and honest''.
She said: "Michelle walks in and she is as she seems. They were having fun about my arms -(Michelle) saying 'Oh my God, I can't believe you sat me next to this lady with, you know, her big arms, this athlete.' So it was brilliant."
Another dinner guest, Martha Lane Fox, the internet entrepreneur, posted on Twitter: ''Not sure how you even begin 2 update what i feel at moment, most overwhelming and surreal night of my life.''
Table One
Emma Freud, broadcaster; Margarita Zavala, First Lady of Mexico, accompanied by an interpreter; Dame Kelly Holmes, Olympic gold medallist; Michelle Obama, First Lady of the USA; JK Rowling, Harry Potter author; Kim Yoon-ok, First Lady of Korea, accompanied by an interpreter; Sarah Brown, wife of the Prime Minister; Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, accompanied by an interpreter.
Table Two
Martha Lane Fox, businesswoman; Dr Ani Bambang Yudhoyono, First Lady of Indonesia; Harriet Harman, deputy leader of the Labour Party; Laureen Harper, wife of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Gail Rebuck, chief executive of Random House publishers; Margarida Barroso, wife of Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission; Naomi Campbell, model; Emine Erdogan, wife of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by an interpreter.
Table Three
Gurinder Chadha, film director; Gursharan Kaur, wife of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; Maggie Darling, wife of Chancellor Alistair Darling; Chikako Aso, wife of Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, accompanied by an interpreter; Ruth Jones, actress; Therese Rein, wife of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd; Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, athlete; Anne Sinclair Strauss-Kahn, wife of International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Table Four
Jasvinder Sanghera, campaigner against forced marriage; Pauline Macaulay, writer; Ban Soon-taek, wife of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon;
Dr Tanya Byron, psychologist and child expert; Dame Gail Ronson, charity fundraiser; Dr Pimpen Vejjajiva, wife of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, accompanied by an interpreter; Baroness Royall, leader of the House of Lords; Ngozi Okanji-Iweala, managing director at the World Bank.
Reader views (2)
Dear me! I'd have asked the First Wives beforehand who they would like to sit down to dinner with in London and tried to arrange it for them.
Oh well, at least the campaigner against forced marriage didn't sit at the same table as the Indian First Wife.
- Janet, London, 02/04/2009 13:01
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What a strange bunch of 'top British female' guests. Naomi Campbell? Why on EARTH? JK Rowling? Ruth Jones? Good grief, no wonder everyone thinks the UK is finished. And I pity the poor people who got stuck next to Harriet Harman - that must have been ghastly.
Seriously, there is so much female talent in the UK in business, in science, the arts and in sport - there really appears to have been a 'scraping the bottom of the barrel' mentality here. Kelly Holmes and Tanni Grey-Thompson seem to be about the only pair worthy of the soubriquet 'top talent'.
- Jane, London, 02/04/2009 11:58
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