In December 2005, magician Keith Barry made a notable appearance on Tubridy Tonight.
During the interview, Barry claimed that he had predicted the day’s headlines a week before, and sealed his forecast in an envelope given to Tubridy. Sure enough, every prediction had come through – except one. There had been no ‘gas explosion.’ But less than two weeks later Barry was proven correct by an explosion at the Buncefield Depot in the UK.
Eager to repeat his display nine years ago, Ireland’s own Nostradamus yesterday posted a string of bold predictions on his Facebook page.
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Ranging from the relatively certain (the introduction of water charges) to the astronomically improbable (discovering evidence of life on Mars), he's certainly not taking a careful approach.
But how likely is it that all this shall come to pass?
The good folks at Paddy Power were kind enough to break out their calculators and give us their odds for this 'Keith Barry Predictions Bonanza.'
6/1 QPR to beat Man City this weekend
8/1 2014 to have the most annual days of snow on record for Ireland
4/1 Dublin Airport to record snowfall on Christmas Day
25/1 Sky News to report a 'major oil spill' in Gulf of Mexico before Christmas
25/1 The Book Of Kells to be confirmed as stolen by the end of 2015
1/33 Water charges to be applied by the end of 2015
8/1 Irish general election to be held before July 2015
66/1 NASA to confirm alternative intelligent life forms by the end of 2015
4/1 Prince Harry to confirm he is to become a father by the end of 2015
50/1 Shanghai Golf straight forecast: Scott 1st, McDowell 2nd
4/6 Sky News to report any 24 hour+ postal strike by the end of 2015
And if you're wondering about an accumulator, the combined odds are 56,492,486,686/1.
Unfortunately, Paddy Power have assured us that numbers don't go that high. But they have generously offered a tenner bet at 1000/1 in aid of the Special Olympics.
Now we'll just have to wait and see how reliable Keith Barry really is.
