Apart from the beer suggestion, which I would question, lots of sound advice, but as regards taking the cheese out of the fridge and removing any (yuk!) plastic wrapping "a couple of hours" beforehand, I would interpret that in the Irish sense of "a couple" meaning anything up to five or six hours in advance, and even more if the Brie or Camembert is not disposed to propel itself across the cheeseboard unaided.

French practice is to serve the cheeses after the main course and before dessert, and to continue drinking the red wine with it. This has the advantage that you go on taking second and subsequent helpings of each - a little cheese to finish the wine, followed by a little wine to finish the cheese. All joking apart, do circulate the cheeseboard several times and encourage people to take a small helping of the ones they're suspicious of so that they can have more later on if they like them.

I would also definitely recommend adding a goat's cheese to the main categories mentioned already, and it would also be worthwhile including something like a Boursin, which is a soft white cheese with added herbs, or a smoked German cheese, as a less conservative option.

Don't forget to stick little flags of origin into the different cheeses, you can make these out of white paper and cocktail sticks (no additional colours required).

And enjoy your meal, I'm sure lots of us wish we were there.