Heads turn as Bill pops to the shops

You pop into a bookshop for a browse and you end up meeting a former American president.

Bill Clinton, 65, surprised shoppers in Cork City yesterday with two unexpected stops on St Patrick’s Street.

David Casey from Glounthaune was in Eason’s with his sons Louis, 9, and James, 7, when Clinton strolled in. They shook his hand as he walked through the door, and welcomed him to Cork.

“It’s surreal. We just popped in for a look around. He is a great man. He was great for Ireland,” said David.

The 42nd president of the US, who had arrived at Cork Airport by private jet before golf at the Old Head of Kinsale, took an unplanned detour to the city as he made his way to East Cork to attend the Ireland Funds gala dinner with Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Ballymaloe last night.

His motorcade swept up St Patrick’s Street just after 4pm and stopped outside Eason’s, where gardaí and detectives were waiting. Several armed bodyguards and secret service agents moved people back as Clinton got out of a people-carrier. Chewing gum and looking tanned, relaxed, but frail, he shook hands with several onlookers as he walked into the shop.

Dozens of people armed with camera phones then piled into the store to catch a glimpse.

Clinton spent several minutes browsing in the book section to the rear of the shop where his memoir, My Life, was either sold out or just out of stock.

As the crowd swelled, his security team decided to leave by a back door, where Barry Williams was waiting.

Barry, 25, from Abbeyleix, but living in Grattan Hill, Cork, got Barack Obama’s autograph in Moneygall last year, and gambled that Clinton would leave by the back door.

“I ran to the back door and when he came out I said: ‘Please will you sign it?’” said Barry.

“He looked away but I just put the paper in his hand and he signed it as he walked. He handed it to one of his security men, who handed it back to me. But he didn’t speak.”

By now, hundreds had gathered on St Patrick’s Street and Clinton was mobbed as he made his way to the people-carrier.

Again, he shook hands before the motorcade headed to Waterstone’s, where he spent some time browsing again.

Americans Deirdre Kelly, her brother Michael, and cousins Kiera, Grace, and Liz, who are part of an extended family of 24 visiting relations in Ireland, were delighted to see their former president.

“We were on the street and just saw him from a distance and ran up and waved,” said Michael.

“We had to come to Ireland to see our president this close. It was great,” joked Deirdre.

Mr Clinton, who left office in 2001, is the first US president to visit Cork City since John F Kennedy was awarded the freedom of the city on June 28, 1963.