Today, January 8^th, is a big day for birthdays and a celebration for fans of rock n roll’s greatest and most influential icon, Elvis Presley. It’s hard to exaggerate how big Elvis was – and I’m not just talking about hamburgers and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches here! He was a music phenomenon and it is highly unlikely that modern music would be what it is now had he not lived. The Beatles were massively influenced by the early Elvis and John Lennon once said “Before Elvis there was nothing”.

Had he survived, Elvis would have been 81 today although there are plenty of people who believe he still does judging by sales of the “Elvis lives!” T shirts. Mind you, some folk still believe that the world is flat and the United Kingdom is a world power!

One of England’s most influential and talented music artists, David Bowie, who set many a music and fashion trend in the 1970’s and 1980’s and continues to do so, shares a birthday with the King as does the scientist and genius Professor Stephen Hawking.

Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from now on since today is also the birthday of Kim Jong-un, the chubby-chopped, bad-hair-day, megalomaniac leader of North Korea. Last week the self-styled “Glorious Leader” announced that North Korea was on a permanent war footing and a couple of days ago revealed (no doubt in furtherance of world peace) that his country had tested and exploded yet another nuclear bomb. Would it be uncharitable to hope that he chokes on his birthday cake?