Earlier this week, history was made as Americans chose Barack Obama to be the country's first black President. He will be sworn in on January 20th 2009 to begin his job as one of the world's most powerful people. Here are ten facts about the new President.

FACT ONE
Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4th 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, two years after Hawaii became one of the United States.

FACT TWO
Obama's background and colour have been talking points for much of his Presidential campaign. His mother was a white American from Kansas and his father was from Kenya, Africa. At the age of two, his parents separated and divorced, and shortly afterwards Barack moved to Indonesia with his mother and his stepfather and was educated at a school in Jakarta. At the age of ten, he returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.

FACT THREE
Obama Barack doesn't like ice cream. As a teenager, he worked in a Baskin-Robbins which is probably what has put him off ice cream. Not that there's anything wrong with Baskin-Robbins. 

FACT FOUR
Barack Obama's nickname as a child was Barry. 

FACT FIVE
Barack Obama spent $3 million for a 30 minute television advert to promote his Presidential campaign. The advert was shown simultaneously on CBS, NBC and FOX at 8pm on October 29th 2008. Although this may seem a lot of money for a TV advert, it is estimated that just 30 seconds of advertising time during the 2009 Superbowl will cost $3 million. So, Obama got quite a bargain for his half hour promotional video.

FACT SIX
Barack is a smoker put plans to give up before entering the White House, a building which operates a non-smoking policy.

FACT SEVEN
Barack Obama met his wife, Michelle Robinson, in 1989. They married in October 1992 and have two children: Malia Ann who was born in 1998 and Sasha who was born in 2001.

FACT EIGHT
Barack Obama likes to play Scrabble.

FACT NINE
Barack Obama is a multiple Grammy Award winning artist. In 1995, he published his memoir Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. He recorded an audio version of the book in 2006 and won the Grammy Award in the year for Best Spoken Word Album. In 2008, he won another Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. The book that this was an audio version topped the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for several months at the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007. Link here.

FACT TEN
Every night, Barack Obama reads Harry Potter stories to his daughter Malia Ann. So if he decides to buy a $3 million TV advert to declare his intention to offer tax breaks to muggles, you now know why.

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