The odd jobs some world leaders used to do for a living

Robert Hume scrutinises the early CVs of powerful and influential figures on the global

In 2017 Joe Biden returned to his old lifeguard chair at the aquatic centre, Wilmington, Delaware, now named after him.

Aged 19, US president-elect Joe Biden worked as the only white lifeguard at a pool in a largely African-American area of Wilmington, Delaware. One swimmer describes him as “skinny… with big sunglasses and brown hair, sporting a big smile and whistle around his neck, trying to discipline teenagers who were bouncing on the diving boards”.

In 1833, one of Biden’s forerunners, Abraham Lincoln, set up a liquor store and tavern with an army friend, William F. Berry, in New Salem, Illinois. They also put up travellers for the night at 12.5 cents and looked after their horses. But Berry drank while he worked, and they fell into debt. Two years later Berry died an alcoholic, while Lincoln turned to study law and became the 16th president of the USA (1861-65).