For those of you who are unaware of my Irish roots I have hidden from you a large part of my heritage. I love the music, the community – and  yes, if I must use the word, the craic.

In honour of the day, the papers covered the story that Sir Terry Wogan has been voted the coolest Irish celeb by the British public. Well isn’t that just glorious. Tezza with his TOGs and legendary Eurovision contributions has long been an ambassador for the Emerald Isle and one that the Irish and the English both have a fondness for.

However, as I look down the list, alarm bells start ringing. Hollywood stars Brosnan and Farrell take second and third place, followed by Christine Bleakley of the One Show and Andrea Corr. Finally, in the tenth spot is XFactor rejects Jedward? REALLY?!.

Well, in honour of St Patrick, I though perhaps I’d share with you some of my favourite musical cool list – some of them born in Ireland, others with Irish roots, all of them with strong links to Manchester that I’ve had the opportunity to play/listen to (PS – and I play v badly). So that if they are ever asked the question again, the people of Britain have something useful to say.

Correct answers would be: flute player Micheal McGoldrick, fiddle player Dezi Donnelly, bodhran player John Jo Kelly whistle and fiddle player Grace Kelly, banjo player Eamonn Coyne.