50 Cent, broken TVs and plane food: 2019’s strangest British embassy requests

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - In 2019, there were many questions left unanswered and some of these questions were directed at the British consulate.

Britons had burning questions for their embassies on everything from hip hop star 50 Cent to verifying the nationality of a sperm sample.

The country’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) on Friday released a list of the oddest requests from Brits abroad over the 330,000 calls it took this year.

Perhaps the most petty request was one call from a man to complain about the airplane food on the way to his holiday destination, asking the British consulate to change him to a different airline for the return journey.

One hip hop fan, who was calling from Nigeria, asked the FCO if he could speak to the rapper 50 cent and demanded that the embassy shared his phone number.

A woman emailed to ask if she could buy 30 sheets of A4 paper from the British consulate, as she couldn’t find any where she was in Texas.

One forgetful caller rang to say they had left their headphones in their hotel room in France and asked if embassy staff could pop round and see if they were still there.

Another person asked the FCO to provide a television for his friend who had been hospitalised in Australia because the one in his ward was broken.

A woman rang from Qatar to ask how they could help deal with a make-up artist for her wedding as she wasn’t happy with the service she’d received.

Another woman Sweden had been invited to an event at the royal residence Windsor Castle and wanted advice from the embassy on what to wear for it.

Argubly the strangest request was from a couple in China, who had engaged the services of a sperm donor wanted to know if the FCO could verify the nationality of the sperm as British.

An FCO spokesperson said: “While we can’t hand out famous rappers’ phone numbers, collect your lost property or advise on Windsor Castle’s dress code, our dedicated consular staff are there to help Brits who run into trouble when they’re abroad.”

“Read our travel advice before you go away, make sure you have appropriate travel insurance, and if you get into difficulty, you can call the nearest British Embassy, High Commission or Consulate.”