50 things every man should do
From firing a rifle to using a chainsaw and wearing funny underpants, Oliver Roberts lists them all
1. Build something, even if it's just a set of drawers or a chair.
2. Learn to play an instrument.
3. Hit a six.
4. Drive a long way, preferably through the night on an empty road in the middle of nowhere, during a storm, by yourself, without a GPS.
5. Buy a good camera and learn enough about photography to be able to take good pictures. Point and click is for wusses.
6. Develop a basic understanding of how the universe works and be able to point to an object in the sky and say what it is and explain, sort of, how it got there.
7. Fire a rifle.
8 Surf.
9. Find a genre of important music, like classical or jazz, that moves you and acquire an understanding of its nuances and composers.
10. At least once, order the most expensive whisky on the menu.
11. Drive 200km/h or faster.
12. Get fitted for a tuxedo.
13. Briefly date a woman at least 15 years older than you.
14. Paint a house.
15. Live, actually live, in a foreign city for at least a month.
16. Get punched in a bar fight.
17. Buy lingerie for your lover.
18. Use a chainsaw. Preferably on a tree.
19. Climb a mountain, no matter how small.
20. Swim naked in the ocean.
21. Never clean your oven.
22. Break a bone and/or get stitches.
23. Ride a motorcycle.
24. Get drunk with your father.
25. When you're a boy - get the autograph of your favourite sportsman and keep it for ever.
26. Have one dish you cook better than anyone you know.
27. Go through a phase when you build model airplanes, and then let your son or nephew play with the delicate things a few years later and not care if they get broken.
28. Grow a decent beard at least once.
29. Sleeping with prostitutes and strippers is for creeps and losers. But every man should buy one a drink and listen to her life story.
30. Read a book by any of the following: Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner, Raymond Carver, Norman Mailer. And if you ever read poetry, make it Pablo Neruda.
31. Buy something you can't really afford. Something one-of-a-kind that you know was destined for you and you alone, like a piece of art.
32. Have an affair with a foreign woman (study the example on the left) in a foreign city.
33. If you're older than 28, cancel your Facebook account.
34. Scuba dive.
35. Smash something with a hammer.
36. Track down a man who fought in a war. Then just let him talk. Similarly, visit the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy and walk through the cemetery at Omaha Beach to comprehend true courage.
37. Catch a fish, gut it and eat it.
38. Fast. You don't need to be religious to know what it's like not to eat for a week.
39. Ride a horse.
40 Get your prostate checked every year.
41. Eat something that disgusts you.
42. Say "I love you, dad."
43. Sew a button on a shirt in a hotel room with the sewing kit provided.
44. Teach your girlfriend how to bowl a cricket ball or drop kick.
45. Let the woman in your life (not your mom) teach you how to do something.
46. Bench-press your body weight.
47. Go for a midnight run. In summer is good; midwinter is better.
48. Eat a large burger. Then order another one, just because you can.
49. Wear a pair of ridiculous novelty underpants (ie, elephant man) just to make your girlfriend laugh.
50. And finally, flirt with your beautiful young nurse - die charming.