IMPOSSIBLE AS IT SEEMS...:

Margaret Thacher's grandson becoming American Football star (Kate Devlin, 23/12/2007, Daily Telegraph)

His birth famously prompted her to declare "we have become a grandmother".

Eighteen years on Margaret Thatcher's grandson is now prompting devotion in fans of American football as he becomes a rising star of the game.

Michael Thatcher, whose father Mark Thatcher separated from his mother after being accused of planning a coup in Equatorial Ginuea, has helped carry his high school team to the finals of the state championships with a extraordinary catch during the quarter final play offs.

Michael, who has lived with his American born mother, Diane Burgdorf, in Dallas, Texas, since 2004, was praised by seasoned commentators for his sensational catch.

In front of a 10,000 strong crowd he hurtled towards the ball, caught it with his fingertips before rolling over and lifting the ball triumphantly in the air.

Such was the unexpected brilliance of the catch that it caused one commentator to exclaim: "Can the guy run, can he catch, can he do everything? Wow!" [...]

Randy Allen, coach of the Scots, the Highland Park high school team in Dallas, recalled when Michael started at the school he still had a South African accent.

"He was so small and didn't understand [American] football at all," said Allen. "He thought about quitting, but he stuck at it."

Now 6ft 1in and weighing in at just over 12 stone, Michael is still considered thin to be a running back, his position on the team.

But he is working on it. "(Michael's) is a story about hard work, dedication and discipline," Allen said.

...he's even less European than his grandmother.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 23, 2007 10:20 AM