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From The Times
June 30, 2005

Scotch mist but no kilt or haggis

From Roland Watson in Washington
PRESIDENT BUSH will celebrate his 59th birthday in Scotland on Wednesday, the first US President to go north of the border since Eisenhower.

But when asked if he would be tempted to try haggis, he was blunt. “Yes, haggis, I was briefed on haggis . . . No.

“Generally, on your birthday, my mother used to say, ‘What do you want to eat?’ and I don’t ever remember saying, ‘Haggis, Mum’.”

Nor did he plan to wear a kilt. When the Queen held a banquet in his honour on his 2003 State visit, an old friend, Billy Gammell, a former Scotland rugby international who heads an oil and gas exploration company, also attended.

“Gammell showed up in his kilt. I said, ‘Look buddy, you can wear your kilt, but I’m not going to wear one’.” He had fond memories of Scotland.

Despite staying at a famous golf course, he feared that there would be no time for a game. But he hoped to walk the links with his wife, Laura. “Maybe she and I can walk a round together, holding hands in the Scottish mist.”

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