Fairytale of New York's Shane McGowan started drinking aged FOUR

The band's frontman, most famous for his Christmas duet Fairytale of New York with Kirsty MacColl, will tomorrow be celebrating his 50th birthdy with - surprise, surprise - plenty of booze.

McGowan told the Daily Mirror that he started his love affair with alcohol when, aged four, he dumped his previous favourite tipple of Ribena.

"I was actually four when I started drinking," he said. "I just remember that Ribena turned into stout and I developed an immediate love for it."

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Despite a staggering drinking career, McGowan said he had no plans to kick the habit and came from a family where members often live into their 90s.

"To be honest I never thought to much about getting to 50," he said.

"Smoking, drinking, partying - that's why I've stayed alive as long as I have. And I've got better with age.

"I party my way through life."

Now he is turning 50, the singer said he at last planned to address the ever-present problem of his trademark teeth - or lack of them.

With a mouthful of bloody stumps and only the odd tooth her and there, McGowan said 2008 would be the year he sorted his mouth out.

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"I'm going to get my teeth done," he said, "Emergency dentures to stop my face falling apart."

"I might get some dentures in and leave it at that, or I might get them done gradually."