Inside this week | Simply having a wonderful birthday time

I’m 40 – there, I’ve said it. Today in fact, if you’re reading this online on Saturday. No doubt I’ll read this one day myself, 20 or 30 years from now, to try and remember what it was like before it all went so horribly wrong.

So, what’s it all about, Benjy! Is this, as they like to say, just the beginning? The truth is: I don’t know. I feel happy enough, I’m having a party and I’m going to get drunk … really drunk.

And then, when I wake up the next day, maybe then I’ll have some answers. But I suspect they won’t be worth printing. As that great Irish philosopher Johnny Logan said: “What’s another year?”

The three-time Eurovision winner is a fairly regular visitor to Copenhagen, and when he’s here, he likes to drop off for a drink and maybe a performance at the Irish Rover on Strøget. And to mark the first week of my 41st year, I’m going to do the same, only I’m tone deaf. So what’s the next best thing when you’re in a pub (that’s question number one of 50 by the way): a quiz! 

Next Thursday, I’m making my debut as the pub’s new quizmaster and am humbly hoping that many of you might join me for what should be a good evening. Part quiz, part live performance, it will feature a drama extracts round presented by actor Ian Burns, with more of the same planned for the St Patrick’s Day special on March 7.

I’ve been obsessed with quizzes since I was eleven. It was a combination of that scene in The Omen II when Damien recites all the dates and finally finding something I could outshine the eggheads in.

I love ‘what do they have in common’ questions, so expect some of them, especially as they’re hard to look up on an iPhone. Other special features include a written round that you’ll have an hour to complete, a final round full of multiple points questions, and a snowball question that includes a prize for the nearest answer.

Elsewhere this week, we’ve got the first of four special sections on Wondercool, a preview of the best venues in town to watch the Super Bowl and reviews of two of the biggest films of the year, Lincoln and The Master.

Something tells me 40 might be the perfect age to become a quizmaster. After all, who needs answers when you set all the questions?





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