I legally changed my name to James Blunt just so I could find out his favourite cheese

Detailed summary

I have spent six years asking him one question.

James Délice de Bourgogne Blunt. As of Wednesday, that will be my legal name.

I’ve always liked my former moniker, Alan Pender – and my online alias, Joe Bangles – but a bet is a bet and I have honoured my end of the deal.

I had told James Blunt that if his new album reached number one, I would donate £1,000 of my own money to a charity of his choice and – slightly more extreme – I would change my name to his.

I was a desperate man. I’d spent six years trying to find out his favourite cheese. With this tweet, I had his attention and he promised that finally, he would reveal it.

Of course, as much as I am a fan of his music, I didn’t expect him to get the top position.

It all started during the pandemic when my friend suggested I start up a Twitter account. I’d never really been on social media much, but as we weren’t able to leave the house, I thought ‘why not?’.

And one night, after seeing Lord Sugar get into an online back-and-forth with another user, I decided to try and ease the tension.

After one too many scotches, I typed: ‘Sugartits, what is your favourite cheese?’ He retweeted it, told me it was ‘ultra strong cheddar’, which actually isn’t a thing, and the rest is history.

I made it my mission to find out different celebrities’ preferences. Since 2020, I have sent 152,000 thousand tweets and while I’ve had a thousand replies, my hit rate is ridiculously low.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Metro. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.