Look up Andrew in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Andrew is the English form of a given name and surname common in many countries. Alternatives include André, Andrey, Andrei, Andrzej, Andrej, András, Andrés, Andrius, Andreas, Andreu, Anders, Antero and Endrew. ‘Andrew’ is a common name in English-speaking countries. In the 1990s it was among the top ten most popular names for boys in those countries.^[3] In Italian, the equivalent to "Andrew" is "Andrea", though "Andrea" is feminine in most other languages. Andrew is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew".

The word is derived from the Greek: Ανδρέας, Andreas,^[4] itself related to Ancient Greek: ἀνήρ/ἀνδρός aner/andros, "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "strong", "courageous", and "warrior". In the King James Bible, the Greek "Ἀνδρέας" is translated as Andrew.^[5]

Popularity[link]

Australia[link]

In 1990, the name Andrew was the seventh most popular name in Australia.^[6] In 1980, it was the 19th most common name,^[7] while in 1970, it was the 31st most common name.^[8] Andrew was the second most popular boys name in the Northern Territory in 1980.^[9] In Victoria, Andrew was the third most popular name for a boy in the 1970s.^[10]

Canada[link]

Andrew was the 20th most popular name chosen for male infants in 2005.^[11] Andrew was the 16th most popular name for infants in British Columbia in 2004,^[12] the 17th most popular name in 2003,^[13] and the 19th most popular name in 2002.^[14] In 2001, it was the 18th most common name.^[15] From 1999 - 2003, Andrew was the sixth most often chosen name for a boy.^[16]

Europe[link]

In the United Kingdom in 1974, Andrew was the fourth most common boy's name among infants, and it was third in 1964.^[17]

In Norway, with the spelling 'Andreas', the name has been the second most common boy's name of the 1990s.^[18]

United States[link]

The eleventh most common baby name in 2006,^[46] Andrew was among the ten most popular names for male infants in 2005.^[47] Andrew was the sixth most popular choice for a male infant in 2004.^[48] In 2002 and 2001, Andrew was the seventh most popular baby name in the United States.^[49][50][51] In the 1980s, Andrew was the 19th most popular choice of baby name in the United States.^[52] In the 1970s it was the 31st most popular name.^[53] From the 1960s stretching back at least as far as the 1880s, Andrew was not among the forty most popular names in America.^{[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62]}

Andrew variants[link]

• Aindrea, Aindreas or Anndra : Scottish Gaelic for males
• Aindréas, Aindriú, Aindreas : Irish Gaelic for males
• Anaru: New Zealand, for males - Maori transliteration of Andrew
• Ander: Basque for males
• Anders: Danish, Norwegian, Swedish for males
• András, Endre: Hungarian for males
• Andraš Prekmurian for males
• Andraž: Slovene for males
• Andre: Javanese for males
• André: French, Galician, Portuguese, Armenian for males
• Andrea: Albanian, Italian for males; Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Galician, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish for females
• Andreas: Austrian, Cypriot Greek, Danish, German, Greek, Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish, Welsh for males
• Andreea: Romanian for females
• Andrée: French for females
• Andrees: Older Dutch and seldom used Afrikaans for males
• Andrei: Moldovan, Romanian, Russian or Macedonian for males
• Andreia: Portuguese for females
• Andreina: Italian for females
• Andris: Latvian for males
• Andrej or Ondrej: Slovak (Slovakia), Croatian and Serbian, Slovene for males
• Andrey: Russian and Bulgarian for males (Cyrillic and thus often alternatively transliterated as Andrey for both); Romanian for males
• Andreja: Croatian, Slovene for females
• Andres: Estonian for males
• Andrés: Icelandic, Spanish for males
• Andreu: Catalan for males
• Andreus: Greek
• Andrew: English for males
• Andric: English for males
• Andries: Dutch and Afrikaans for males
• Andri: Icelandic for Males
• Andrii: Ukrainian for males
• Andrija: Croatian, Serbian for males
• Andris or Andrejs: Latvian for males
• Andriú: Gaeilge for males
• Andrius: Lithuanian for males
• Andriy: Ukrainian for males
• Andrzej or Jędrzej: Polish for males
• Andrzeja: Polish for females; obsolete
• Ondřej: Czech for males
• Indri: Maltese for males
• In Albanian: Andrea, Endri, Ndreçi (diminutive), Andri, Andi (witch is the same as Andy but fot effects of pronounciation in albanian language is used like Andi), only for males
• Antti : Finnish for males

For alternate forms of Anna, see Anna (name)#Variant forms

Famous Andrews[link]

Saint Andrew[link]

In the Christian Bible, Saint Andrew was the earliest disciple of Jesus and one of the twelve Apostles.

Other saints named Andrew include:

• Saint Andrew of Trier (d. 235), Bishop of Trier
• Saint Andrew of Crete, an 8th century archbishop, theologian, homilist, and hymnographer
• Saint Andrew of Crete (martyr)
• Saint Andrew of Constantinople
• Saints Andrew Dung-Lac An Tran, Andrew Thong Kim Nguyen, Andrew Trong Van Tram, and Andrew Tuong of the Vietnamese Martyrs
• Saint Andrew Kim Taegon of the Korean Martyrs

Kings Andrew[link]

• King Andrew I of Hungary
• King Andrew II of Hungary
• King Andrew III of Hungary

Princes Andrew[link]

• Prince Andrew, Duke of York (1960–), second son of Elizabeth II
• Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (1882–1944), the aforementioned's paternal grandfather and namesake
• Edward VIII (1894–1972) bore the name Andrew
• Prince William of Gloucester (1941–1972), grandson of George V, was William Henry Andrew Frederick

United States Presidents[link]

• Andrew Jackson (7th President of the United States of America)
• Andrew Johnson (17th President of the United States of America)

Business, culture, science and sport[link]

• Andre Agassi - American tennis player
• Andrew Bloom, American Olympic shot putter
• Andrew Bogut - basketball player
• Andrew Brunette - ice hockey player
• Andrew Buckley - field hockey player
• Andrew Bynum - basketball player
• Andrew Carnegie - steel magnate and philanthropist
• Andrew "Dice" Clay - comedian
• Andrew Clayton - freestyle swimmer
• Andrew Cole - footballer
• Andrew Davies - screenwriter
• Andrew Flintoff - cricketer
• Andrew Rube Foster - Hall of Fame manager for baseball's Negro Leagues
• Andrew Gaze - basketball player
• Andy Gibb - pop singer and composer
• Andrew Graham-Dixon - art historian and broadcaster
• Andy Griffith - actor/singer/comedian
• Andrew Hastie - field hockey player
• Andrew Huxley - physiologist
• Andrew Johns - rugby league player
• Andrew Johnson - footballer
• Andrew Johnston - actor
• Andy Kaufman - comedian
• Andrew Knott - English actor
• Andrew Ladd - ice hockey player
• Andrew Lang - man of letters
• Andrew Lincoln - British actor
• Andrew Lloyd Webber - composer and impresario
• Andrew Luck - American football player
• Andrew Marr - broadcaster
• Andrew Murray - tennis player
• Andrew Marvell - poet
• Andrew Neil - political journalist and broadcaster
• Andrew Raycroft - ice hockey player
• Andy Richter - actor/writer/comedian
• Andrew Ridgeley - English musician
• Andrew Robinson - water polo player
• Andrew Sachs - character actor
• Andrew Sega - American musician
• Andrew "Andy" Shernoff - songwriter/guitarist for the pre-punk band The Dictators
• Andrew Stahl - television and film actor
• Andrew Stanton - "Pixar" producer, director, voice actor, and screenwriter
• Andrew Stockdale - guitarist and singer of Wolfmother
• Andrew Symonds - cricketer
• Andrew Tanenbaum - Computer Scientist
• Andrew Timlin - field hockey player
• Andrew Toney - basketball player
• Andy Van Slyke - baseball player
• Andrew Van Wyngarden - musician
• Andrew W.K. - singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, entertainer, and motivational speaker
• Andrew Wagner - American film director
• Andrew Walter - American football player
• Andy Warhol - famous Pop artist
• Andrew Wood (singer) - singer
• Andrew Towle - Jazz saxophonist

Brother Andrew[link]

• Brother Andrew is a Christian famed for his message to the oppressed church behind the Iron Curtain and for founding the charity Open Doors.

In fiction[link]

• Andrew, angel of death from Touched by an Angel
• Andy Davis, character from Disney Pixar's Toy Story and its sequels
• Andrew, robot from Isaac Asimov's 1976 novella The Bicentennial Man and its 1999 film adaptation
• Andrew Wiggin aka Ender Wiggin, the title character from Orson Scott Card's famous science fiction novel Ender's Game
• Andrew "Drew" Torres, from Degrassi: The Next Generation
• Andrew "Andy" Dufresne, from the Stephen King novel Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and the film adaption The Shawshank Redemption.

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Andrew"
• All pages beginning with "Andy"
• All pages beginning with "Drew"
• Andy (given name)
• Andre (disambiguation)
• Andreas (disambiguation)
• Andrey
• Andrea
• Andreou

References[link]

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

Andrew Cassidy (c. 1817 – November 25, 1907) was an early settler of San Diego, California

Biography[link]

Cassidy was born in County Cavan, Ireland and came to America in 1834 when 17.

For three years he and was in the Engineering Corps at West Point, under General George B. McClellan. He then went to Washington, D. C. to work for the Coast Survey Office, under Professor Alexander Bache. About a year later, he was sent to the Pacific Coast as part of a party under Lieutenant William Trowbridge, U. S. Engineers. They reached San Francisco in July, 1853, and a month later came to San Diego, where they built a self-recording tidal gauge station at La Playa in September and left Cassidy in charge. He remained in charge of the tidal gauge and weather observations for seventeen years. He also collected specimens for the Smithsonian Institution. This gauge recorded a tsunami from Japan in December 1854 and a local earthquake on July 1854. This gate is believed to be the earliest recorded earthquake.

In 1863 Cassidy married his first wife Rosa Serrano, daughter of José Antonio Serrano and Rafaela Nieves Aquilar. Rosa was only 15 at the time, and she died a few years later, on February 11, 1870. She is buried at El Campo Santo Cemetery in Old Town San Diego. Around the time of his marriage, he acquired Rancho Pauma in San Luis Rey from his father-in-law.

Cassidy's second wife was Mary Providencia Smith, daughter of Albert B. Smith and Guadalupe Machado Wilder de Smith. She was born 1858 and died of cholera September 16, 1878. They had one daughter, Mary Winifred.

In 1864, Mr. Cassidy bought Rancho Soledad, containing 1000 acres (4 km²), in present Sorrento Valley, San Diego. He raised live stock there until 1887 when he sold the property. This and other property made him prosperous.

Cassidy has held several public offices and was a member of the Democratic Party. He was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs in 1860. Kurtz was president of the San Diego Board of Trustees during 1865–1867, when San Diego did not have a Mayoral form of government. During 1871–1875, he was member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. He was also a member of the Board of Public Works.

Cassidy died from "senile debility" in 1907.

Legacy[link]

Cassidy Street in Oceanside, California is named for him.

External links[link]

• Biography in History of San Diego, part 2, chapter 12 (1907) by William Ellsworth Smythe
• "Tidal Marigrams", The Journal of San Diego History 10:4 (October 1964) by Helen Ghores
• From Shamrocks to Serapes (1995) USD Masters Thesis by Kelly Toblin O'Donnell

Boris Johnson
Prior to ringing the opening bell at NASDAQ on 14 September 2009
Mayor of London
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 May 2008
Deputy	Richard Barnes Victoria Borwick
Preceded by	Ken Livingstone
Shadow Minister for Higher Education
In office 6 December 2005 – 16 July 2007
Leader	David Cameron
Preceded by	David Cameron
Succeeded by	Adam Afriyie
Shadow Minister for the Arts
In office 14 April 2004 – 17 November 2004
Leader	Michael Howard
Preceded by	Gerald Howarth
Succeeded by	Tony Baldry
Member of Parliament for Henley
In office 9 June 2001 – 4 June 2008
Preceded by	Michael Heseltine
Succeeded by	John Howell
Personal details
Born	Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (1964-06-19) 19 June 1964 (age 48) New York City, United States
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Allegra Mostyn-Owen (1987–1993, divorced) Marina Wheeler (1993–present)
Relations	Stanley Johnson (father) Rachel Johnson (sister) Jo Johnson (brother) Leo Johnson (brother)
Children	Lara Lettice Johnson Milo Arthur Johnson Cassia Peaches Johnson Theodore Apollo Johnson
Residence	Highbury, London
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation	Conservative politician
Profession	Politician, journalist
Religion	Christian (Church of England) [1]
Website	Official mayoral website

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is an American-born British Conservative Party politician and journalist, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008. He was previously the Member of Parliament for Henley and editor of The Spectator magazine.

Johnson was educated at Primrose Hill Primary School, the European School of Brussels, Ashdown House School, Eton College, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Literae Humaniores.^[2] He began his career in journalism with The Times, and later moved on to The Daily Telegraph where he became assistant editor. He was appointed editor of The Spectator in 1999. In the 2001 general election he was elected to the House of Commons and became one of the most conspicuous politicians in the country. He has also written several books.

Under Michael Howard, Johnson briefly served on the Conservative front bench as the Shadow Minister for the Arts from April 2004 until November 2004. When David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, Johnson was re-appointed to the front bench as Shadow Minister for Higher Education and resigned as editor of The Spectator.

In September 2007 he was selected as the Conservative candidate for the 2008 London mayoral election. Johnson defeated Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone and was elected Mayor, after which he resigned his seat in parliament. With over a million votes, he received the largest personal mandate of any politician in British history.^[3][4] On 4 May 2012, Johnson was re-elected as Mayor, again defeating Ken Livingstone.^[5]

Parental origins, education and marriages[link]

Johnson is the eldest of the four children of Stanley Johnson, a former Conservative Member of the European Parliament and employee of the European Commission and World Bank, and of his first wife, the painter Charlotte Fawcett (later Wahl),^[6] the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, a barrister^[7] and president of the European Commission of Human Rights.^[8] He is the elder brother of Rachel Johnson, a writer and journalist, Jo Johnson, a columnist and Associate Editor of the Financial Times and Conservative MP for Orpington since the General Election of 2010, and Leo Johnson, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers specialising in Sustainability.^[9]

Johnson's maternal great-grandparents were palaeographer Elias Avery Lowe and translator H. T. Lowe-Porter.^[10] On his father's side, Johnson is a great-grandson of Ali Kemal Bey, a liberal Turkish journalist and the interior minister in the government of Damat Ferid Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, who was killed during the Turkish War of Independence.^[11] During the First World War, Johnson's paternal grandfather and great aunt were recognised as British subjects and took their grandmother's maiden name of Johnson. In reference to his cosmopolitan ancestry, Johnson has described himself as a "one-man melting pot" — with a combination of Muslims, Jews and Christians comprising his great-grandparentage.^[12] His father's maternal grandmother, Marie Louise de Pfeffel, was a descendant of Prince Paul of Württemberg through his relationship with a German actress. Through Prince Paul, Johnson is a descendant of King George II, and through George's great-great-great grandfather James I/VI, a descendant of all of the previous British royal houses. Johnson is an 8th cousin of David Cameron.^[13]

Johnson was born in New York City,^[14] but his family returned to Britain soon afterward, as his mother had yet to take her Oxford University final exams. Johnson's sister Rachel was born a year later. As a child, Boris Johnson suffered from severe deafness and had to undergo several operations to have grommets inserted in his ears and was reported to have been rather quiet as a child.^[1] He was educated at the European School in Brussels,^[15] at Ashdown House School and at Eton College, where he was a King's Scholar. He read Classics at Oxford, as a Brackenbury scholar and was elected President of the Oxford Union at his second attempt. Frank Luntz^[16] and Radosław Sikorski^[1] have claimed Johnson touted himself as a supporter of the Social Democratic Party, then a dominant faction in the university, as a strategy to win the Union presidency, although Johnson denies that he was more than the SDP's preferred candidate. Along with David Cameron and George Osborne he was a member of Oxford's Bullingdon Club, a student dining society known for destroying restaurant dining rooms, and paying for the repairs afterwards.^[17]

In 1987, he married Allegra Mostyn-Owen; the marriage was dissolved in 1993.^[18] Later that year, he married Marina Wheeler, a barrister, the daughter of journalist and broadcaster Sir Charles Wheeler and his Sikh wife, Dip Singh.^[19] The Wheeler and Johnson families have known each other for decades,^[1] and Marina Wheeler was at the European School in Brussels at the same time as her future husband. They have two sons—Milo Arthur (born 1995) and Theodore Apollo (born 1999)—and two daughters—Lara Lettice (born 1993) and Cassia Peaches (born 1997).^[20] Boris Johnson and his family currently live in Holloway, North London. Johnson's stepmother, Jenny, the second wife of his father Stanley, is the stepdaughter of Teddy Sieff, the former chairman of Marks & Spencer.^[21]

Journalism and history[link]

Upon graduating from Oxford, he spent only a week as a management consultant at L.E.K. Consulting:

He then became a trainee reporter for The Times. Within a year he was sacked for falsifying a quotation from his godfather, Colin Lucas, later vice-chancellor of Oxford University.^[22] After a short time as a writer for the Wolverhampton Express & Star, he joined The Daily Telegraph in 1987 as leader and feature writer, and from 1989 to 1994 was the paper's European Community correspondent. He served as assistant editor from 1994 to 1999. In 1995 a recording of a telephone conversation was made public revealing a plot by a friend physically to assault a News of the World journalist. Johnson retained his position at the Telegraph as there was no evidence that he intended to provide information that would facilitate the assault of the journalist, even though he promised under pressure to provide this information. His association with The Spectator began as political columnist from 1994 to 1995. In 1999 he became editor of The Spectator, where he stayed until December 2005 upon being appointed Shadow Minister for Higher Education.

He wrote an autobiographical account of his experience of the 2001 election campaign Friends, Voters, Countrymen: Jottings on the Stump. He is also author of three collections of journalism, Johnson's Column, Lend Me Your Ears and Have I Got Views For You. His comic first novel Seventy-Two Virgins was published in 2004,^[23] and his next book will be The New British Revolution, though he has put publication on hold until after the London Mayoral election.^[24] He was nominated in 2004 for a British Academy Television Award, and has attracted several unofficial fan clubs and sites. His official website and blog started in September, 2004.

Johnson is a popular historian and his first documentary series, The Dream of Rome, comparing the Roman Empire and the modern-day European Union, was broadcast in 2006.

After being elected mayor, he announced that he would be resuming his weekly column for The Daily Telegraph. The Guardian reported that he had agreed a £250,000 annual salary for doing so. The report added that he will donate £25,000 each towards two scholarships: one for students of journalism, and the other for the teaching of classics.^[25]

Political career[link]

After having been defeated in Clwyd South in the 1997 general election, Johnson was elected MP for Henley, succeeding Michael Heseltine, in the 2001 General Election. He described this election in his 2002 book, Friends, Voters, Countrymen. In 2004 he was appointed to the front bench as Shadow Minister for the Arts in a small reshuffle resulting from the resignation of the Shadow Home Affairs Spokesman, Nick Hawkins. He was also from November 2003 vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, with an emphasis on campaigning.^[26]

Johnson was dismissed from these high-profile posts in November 2004 over accusations that he lied to Michael Howard about a four-year extramarital affair with Petronella Wyatt, The Spectator's New York correspondent and former deputy editor. Johnson derided these allegations as "an inverted pyramid of piffle", but Howard sacked Johnson because he believed press reports showed Johnson had lied, rather than for the affair itself.^[27]

Higher education[link]

He was appointed Shadow Minister for Higher Education on 9 December 2005 by new Conservative Leader David Cameron, and resigned as editor of The Spectator soon afterward. On 2 April 2006 it was alleged in the News of the World that Johnson had had another extramarital affair, this time with Times Higher Education Supplement journalist Anna Fazackerley. The video^[28] shows him emerging from her flat and waving to her in a taxi. Subsequently, in a speech at the University of Exeter concerning student finance, he allegedly made comical remarks about his gratitude to the audience for not "raising other issues" during the talk, which may have been a reference to the allegations. A report in The Times^[29] stated that Cameron regarded the possible affair as a private matter, and that Johnson would not lose his job over it.

Johnson stood for the February 2006 election of Rector of the University of Edinburgh, after receiving seven times more nominations than needed to stand.^[30] His presence as candidate caused an unprecedented turn-out and sparked an "Anyone but Boris" campaign.^[31] Protests included having drinks thrown over him at his first of two visits to the student body.^[30][32] Johnson eventually polled third of four, with 2,123 votes, behind 3,052 votes for journalist Magnus Linklater and 3,597 for Green Party MSP Mark Ballard.^[31] Johnson was quoted as having been pleased to mobilise the student body, but disappointed at the personal campaign against him as an "English top-up fee merchant".^[31]

In September 2006, his image was used in 'Boris needs you' and 'I Love Boris' material to promote the Conservative Party's image during Freshers' Week in universities.^[33]

2008 London Mayoral election[link]

After several days of speculation, Johnson announced he was a potential Conservative candidate for the London mayoral election in 2008 on 16 July 2007.^[34] Reported as saying^[34]

He resigned as Shadow Minister for Higher Education. He was confirmed as the Conservative candidate on 27 September 2007 after gaining 75% of the vote in a public London-wide primary.^[35]

The Conservative Party hired Australian election strategist Lynton Crosby to run Johnson's campaign. Aware of Johnson's propensity for committing gaffes, Crosby prevented him from holding interviews with the print and broadcast media in favour of radio talk shows and daytime television which asked "easier" questions.^[36][37] Crosby also made Johnson tell fewer jokes and have a simpler haircut to help make him appear more serious.^[36] The campaign targeted Conservative-leaning suburbs in outer London to capitalise on a sense of detachment with the Livingstone administration which had focused on inner London areas.^[37]

His campaign was launched in Edmonton in March 2008 when David Cameron, introducing Johnson, commented "I don't always agree with him, but I respect the fact that he's absolutely his own man."^[38]

Johnson pledged to introduce new Routemaster-derived buses to replace the city's fleet of articulated buses if elected Mayor.

His manifesto was published in sections; they were, together with quotes or general content:

Accountability

2008 manifesto: "Making London’s Mayor Accountable"...^[39]

Business

2008 manifesto: "Backing London Business"...^[40]

Environment

2008 manifesto: "Protecting Our Local Environment"...^[41]

Crime

2008 manifesto: "Making London Safer"'...^[42]

He also included a pledge to remove red tape in the Metropolitan Police Service.

Housing

2008 manifesto: "Building A Better London"...^[43]

Pensioners

2008 manifesto: "Appreciating Our Seniors"...^[44]

Transport

2008 manifesto: "Getting Londoners Moving"...^[45]

He promised:

• better orbital public transport: "One of the limitations of the public transport network in outer London is the lack of direct and convenient orbital routes."
• cutting crime by increasing police presence on public transport
• to scrap controversial articulated "bendy" buses and replace them with modern designs of the iconic Routemaster bus.^[46]

Johnson's candidature received opposition from across the political spectrum. Right-wing journalists Simon Heffer and Peregrine Worsthorne described Johnson as not being serious enough to hold the role of Mayor of London,^[47] Worsthorne noting that the "harder he tried [to be serious], the more insincere, incoherent, evasive and even puerile he looked and sounded".^[48] Ken Livingstone described Johnson as "a joke".^[49] Left of centre commentators claimed that Johnson was not suited to be Mayor of such an ethnically diverse city because he had previously made comments which they interpreted as racist,^[50] a situation exacerbated when the British National Party urged its supporters to give their second preference votes to Johnson.^[51] Johnson denied allegations of racism and stated that he did not want any BNP supporters to vote for him.

Johnson's candidacy was the subject of international interest. Germany's Der Spiegel and America's National Public Radio reported the race, both quoting Johnson as saying "if you vote for the Conservatives, your wife will get bigger breasts, and your chances of driving a BMW M3 will increase",^[52][53] without however giving a source for this; the BBC has quoted the same statement by him from his 2004 campaign trail.^[54]

Though most pollsters—with the exception of YouGov which accurately forecast the final result—predicted either a close result or narrow win for Livingstone,^[55] it was announced on 2 May 2008 Johnson had garnered a total of 1,168,738 first and second preference votes to Livingstone's 1,028,966.^[56] Johnson benefited from a large voter turnout in Conservative strongholds, in particular Bexley and Bromley where he amassed a majority of over 80,000 over Livingstone.^[57] Following his victory, he praised Livingstone as a "very considerable public servant" and added that he hoped to "discover a way in which the mayoralty can continue to benefit from your transparent love of London".^[56] He also announced that, as a result of his victory, he would resign as Member of Parliament for Henley.^[58]

Mayor of London[link]

Johnson giving a victory speech in City Hall after being elected Mayor of London.

Staff appointments[link]

Johnson assumed control at City Hall on 4 May 2008. He appointed Richard Barnes as his Deputy Mayor on 6 May 2008, as well as appointing the following to newly devolved offices; Ian Clement as Deputy Mayor for Government Relations, Kit Malthouse as Deputy Mayor for Policing and Ray Lewis as Deputy Mayor for Young People.^[59]

The Mayor also appointed Munira Mirza as his cultural adviser and Nick Boles, the founder of Policy Exchange, as Chief of Staff.^[60] Sir Simon Milton has become Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning, as well as Chief of Staff.^[59] He appointed Anthony Browne as Policy Director. Kulveer Ranger was appointed to Advisor for Transport and Isabel Dedring to Advisor for the Environment.

Political opponents questioned Johnson's judgment when Ray Lewis resigned on 4 July 2008, shortly after taking up his post, following allegations of financial misconduct during his prior career as a Church of England priest and inappropriate behaviour in respect of a false claim to have been appointed as a magistrate.^[61] Hazel Blears, the UK Communities Secretary, said that "People across the country will note that after just two months, the new Tory administration in London is in complete disarray. Londoners need to know what Boris knew and why the situation has changed."^[62] Kit Malthouse however, London's Deputy Mayor for Policing, defended Lewis and said that he had "dedicated himself to saving young lives in London", regarding his policies on tackling knife crime, and called the Labour Party "ungracious" and accused them of "dancing on his political grave".^[63] Johnson himself said that he was "misled" by Lewis.^[64] On 22 June 2009, Ian Clement resigned after breaking rules by paying for personal items using a corporate credit card.

Alcohol use ban on public transport[link]

On 7 May 2008, Johnson announced plans to ban the consumption of alcohol on the London transport network, effective from 1 June,^[65] a policy described by Jeroen Weimar, Transport for London's director of transport policing and enforcement, as reasonable, saying people should be more considerate on the trains.^[66] The ban initially applied on the London Underground, Buses, DLR and Croydon Trams. The London Overground was added later in June 2008. Press releases said that the ban would apply to "stations across the capital", but did not specify whether this included National Rail stations – especially those stations not served by the TfL lines on which alcohol is banned.

On the final evening on which alcohol was to be permitted on London transport, thousands of drinkers descended on the Underground system to mark the event. Six London Underground stations were closed as trouble began, and a number of staff and police were assaulted. Police made 17 arrests as several trains were damaged and withdrawn from service.^[66]

Forensic Audit Panel[link]

The formation of the Forensic Audit Panel was announced on 8 May 2008. The Panel is tasked with monitoring and investigating financial management at the London Development Agency and the Greater London Authority.^[67] It is headed by Patience Wheatcroft, former editor of The Sunday Telegraph. Previously the GLA investigated allegations of financial mismanagement itself.

Johnson's announcement was criticised by Labour for the perceived politicisation of this nominally independent panel, who asked if the appointment of these key Johnson allies to the panel – "to dig dirt on Ken Livingstone" – was "an appropriate use of public funds".^[68] Wheatcroft is married to a Conservative councillor^[69] and three of the four remaining panel members also have close links to the Conservatives: Stephen Greenhalgh (Conservative Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council), Patrick Frederick (Chairman of Conservative Business Relations for South East England and Southern London) and Edward Lister (Conservative Leader of Wandsworth Council).

The panel reported in July 2008.^[70] Its findings included that it had "identified failings in the LDA’s leadership, governance and basic controls which have led to our overall conclusion that the former LDA board was ineffective" and also raised a number of concerns about the value for money achieved on projects that the LDA had funded. However, on the central allegations that the previous administration had misused their powers, the Panel found "their attempts to influence LDA project decisions did not breach any rules or protocols".

2008 Olympics[link]

Johnson was present at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as London's representative to receive the Olympic flag from Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing in order to announce formally London as Olympic host city. At the subsequent handover party held at London House in Beijing, he gave a speech in which he declared 'ping pong is coming home'.^[71]

U.S. presidential election[link]

In August 2008, Johnson broke from the traditional procedure of those in public office not publicly commenting on other nations' elections when he openly endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama for the presidency of the United States.^[72][73] He later wrote an editorial in The Telegraph explaining his decision.^[74]

Resignation of Sir Ian Blair[link]

In October 2008, Boris Johnson forced the resignation of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Ian Blair, hours after taking control of London’s police authority. Those in support of this measure claimed that Blair's handling of certain events, such as the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, bonus payments and bias in favour of a piece of Government legislation left his position untenable, but critics have argued that the forced resignation makes the role of the commissioner more political.^[75][76]

Expenses controversy[link]

In June 2009, it was revealed that Mayoral expenditure on taxi fares had risen by 540% under Boris Johnson's administration, from £729 in 2007/08 to £4,698 in 2008/09.^[77]

Several expense claims for very short taxi journeys were submitted by the Mayor, many which included charges for taxis to wait several hours for the Mayor to use them with the meter running (for example, a return journey from City Hall to Elephant and Castle – a journey of 3 miles – which cost £99.50).^[78]

There are questions about whether some of this expenditure was allowed under GLA rules, which state taxis should be used only when there is no feasible public transport alternative and which ban paying taxis to wait more than 20 minutes.^[79]

Mugging intervention[link]

On 2 November 2009, Johnson intervened in the attempted mugging of a London resident as she was walking home. The victim, documentary film maker and Ken Livingstone supporter, Franny Armstrong, was pushed against a car by a "group of young girls", one wielding an iron bar. Johnson, who rides a bicycle to work, was cycling past when he responded to Armstrong's call for help. Johnson "picked up the iron bar, called after the girls and cycled after them." He also reportedly called the girls "oiks". Johnson then returned to Armstrong and walked her home. Armstrong described Boris as her 'knight on a shining bicycle'. The Mayor's office has, however, declined to comment on the incident.^[80][81]

Young offenders disputed[link]

In 2011, Johnson gave evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, comparing a 19% re-offending rate among those released from the Feltham Young Offenders' Institution to the then national average of around 78%. The chair of the UK Statistics Authority Sir Michael Scholar, who served as private secretary to former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the early 1980s, wrote to the committee's chair Keith Vaz MP to tell him the figures Johnson had quoted to a panel of MPs "do not appear to stand up to scrutiny". When Joanne McCartney, a Labour member of the London Assembly, questioned Johnson's use of the statistic, Johnson replied: "There's this guy Scholar writing me letters who sounds... like some sort of Labour stooge."^[82] Johnson later admitted that his officials told him of "caveats" around the data, but pointed out that the revised re-offending rate for the institution of 39% was still substantially lower than the national average.^[83]

Television appearances[link]

[edit] Have I Got News for You

Johnson has appeared on the British television programme Have I Got News for You four times as a guest presenter and three times as a panellist.^[84] The tabloid press, before he became an MP, tagged him as the show's star, even though he had then appeared only twice on a programme that had run for ten years.^[85] He has also taken part in the similar Radio 4 programme, The News Quiz.

On his first HIGNFY appearance,^[86] in 1998, Johnson was chided by Ian Hislop over his previous association with fraudster Darius Guppy (see below). Johnson later claimed the show was "fixed", though he retracted the comment when invited back a year later. When asked why he had come back, Johnson replied to the delight of the audience that it was "basically for the money."

In 2004, Johnson was nominated for a BAFTA Television Award in the entertainment category for his performance on the show in 2003.^[87] Johnson returned to front Have I Got News for You in November 2005. He admitted on the show that he once tried to snort cocaine, but sneezed and failed.^[88] He also hosted Have I Got News for You's Christmas special on 15 December 2006, his fourth appearance as host.

On the DVD commentary (recorded before Johnson's appearances as guest host) of The Very Best of Have I Got News for You, Merton and Hislop affectionately refer to Johnson as "a Wodehousian character", and stated that "he gets better every time".

[edit] Top Gear

Johnson has appeared on television motoring show Top Gear as a "star in a reasonably priced car" (one of the show's features). He set a time of 1m 56s in the Suzuki Liana, finishing nine places from the bottom before they changed car. While nearing the end of his timed lap, he failed to realise that he had accidentally pressed the horn with his arm. After hearing the noise he looked around puzzled and said, "Who hooted at me?"^[89] He returned to the show on 7 December 2008, spinning out on every corner during test runs, before setting a lap time of 1m 57.4s in the Chevrolet Lacetti. His potentially "disastrous" time was caused by the "very wet" conditions.

[edit] Room 101

Appearing in 2003, Johnson nominated boiled eggs, Lynda Lee Potter, smoking bans, Richard Clayderman and people who shout things like "you Tory tosser" at him whilst he's cycling as his selections to put into Room 101, with only the last of the five being rejected. He claimed that his refusal to eat eggs from the age of 6 months was his "first major policy decision".

[edit] The Dream of Rome

Johnson presented a BBC TV series titled The Dream of Rome, which described how ancient Rome united Europe in a way which the modern European Union has failed to do. A book published by HarperCollins followed the series.^[90]

[edit] The Dame Edna Treatment

Originally broadcast on ITV1 on 28 April 2007, Johnson was a guest on The Dame Edna Treatment. He rode a bicycle onto the stage and sat alongside Shane Warne, Alan Alda and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

[edit] Who Do You Think You Are?

On 20 August 2008, Johnson was the subject of the BBC family history programme Who Do You Think You Are?. He was revealed to be a direct, if illegitimate, descendant of George II of Great Britain through his eight times grandmother Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, granddaughter of George II and wife of Friedrich I of Württemberg, and thence through their son Prince Paul of Württemberg and Paul's illegitimate daughter, Adelheid von Rothenburg. Adelheid (known as Caroline) married Baron de Pfeffel, from whom Boris takes one of his middle names.^[91] By his descent from George II of Great Britain he is also descendant of all the other major European royal houses. His Turkish great grandfather, Ali Kemal Bey, who like Johnson was a politician and journalist, was assassinated in the 1920s, following political conflict in Turkey.^[92]

[edit] After Rome

In December 2008 BBC2 aired a two-part documentary written and presented by Johnson, called After Rome, in which he looked at the influence Muslims have had on the world, especially in Europe during the peak of the Islamic Empire (specifically drawn from the Islamic Golden Age).^[93] In this he investigated the current crisis of the "clash of civilisations" between Christianity and Islam, searching for reasons why Islam is hated in the West, and vice versa.^[93][94]

[edit] EastEnders

On 17 July 2009, Johnson filmed a short scene in the British soap opera EastEnders, appearing as himself in a scene with Peggy Mitchell (played by Barbara Windsor).^[95] The episode was broadcast on 1 October. Ken Livingstone accused the BBC of political bias for allowing Johnson to appear in the programme.^[96]

Documentaries[link]

Johnson's period in the Bullingdon Club alongside David Cameron, and his campaign to become President of the Oxford Union, were examined in the Channel 4 docu-drama, When Boris Met Dave, which was broadcast on 7 October 2009.^[97]

Personal[link]

Johnson on a demonstration against hospital closures with Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming (left) and Conservative MP Graham Stuart (centre) on 28 March 2006.

Johnson is one of the most recognisable figures in British politics^{[citation needed]} — partly attributable to his trademark unruly hairstyle (one exception to this trademark was during the 2008 Olympics). He is one of few British politicians identifiable by his first name alone. Reportedly, fearing that this familiarity made him more likeable and was helping his chances during the London Mayoral Campaign, Labour MP Tessa Jowell set up a 'swearbox' where any campaign member referring to him as 'Boris' would pay a fine.^[98] Jowell herself denied these claims. Johnson has since attracted a variety of irreverent names, including "BoJo" (a portmanteau of his forename and surname).^[99]

Johnson has been a frequent target for satirists. The magazine Private Eye pictured him on the front cover of issues 1120 (26 November 2004), 1156 (14 April 2006), and 1214 (11 July 2008). He has featured regularly in its cartoon strip (currently called Dave Snooty and his Pals) as "Boris the Menace" (cf. Dennis the Menace).^[100]

He has shown himself to be outspoken on issues which are treated by some as belonging to the realms of political correctness. In Friends, Voters, Countrymen (2001), Johnson wrote that "if gay marriage was OK – and I was uncertain on the issue – then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men, or indeed three men and a dog."^[101] In recent years Johnson has played down his previous support for the anti-gay law known as Section 28.^[102] and has expressed more moderate views on the issue. Once, Johnson has actually shown apparent acceptance of homosexual rights; three weeks before the London mayoral election, 2012, he prevented the London buses from advertising a Christian campaign which aimed to preach that homosexuality could be "cured." The campaign was to advertise the phrase, "Not gay! Ex-gay, post-gay and proud. Get over it!" Johnson told the Guardian newspaper that he regarded London as "one of the most tolerant cities in the world and intolerant of intolerance." He said, "It is clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers from and I am not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our buses."^[103]

Shortly after the 7 July bombings in 2005, Johnson made the following comments:

To any non-Muslim reader of the Koran, Islamophobia — fear of Islam — seems a natural reaction, and, indeed, exactly what that text is intended to provoke. Judged purely on its scripture – to say nothing of what is preached in the mosques – it is the most viciously sectarian of all religions in its heartlessness towards unbelievers. [...]
The trouble with this disgusting arrogance and condescension [of Theo Van Gogh's killer] is that it is widely supported in Koranic texts, and we look in vain for the enlightened Islamic teachers and preachers who will begin the process of reform. What is going on in these mosques and madrasas? When is someone going to get 18th century on Islam’s mediaeval ass?
....We – non-Muslims – cannot solve the problem; we cannot brainwash them (the suicide bombers) out of their fundamentalist beliefs. The Islamicists last week horribly and irrefutably asserted the supreme importance of that faith, overriding all worldly considerations. It will take a huge effort of courage and skill to win round the many thousands of British Muslims who are in a similar state of alienation, and to make them see that their faith must be compatible with British values and with loyalty to Britain. That means disposing of the first taboo, and accepting that the problem is Islam. Islam is the problem.^[104]

Three years after the bombing, Johnson told the Guardian newspaper the following:

I urge people, particularly during Ramadan, to find out more about Islam, increase your understanding and learning, even fast for a day with your Muslim neighbour and break your fast at the local mosque. I would be very surprised if you didn't find that you share more in common than you thought.^[105]

He has made a number of appearances on television explaining his article on the 7/7 attacks, saying he now believes, after having researched the Qu'ran more in depth, that it is a "religion of peace".^[106]

Johnson is known for his love of cycling and regularly cycles to work. He has been the victim of several bike thefts and has expressed his desire to plant "decoy bicycles throughout Islington and send Navy SEALs in through the windows of thieves".^[107] He introduced a bicycle sharing system modelled on Velib in London in July 2010.^[108] Since becoming Mayor of London he has cut £10m off the budget for new cycle lanes in the capital,^[109] however a spokesman said that the overall investment in cycling in London was increased to a record £55m in 2008; up from £36m in the previous year.^[109]

Controversies[link]

Stuart Collier[link]

Johnson was criticised in 1995, when a recording of a telephone conversation made in 1990 was made public, in which he is heard agreeing under pressure to supply to a former schoolmate, Darius Guppy, the private address and telephone number of the News of the World journalist Stuart Collier. There is no evidence that Boris actually supplied the requested information, even though he promised under duress that he would. Guppy wished to have Collier beaten up for attempting to smear members of his family.^[110][111] Collier was not attacked, but Johnson did not alert the police and the incident only became public knowledge when a transcript of the conversation was published in the Mail on Sunday.^[112] Johnson retained his job at the Telegraph but was reprimanded by its editor Max Hastings.^[1]

'Theft' of cigar case[link]

Boris Johnson has been investigated by the police for the 'theft', in 2003, of a cigar case belonging to Tariq Aziz, an associate of Saddam Hussein, which Johnson had found in the rubble of Aziz's house in Baghdad. Aziz is currently in prison in Iraq, having been convicted of ordering the summary execution of 42 merchants. He faces other charges in relation to the brutal suppression of the Shia Muslim uprising after the first 1991 Gulf War. At the time, Johnson wrote an article in the Daily Telegraph, stating he had taken the cigar case and would return it to its owner upon request.^[113] Despite this admission in 2003, Johnson received no indication from the police that he was being investigated for theft until 2008, leading supporters of Johnson to express suspicion that the investigation coincided with his candidacy for the position of London Mayor. "This is a monumental waste of time," said Johnson.^[114] On 24 June 2008, Johnson was forced to hand the cigar case over to police while they carried out enquiries into whether the Iraq (UN Sanctions) Order 2003 had been breached.^[115]

People of Liverpool[link]

On 16 October 2004, The Spectator carried an unsigned editorial^[116] comment criticising a perceived trend to mawkish sentimentality by the public. Using British hostage Kenneth Bigley as an example, the editorial claimed the inhabitants of Bigley's home city of Liverpool were wallowing in a "vicarious victimhood"; that many Liverpudlians had a "deeply unattractive psyche"; and that they refused to accept responsibility for "drunken fans at the back of the crowd who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground" during the Hillsborough disaster, a contention at odds with the findings of the Taylor Report. The editorial closed with: "In our maturity as a civilisation, we should accept that we can cut out the cancer of ignorant sentimentality without diminishing, as in this case, our utter disgust at a foul and barbaric act of murder."

Although Johnson had not written the piece (journalist Simon Heffer later said he "had a hand" in it), he accepted responsibility for its publication.^[117] The Conservative leader at the time, Michael Howard (a supporter of Liverpool FC), condemned the editorial, saying "I think what was said in The Spectator was nonsense from beginning to end", and sent Johnson on a tour of contrition to the city.^[118] There, in numerous interviews and public appearances, Johnson defended the editorial's thesis (that the deaths of figures such as Bigley and Diana, Princess of Wales, were over-sentimentalised); but he apologised for the article's wording and for using Liverpool and Bigley's death as examples, saying "I think the article was too trenchantly expressed but we were trying to make a point about sentimentality". Michael Howard resisted calls to dismiss Johnson over the Bigley affair, but dismissed him the next month over the Wyatt revelations.

Petronella Wyatt affair[link]

In 2004, British newspapers reported that Boris Johnson had had a four-year affair with Petronella Wyatt.^[119] The affair, which had been well hinted at in UK newspaper gossip columns, included passionate London taxi cab rides around St John's Wood during which they would ask the cab driver to insert cassette tapes of Wyatt singing Puccini.^[120] Although Johnson had promised to leave his wife,^[121] after a break-up, they had rekindled their relationship during which Wyatt had become pregnant and then had an abortion; resulting in her mother discovering the affair and reporting it to the press.^[119] Johnson was sacked from his shadow cabinet post by Michael Howard, not because of the affair but because he had lied about it.^[119]

Papua New Guinea[link]

In a 2006 column, Johnson likened Conservative leadership disputes to "Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing" and was criticised in Papua New Guinea. The nation's High Commissioner invited him to visit the country and see for himself, while remarking that his comments might mean he was refused a visa.^[122] Johnson suggested he would add Papua New Guinea to his global apology itinerary, and said he was sure the people there "lived lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity in common with the rest of us". In his defence, he stated "My remarks were inspired by a Time Life book I have which does indeed show relatively recent photos of Papua New Guinean tribes engaged in warfare, and I'm fairly certain that cannibalism was involved."^[123]

Portsmouth[link]

In April 2007 Johnson was called upon to resign by the MPs for the city of Portsmouth after claiming in a column for GQ that the city was "one of the most depressed towns in Southern England, a place that is arguably too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs".^[124]

Allegations of racism[link]

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Two days after Boris Johnson's candidacy for Mayor of London took a six point poll lead over Ken Livingstone in a YouGov survey published by the Daily Telegraph,^[125] Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, said that he would 'destroy London's unity', adding that 'once people read his views, there is no way he is going to get the support of any people in the black community'. She was referring especially to the occasion on which Johnson, as a journalist in 1999, accused the Macpherson Inquiry, which reported on police racism following the Lawrence murder, of 'hysteria', adding that the "recommendation that the law might be changed so as to allow prosecution for racist language or behaviour 'other than in a public place'" was akin to "Ceausescu's Romania".^[126]