24-APR-1992 16:59
JAMES LEE
P.08
TRANSCRIPT B MR. CHRIS PATTEN
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PC
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LONDON 24 APRIL 1992
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it may not have seemed benign at the time, has given me the
opportunity of taking on this formidable responsibility with my
wife and family and I am looking forward to working as hard in
Hong Kong as I did when I was a Member of Parliament.
PETER SNOW (BBC):
Are you going to learn Chinese?
MR.
PATTEN: 1
I have sufficient comprehension of my capacities to know which
mountains not to try to climb, My struggles with French and
Spanish have encouraged me to believe that I am not the most
notable linguist but I assume that Alice, after five years, will
be more accomplished linguistically than her father.
QUESTION:
You are now going to hold the last imperial post, whether you call
it "pro-consular" or "vice-regal". What model of the past
century will you be looking to, Curzon, Mountbatten, which one?
MR. PATTEN:
Unlike Curzon, I shan't do the ???? on myself.