IT’S not every day that the world’s second richest man concerns himself with goings on in Bulford.

But that’s exactly what happened when multi-billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates shared a story from the Salisbury Journal on social media last week.

Mr Gates took to Twitter to list stories that had inspired him in 2017, with the words: “There’s no denying that 2017 was a really tough year... But it also delivered some amazing moments of hope and progress.”

The computer whizz then shared a number of news items, including a link to the Journal’s website.

The article that caught his eye? A report about six-year-old Zackary Howells, a pupil at Bulford St Leonard’s School.

He had won an “extreme reading” competition by reading a book underwater.

The tycoon’s tweet went down well with some of his 42 million followers, gathering around 4,500 “likes” and hundreds of shares.

Mr Gates then offered his own extreme reading photograph - a picture of himself reading a book while appearing to kiss a sea lion.

The challenge, which took place over the summer holidays, also involved pupils from St Michael’s in Figheldean and Durrington All Saints.

They submitted snaps of themselves reading in some unusual locations, including in Mexican caves and at the foot of a volcano in Tenerife.

Zackary said he loved reading underwater, but added: “It was quite tricky.”