Fairytale comes true as Shane hits 50

Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan will celebrate his 50th birthday tomorrow – an age he, along with many fans, never thought he would reach.

He told the Daily Mirror: “To be honest, I never thought too much about getting to 50. But if everyone keeps making bets that you are going to die at 4.30 tomorrow afternoon, you just tend to think ’F*** it, I’m not going to die as long as those f****** are alive’.”

The singer is well known for his love of booze – MacGowan claims that he started drinking at the age of four. He even says that alcohol helps his voice as it “greases the whistle”.

MacGowan told the newspaper: “Smoking, drinking, partying – that’s why I’ve stayed alive as long as I have.”

He was pictured in the papers partying with Kate Moss on Thursday night.

The paper reported that the singer will spend Christmas with his long-term girlfriend Victoria Clarke and his parents in Ireland.

The Pogues’ Christmas song, 'Fairytale Of New York', hit the headlines this month when BBC Radio 1 decided to bleep out the word “faggot”.

After listeners complained about the station editing the 20-year-old song, Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt reversed the decision.

The song was a duet with Kirsty MacColl, who died in 2000, and it reached number four in the singles chart yesterday.

Her mother defended the lyrics, saying MacGowan had written “the most beautiful song” and the words were just the way the characters spoke.

Other celebrities with birthdays on December 25 include singer Annie Lennox, former footballer Gary McAllister, The Cranberries guitarist Noel Hogan, and cricketer Marcus Trescothick.