Big Bang makes light of adversity

Date: 04/01/1996

Our vote for the Commissioner of the Year 1995, goes to good old Martin Bangemann for showing consistent good humour in the face of adversity.

Having survived the slings and arrows of outrageous British press coverage (he allegedly banned the British sausage, cracked down on prawn cocktail crisps, threatened to take the green out of peas and is burly, bulky, or just plain huge, depending on your choice of reading matter), Bangemann was then accused by his colleague Ritt Bjerregaard in her non-book of being a bit of a slacker when it comes to turning up for Commission meetings.

She claimed he rarely attended at all, a fact belied by attendance records swiftly produced by Commission officials.

But was Bangers angry? Not a bit of it. At the first Commission lunch after details of the Bjerregaard book were leaked in the press, Mr Bangemann found himself seated in a corner at the far end of the table, almost out of view.

So his first gesture, as colleagues tucked in their napkins, was to lean forward and, with a jocular wave of his hand, trill: “Hello, Jacques, hello Ritt.”

What a trooper.