I just watched an interview on telly where Nigel Farage was being interviewed from his home.   As it happened some of his books were visible on a bookshelf behind his shoulder.  Here are a few observations on the ones I could see.

A thesaurus.  He is clearly a man who chooses his words with care.  The dust cover was missing implying it is a book that is used rather than simply displayed.

A very old Bible in good condition. I am about the same age as Nigel Farage and from not too far away from where he grew up.  I had exactly the same Bible issued to me at secondary school.  It looked to be in good condition.    I would infer that someone who keeps a Bible for 40 years has a fairly reverent attitude to religion.  But it doesn’t look like he troubles to open it too often, so I doubt he is guided much by religious principles.

Who’s Who 2007.  A copy of Who’s Who would be a handy tool for any practising politician who for whatever reason doesn’t use Google.  It looks like we can assume that Mr Farage first went online in 2008.  He is clearly not an early adopter by inclination.

Another book visible is Stalingrad by Antony Beevor   – which is pretty much an object lesson in plain English.  It is a book that anyone can read for pleasure, but if you are in the business of communicating it could legitimately be set against your income tax.  There is also what looks very much like a biography of Margaret Thatcher.

So all in all, I didn’t find any of it too surprising.  It looks very much like Mr Farage’s public persona is not that different to his private one.  That at least is reassuring.

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