The Consul Official was the US consulate officer on duty when Ena Sharples applied for a travel visa in June 1965. Ena was preparing for her first ever trip abroad, to visit her brother Tom Schofield who she had not seen since 1912. Tom had made a life for himself in the United States and his grandson, also named Tom, had been entrusted with getting her there.
Accompanying Ena to the consulate along with her friend Minnie Caldwell, Tom warned the official that his great-aunt was a little eccentric as he attempted - without success - to explain her reference to a pot dog to his fellow American. The official found this out for himself when Ena returned the completed forms with Section 30 left unsigned, in which she had to declare that she wasn't diseased, mentally ill, a communist, a drug addict or trafficker, or a criminal including one involving an offence against public morals. As the official read out the declaration to the pensioner, she snappily cut him off, accusing him of prying into her private affairs, and refused to sign off on it. A stand-off followed until Ena backed down and signed the declaration, much to the relief of everybody present.
As they waited for Ena, the official had a brief chat with Tom, revealing that he and his wife had been in the country for one year, eight months and five days and hated the local weather. He also had a brief conversation with Minnie after they had concluded their business, when the pensioner enquired as to the type of bird on the wall. Informed that it was an American eagle, Minnie replied that it had a mean face and that he should take it down, leaving the official befuddled.