diff --git a/src/odf/odf2xhtml.py b/src/odf/odf2xhtml.py
index b1dbebb775..df7ce0bc8d 100644
--- a/src/odf/odf2xhtml.py
+++ b/src/odf/odf2xhtml.py
@@ -1158,7 +1158,7 @@ def s_text_a(self, tag, attrs):
         """ Anchors start """
         self.writedata()
         href = attrs[(XLINKNS,"href")].split("|")[0]
-        if href[0] == "#":
+        if href[:1] == "#": # Changed by Kovid
             href = "#" + self.get_anchor(href[1:])
         self.opentag('a', {'href':href})
         self.purgedata()