Three esteemed physicians in the U.K. took on the noble task of cataloging every occurrence of James Bond’s alcoholic endeavors in all of Ian Fleming’s novels, giving scientific basis to what we all knew already: Bond is a hopeless drunk. Their findings, published in a “festive” edition of the British Medical Journal, showed that the only thing that slows Bond’s imbibing down is stints in far-flung prisons — no pruno, Mr. Bond? — which basically works out to about five martinis a day.
What’s more is that the researchers acknowledge that excessive drinking is generally underreported, so the estimate gleaned from the novels may have been optimistic. Not only would Bond’s drinking habits mean he likely suffered from tremors (he wouldn’t have been able to shake a martini, even if he wanted to), 007 was at considerable risk for sexual dysfunction and liver failure, and is certainly not one to be trusted with defusing a nuclear bomb. To really get a sense of what the doctors mean when they say 1,150 units of booze in just 88 days, here’s the infographic. (Larger version here.)
A few too many.Infographic: Makovsky Integrated Communications/BMJ
Were James Bond’s drinks shaken because of alcohol induced tremor? [British Medical Journal via BBC]
