If you told Sir Ian Botham five years ago he would be visiting Newcastle as UK trade envoy, he would have laughed. But it turns out former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson thought the English cricket legend could put his international experience to another use.
"When I got asked about the job, they said 'we think you're perfect'," Mr Botham said. "I said 'why is that?' And he said, 'well, you speak the language'. So I just laughed and said 'yeah, okay'."
