The North's prowess took the South by surprise, and in 2009 a suspected North Korean cyber attack paralysed US and South Korean government websites, prompting South Korea to set up a cyber-defence command the following year.
Similarly, as the Observer's theatre critic Susannah Clapp points out, the NT's faith in writer Richard Bean's comedic prowess took a while to bear fruit with his updating of Goldoni's One Man, Two Guvnors.
Botham's football prowess took him to the exotic surroundings of Scunthorpe's Old Show Ground, where he made 11 league appearances, including a memorable home debut which ended in a humbling 7-2 defeatoto Larry Lloyd's Wigan.
Focus prior to the game had been on England keeper Joe Hart being dropped but once play got under way, City's attacking prowess took centre stage.
He believes there's more danger in exaggerating China's strength than in underestimating it, but he also concedes that America's economic prowess took a real hit in the eyes of the Chinese at the time of the 2008 crash - when Mr Paulson was running the US Treasury.
As Lewis biographer Cameron Smith points out: Lewis was a prominent figure in the British Labour Party, which, in emphasizing parliamentary action and organizational prowess, took an approach similar to the Bund's.
