Would you like some..?
[clockwise from top left: Jamie Dornan*, Cillian Murphy, Colin Farrell, Aidan Turner]
Happy Paddy's Day, dear reader!
By way of a celebration, here are two proud Irish boys, showing off their quite remarkable - ahem - talents...
And here, something a bit tackier...
Myth-busting facts about Paddy's Day "traditions":
- Porter or stout is a drink invented in London around the 1720s (possibly earlier); Arthur Guinness only started marketing his brand of the drink in Dublin in 1778.
- Saint Patrick was Welsh.
- There was no real link between the 5th century missionary activities of St Patrick and the Shamrock until a botanist wrote about it in 1726.
- Scotland as whole has a higher percentage of ginger people than Ireland.
- Many believe that the Paddy's Day celebrations in March were in fact invented as a way to lift the usual fasting restrictions of Lent and provide an excuse for a day's drinking.
- St Patrick's Day parades began in North America in the 18th century but did not spread to Ireland until the 20th century.
I raise a glass of "the amber nectar" - clink, clink!
[*Yes, I know Jamie Dornan was born in Northern Ireland, so is British, but...how could I resist?]
