"Why would someone with so much talent... feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?"

Tempus fugit. Madonna turns 50. Here are 50 facts about the irrepressible Madonna, a signature for the age. In may ways, Ms. Ciccone, is a visionary. But as Warren Beatty said she rarely wants to live off-camera. Why the lack of humility? Even as she acts nobly by adopting children from far off places, it's all about her.

"She is raising £1.5m for an orphanage in Malawi because "for the last few years I have felt responsible for the children of the world".

That's some burden to bear but Madonna's vanity obscures any true sense of self-knowledge.