(ORDO NEWS) — There is a popular belief that weak people become alcoholics. But there has also been a ton of research showing that the famous, the powerful, and the brilliant are more likely than others to suffer from unhealthy cravings for alcohol.
We decided to remember the great people who made a huge contribution to history, art and culture, but at the same time could not live a single day without alcohol.
Clinical alcoholics are:
- 36% – famous poets and writers of the world;
- 24% – brilliant composers and musicians;
- 18% – artists;
- 16% – well-known politicians and statesmen;
- 12% are inventors and famous chess players.
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great: the famous commander and the famous alcoholic
Macedonian is the most famous military leader of all time, as well as the founder of one of the greatest empires in the history of mankind, but at the same time – an alcoholic and a psychopath. His love for copious libations was legendary.
Each military campaign was celebrated with luxurious feasts, generously seasoned with all kinds of strong drinks. Wide festivities could last a week, or even more – as long as the king wishes.
He could compete with his associates all evening to see who would drink more, and then easily stab his drinking buddy in a drunken brawl. His early death (he died at 33) is also associated with alcohol. The cause of death of Macedonian is considered to be ulcerative perforation of the stomach or acute pancreatitis.
From Plutarch’s notes: “Alexander felt very thirsty and drank a lot of wine, after which he fell into a feverish delirium and died on the thirteenth day of the month.”
William Shakespeare
Famous alcoholic writer William Shakespeare
The great writer, whose life is shrouded in numerous mysteries and legends, loved to drink throughout his life, and died of a fever after drinking with two colleagues. The researcher of the life of the famous playwright notes that this happened right on the day of his 52nd birthday.
True, this version was disputed by many scientists. In those days, typhus, popularly called the “new fever”, was actively circulating, so it is possible that Shakespeare died not because he was an avid drunkard and alcoholic, but from a brain hemorrhage.
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway – the greatest writer and outstanding drunk
The famous classic of American prose was famous for his love of alcohol, but he never considered himself an alcoholic. It is said that the famous Bloody Mary was once invented by Hemingway, who named the cocktail after his fourth wife.
Vodka with tomato juice and herbs is still sold in the legendary bar of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Paris, and this cocktail has become very popular all over the world.
In the morning, the writer liked to drink Mojito or an ice-cold Martini, in the afternoon – a bottle of good Chianti, and ended the day with a glass of “evening” Daiquiri with double rum, but without sugar.
The writer invented the Death Afternoon cocktail himself, naming it as his book. Absinthe and ice were added to champagne.
The drink had to be drunk very slowly. The Nobel Prize winner, the author of famous works such as “Farewell to Arms!”, “The Old Man and the Sea”, was also famous for his violent temper and depressive states, which, together with alcohol addiction, led to his suicide.
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh – the famous impressionist and no less famous alcoholic and drug addict
Van Gogh entered the history of art as a crazy and brilliant alcoholic. The famous artist adored absinthe – the heaviest drink, which in the old days was capable of causing hallucinations.
Van Gogh’s diet consisted mainly of coffee, cigarettes and booze. The substance thuyon, which contains absinthe, like a dope, increased efficiency, but constant poisoning with wormwood vapors led to a distortion in the perception of color – in the morning everything seems to be through a yellow prism.
So it is this drink that is to blame for the special yellowness of Sunflowers and other masterpieces of the Arles period. By the way, now many absinthe producers, having made Van Gogh their brand, make a lot of money on it. Gradually, he began to lose touch with reality, in an alcoholic frenzy he once cut off his ear.
Mikhail Lomonosov
Mikhail Lomonosov – an outstanding Russian scientist, a famous alcoholic, a brawler and a brawler
Mikhail Vasilyevich’s penchant for immoderate drinking was widely known among colleagues and served as a reason for ridicule. This fact of his biography was carefully hidden before, but Lomonosov returned from Germany as an alcoholic and remained so until the end of his life.
Later, Lomonosov became insensitive to wine and liqueurs and drank only vodka, drunkenly came to the Chancellery and often signed papers related to the Academy of Sciences.
Often, with his rude actions and temper, Lomonosov caused a sharply negative attitude towards himself, but they said that his wife and children got the worst of all. The famous Russian academician died “from an illness that developed as a result of the immoderate use of hot drinks.”
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron – famous poet, alcoholic and bisexual
George Gordon Byron is one of the finest poets the world has ever seen and one of the leaders of the Romantic artistic movement in the 17th and 18th centuries. Lord Byron is known for his sexual adventures, as well as his addiction to alcohol.
The famous alcoholic did not disdain connections not only with women, but also with men. In his diaries published in the 20th century, one can learn a lot about the bisexual life of the poet. An interesting fact is also that he liked to drink strong drinks from his favorite cup, made from a human skull.
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe – famous novelist, alcoholic and drug addict
Edgar Allan Poe is an American writer famous for his “black” prose. In addition, it is known that he was an avid alcoholic and opium addict. Due to a congenital heart defect, Poe fell into a state of enlightenment after a glass of rum, and after a second – into a rage.
The writer was also often subjected to depression and suffered from severe headaches, from which he escaped with drugs and alcohol. Alcoholism was his main vice and caused death at the age of 40.
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky – the famous composer of Russia, an alcoholic, quickly eaten by this addiction
About what delirium tremens is, Modest Petrovich learned for the first time at the age of 25. After another seizure, the doctors of the Nikolaev hospital discovered the destruction of the composer’s liver, enlargement of the heart and inflammation of the spinal cord.
The famous Russian composer, author of the world-famous operas “Boris Godunov” and “Khovanshchina” was very painfully experiencing the collapse of the famous musical community “The Mighty Handful” and became addicted to alcohol.
At 42, he was already an alcoholic with experience and looked like a complete old man. His dying portrait, which hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery, was painted by Ilya Repin a few weeks before the composer’s death.
Niko Pirosmani
Pirosmani: if the famous artist had not become an alcoholic, he would have lived a long happy creative life
The most famous of Georgian artists, Nikolai Pirosmanishvili, was an eccentric alcoholic who, for food and drink, could paint a sign or paint a wall. It was about this famous artist that Pugacheva sang: the legend says that out of love for a passing actress, he strewn her house with millions of roses.
They called him “painter Niko”, he assured that he saw the saints, he painted mainly Georgian feasts, and alcohol inspired him until he brought him to the grave.
Somehow, while drunk, Niko lost his colors, went down to the cold basement, where two days later they found him, lying on the cobbled floor. Pirosmani was taken to the hospital, but after that nothing is known about him.
Stephen King
The world’s favorite horror writer Stephen King was also a famous alcoholic
Stephen King, one of the most famous and prolific writers in the world, turned into a quiet alcoholic by the age of 30.
In the morning he went to his office with a pack of beer, so most of his successful books were written while intoxicated. According to the writer, he was afraid that he was not capable of creativity in a sober state. In the evenings, he began to drink cognac, and besides, he became addicted to cocaine.
He was not afraid to cover his problem in his works. For example, Jack Torrance in the famous “The Shining” is an alcoholic, but is trying to overcome his addiction.
Days and weeks disappeared from life, and so it continued until Stephen’s wife Tabitha gave him an ultimatum: either he immediately stops drinking, or he can get out of the house.
Stephen stopped drinking two weeks later and has not touched alcohol or drugs since. Now he is still America’s best-selling writer.
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Famous female alcoholics: Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Lady Elizabeth Angela Margaret Bowes-Lyon is the mother of the current Queen of England, Elizabeth II. This famous woman has become almost a national icon for the British.
However, she could drink at least 8 times a day, moreover, completely different strong drinks: wine, vodka, she could knock over more than one pint of beer at a time.
But contrary to the well-known fact about the dangers of alcohol and the fact that women alcoholics suffer from this addiction much harder than men, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon lived to be 101 years old.
Arkady Gaidar
Children’s writer Arkady Gaidar also made the list of famous alcoholics
His books radiate with the positive attitude of childhood, which seems to never end. There is not a single Soviet child who is not familiar with such famous children’s works as “Timur and his team” or “Chuk and Gek”.
But such a talented and extraordinary children’s writer Arkady Gaidar had already become an alcoholic by the age of thirty, he drank constantly, often all alone. Alcohol addiction shattered the already unstable weak psyche of the famous writer, and also caused the dissolution of his marriages.
In the last years of his life, Gaidar practically did not get out of depression and was rarely sober for more than three to five days a month.
During the Great Patriotic War, the writer stopped drinking and went to the army as a war correspondent. The writer died in battle under mysterious circumstances: manuscripts and outerwear were stolen from him.
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