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. 2013 Dec 12:347:f7255.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.f7255.

Were James Bond's drinks shaken because of alcohol induced tremor?

Graham Johnson  1 , Indra Neil Guha, Patrick Davies
Affiliations

Were James Bond's drinks shaken because of alcohol induced tremor?

Graham Johnson et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To quantify James Bond's consumption of alcohol as detailed in the series of novels by Ian Fleming.

Design: Retrospective literature review.

Setting: The study authors' homes, in a comfy chair.

Participants: Commander James Bond, 007; Mr Ian Lancaster Fleming.

Main outcome measures: Weekly alcohol consumption by Commander Bond.

Methods: All 14 James Bond books were read by two of the authors. Contemporaneous notes were taken detailing every alcoholic drink taken. Predefined alcohol unit levels were used to calculate consumption. Days when Bond was unable to consume alcohol (such as through incarceration) were noted.

Results: After exclusion of days when Bond was unable to drink, his weekly alcohol consumption was 92 units a week, over four times the recommended amount. His maximum daily consumption was 49.8 units. He had only 12.5 alcohol free days out of 87.5 days on which he was able to drink.

Conclusions: James Bond's level of alcohol intake puts him at high risk of multiple alcohol related diseases and an early death. The level of functioning as displayed in the books is inconsistent with the physical, mental, and indeed sexual functioning expected from someone drinking this much alcohol. We advise an immediate referral for further assessment and treatment, a reduction in alcohol consumption to safe levels, and suspect that the famous catchphrase "shaken, not stirred" could be because of alcohol induced tremor affecting his hands.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: no support from any organisation for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous three years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

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James Bond’s weekly alcohol consumption by year of book publication
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See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

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Personal name as subject