From the Battle of Hastings, to the pop stars and celebrity footballers and larger louts who seize the headlines today, the English have long been the drunken men of Europe. And for many centuries observers have marvelled at the capacity of the English to get bevvied, blotto, fuddled, hammered, titillated, plastered or sozzled. Everyone has been involved: drunken clergy were a scandal, and grave politicians, including prime ministers, might have drunk six bottles of port before collapsing under the table. At a masque given by James I in 1606 for the King of Denmark, a noblewoman playing the Queen of Sheba collapsed at the royal guest's feet. George IV collapsed when dancing at a party and vomited on the floor. Pitt the Younger, a six-bottle man, was sick behind the Speaker's chair in the Commons...and the story goes on. This meticulously researched and compelling book takes the reader on a heady tour of ale houses and inns, bars and taverns, palaces and clubs, to tell the extraordinary story of the English addiction to the bottle through the lives, and often wild times, of the larger-than-life characters who frequented (and frequent) them. Author's previous books have been acclaimed for their rich research and powerful writing. It is about a subject forever in the headlines, and with a long tradition. It features kings, prelates, writers, rogues - a rich and glittering cast. It brings to life the inns, ale houses, palaces, clubs, etc. of Merrie England.