The green-dyed, beshamrocked global circus of drunken debauchery that St Patrick’s Day is today has come a long, long way from its roots as a simple Catholic feast day.

And even the legend of the man behind the green curtain has been wildly inflated. He wasn’t Irish. He probably never even saw a snake. He wasn’t a saint. And his name wasn’t Patrick. So what is the truth behind the legend?

And while we’re at it, how did his saint’s day grow to such epic, messy proportions?

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