Nicolas Sarkozy carries lectern to stand tall during keynote speech! - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Nicolas Sarkozy has finally found a way to stand tall - the 5ft 5in French President carried a custom-built wooden stand with him as he flew to the US to make a keynote speech. The lectern was specially designed to make Sarkozy "look authoritative and statesman-like" when he spoke before academics and students at Columbia University, New York. "The President wanted to make sure that he was completely comfortable when making this important speech, and that was the reason for bringing his own lectern," the Daily Express quoted a French diplomatic source, as saying. Sarkozy is notoriously famous for being sensitive about his height. In 2009 he attracted much media attention when he used a six-inch footstool to stand taller than American President Barack Obama, 6ft2in, and Britain's Premier Gordon Brown, 5ft11in, during D-Day commemorations in Normandy.