Monday, 24 December 2007

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Shane MacGowan: Smoking, drinking and partying have kept me alive

At 50, the almost toothless Pogues star says booze does you good

Hellraiser Shane MacGowan partied with Sienna Miller and Kate Moss on Thursday night and he intends to celebrate his 50th birthday on Christmas Day with lots more booze.

'I'll just drink wine, cider and gin - and anything else I can find,' says the Pogues frontman.

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

'Booze is definitely good for your voice - it greases the whistle.'

Now almost toothless, but planning to get emergency dentures to stop his face 'falling apart', Shane claims to have started drinking when he was only 4.

He doesn't reckon Amy Winehouse's lifestyle is doing her any harm at all.

'She'll last quite a while,' he tells the Daily Mirror. 'I was 14 the first time I was busted and I'm still here.

'I think it's much better to be like Amy Winehouse than to be aged 24 and stuck in front of a computer all day.

'If you are stuck in front of a computer, you aren't actually living, you're living by proxy.'