By Paul Robinson
IT'S a long way from the bedsits of Leeds studentland to the corridors of power in Mongolia.
Yet that's the incredible journey made by Nambaryn Enkhbayar over the last two decades.
For the man who has just been elected as the Asia
n nation's new president spent a year at the University of Leeds back in the 80s, it emerged today.
And his enduring memory of that time?
In a word, it's MARMITE.
Chuckle
Asked recently about his spell in Yorkshire, Enkhbayar said it had opened his eyes to the possibilities of life outside his homeland, which at the time was under Communist rule.
But, after waxing lyrical about the university's library and the British weather, he admitted with a chuckle: "And Leeds is the city where I discovered Marmite!"
Enkhbayar, who stormed to victory in Sunday's presidential election, came to the university as an exchange student in 1986.
He was based at its School of English, and translated short stories by writers such as Charles Dickens, Aldous Huxley and Rudyard Kipling into Mongolian.
The literary scholar and future statesman is remembered today by staff at Leeds as an "excellent student" who, tellingly, enjoyed debating current affairs.
He went home to a Mongolia emboldened by the Soviet Union's new era of Glasnost – and by 1990, it had abandoned its one-party state and embraced democracy.
Two years later Enkhbayar's political career began when he was elected as a member of his country's fledgling parliament, and in 2000 he became prime minister.
Sentimental
Leeds clearly still had a special place in his heart, though, because in 2003 he interrupted a four-day diplomatic visit to London to make a sentimental trip back to the city and his old university.
Enkhbayar's term as PM drew to a close last year, but he returned to high office at the weekend after standing as a candidate for the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.
Other political figures who have studied at the University of Leeds over the years include British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Hage Geingob, the former prime minister of Namibia.
paul.robinsons@ypn.co.uk
Factfile
Land of the Great Khan
Mongolia is deep in the interior of eastern Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south
Ghengis Khan, who died in 1207, conquered a huge empire stretching across present-day China and Russia from his base as ruler of Mongolia.
About four times the size of France, the country has a population of just 2.5 million
A third of the Mongolian people are estimated to live in poverty
The country's main religion is Buddhism
Major exports include cashmere, textiles and copper concentrate
Average life expectancy for men is 62, and 66 for women
