SMALL PRINT:IF YOU'VE been asked back for a coffee by a music fan on your first date, a quick look at their record collection will soon tell you if it is in fact just coffee that's on offer, or something more percolated.
Music-based dating website Tastebuds.fm conducted a survey last month on how far music fans would go on a first date. Results show you’re just getting the coffee if your date is a Coldplay, Adele or Lady Gaga fan. But if they’re into Nirvana, Metallica, Kanye West or Gorillaz there may well be more on the menu.
It may not be scientifically rigorous, but Tastebuds, based in London, asked 400 of their users to answer the following question: On a first date would you
(a) Only meet up for a chat,
(b) Perhaps a kiss or
(c) Go all the way, if there was chemistry.
The site cross-referenced answers with the respondents’ musical tastes and found that Nirvana fans were the most eh, flexible in their behaviour while Coldplay fans were the most abstemious.
Kurt Cobain drank, smoke and had a casual attitude to hygiene, while Chris Martin is a Yoga/Pilates nut who only eats organic food. There’s a lesson in there for all of us.
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Full survey, with interesting graphic, at digitallife.today.com
BRIAN BOYD
The rocky road to London
AS RYAN TUBRIDY, below, prepares to move to the BBC Radio (for the summer anyway) he becomes the latest Irish broadcaster to have a go at making it in Britain.
Several have succeeded: Terry Wogan is a British "national treasure", while Graham Norton is one of the UK's highest-paid TV stars. Stand-up Dara Ó Briain has also achieved fame while journalist Henry Kelly became the unlikely, but popular, host of 1980s hits Game for a Laughand European Going for Gold("Hard luck, Denmark . . .").
Less obvious successes include Miriam O'Callaghan, whose stint on BBC's Newsnightwas an important grounding for her. More quietly, Liz Bonnin is a regular on BBC science programmes while Amanda Byram, via the US, is a fixture on BBC1's Total Wipeout.
But the path to Britain is rocky. Many have left Ireland with great fanfare only to return a little bruised. Gráinne Seoige's move to ITV's Daybreakcaused more fuss here than there, while Craig Doyle took flak for his sports presenting, but has carved a healthy career back home.
And then there are all those ex- Big Brotherhousemates. Brian Dowling became the Housemate of all Housemates, but early gigs on ITV have dried up. It seems the streets of London are not always paved with Going for Gold.
SHANE HEGARTY
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