Millions toast Arthur’s Day

CONNOISSEURS may claim Guinness doesn’t travel well, but there were more than a few pints of the black stuff pulled in hostelries across the world yesterday as purveyors raised a glass to Arthur.

Exactly 250 years after one of Ireland’s most iconic figures took a 9,000-year lease on St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin, it was Welshman Tom Jones who led the tributes to his legacy.

With his newly white and grey hair and attired in a velvet black suit, the crooner bore more than a passing resemblance to the world’s most famous stout which he was honouring as he admitted he started drinking Guinness shandy as a child at home with his father.

The old Guinness warehouse was crammed with 2,000 ticket winners who watched him perform along with Kasabian, Estelle, David Gray and Dizzee Rascal.

The concert at the brewery was just one of 33 events which took place simultaneously throughout Dublin, including four studio venues and 28 intimate gigs.

Outside the home of the black stuff, hundreds of thousands of people downed a pint of the plain in honour of the momentous day.

Special events were arranged in Nigeria’s Lagos, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and New York and over 60 artists performed over 60 hours of live music, including world stars such as the Black Eyed Peas and Sean Paul.

Guinness-mania has truly gripped the globe with more than 11,000 people on social networking site Facebook calling for Arthur’s Day to become a national annual holiday and An Post printing a commemorative stamp in honour of Arthur Guinness, as was done for the 200th anniversary in 1959.

Even embattled Taoiseach Brian Cowen took a break from pondering the financial crisis to enjoy a pint, though he told reporters he was too busy to enjoy more than one.

“I can’t stay for as long as I’d like, unfortunately. I don’t have the time. I’m working too hard.” he said.