Barack Obama’s college days

New pictures of Barack Obama have come to light which show the US President-elect playing a rather different role. Dating back to his first year in college, the snaps show 'Barry' posing Jimi Hendrix- style in a straw hat, wearing the wide collared shirt that was then fashionable, and smoking a cigarette.

The photographs were taken by aspiring photographer Lisa Jack in 1980. On meeting Obama in the canteen at his university in Los Angeles, Jack recalls she thought he was "really cute" and asked him to pose for her. He arrived for the shoot in a leather jacket, and "was very charismatic, even then".

Jack found the negatives from the photo shoot earlier this year, but was concerned they might be used in attacks by his rivals, so kept them locked in a safety deposit box in her basement during the presidential campaign. It was only yesterday, to mark the naming of Obama as Time magazine's 'Person of the Year', that she released them.

Obama will doubtless be glad of Lisa Jack's forethought. He has worked hard to bolster a statesmanlike image, even appearing on one podium where the traditional eagle logo was reworked with the phrase
Vero Possumus - the Latin translation of his election slogan 'Yes we can'. Happily it was soon dropped.