I invited Sir John to my social studies lesson after writing an assignment on his life. Here is an extract from my report:

Let me introduce you to this man. His name is Sir John William David Swan, KBE. He was born on July 3, 1935, to two hardworking parents and grew up behind Pembroke Marsh.

When Sir John was in school he did not have it easy because he did not have the best of eyesight. At the age of 10, Sir John’s teacher had his eyes examined.

They discovered that he had a hole in one eye and a mole pressing on the other. As a result he had to get very thick glasses. It was not until then that he was able to see properly and that was when he was able to begin learning how to read. He was finally able to read at the age of 12, but he still struggled.

He attended Howard Academy for high school and then moved on to West Virginia Wesleyan College. When he got to college they discovered that he had dyslexia, which had been affecting his ability to read. Sir John does not feel that dyslexia is a handicap but sees it as a gift. While there, the president of the college predicted that Sir John would return home and go into real estate and then become the leader of his country.

John told himself that if he did not get the seat then he could use the excuse that they were racists. However, during the vote count they stopped halfway and announced that he had won because his numbers were extremely high. Sir John felt being a politician would allow him to continue helping others which was, and is still, his life goal.

Sir John was Premier from 1982 until 1995, making him Bermuda’s longest-serving premier. As premier, Sir John realised that he had to find a way to overcome the difficulty of reading a speech when he addressed his country.

He would memorise the outline of his speech and speak from his heart and not his head. One of his biggest goals as Premier was to ensure that Bermuda’s economy would last for a long period of time. Sir John is a very humble man because he always remembers that he has achieved his success thanks to the help of his fellow people.

He believes in integrity and honesty. He says that he is always improving and his work is never at the end. He believes he will come to an end before his work does.