Super-spy James Bond would have been incapable of stirring his Martini – and that may be why he had it shaken, doctors claimed today.
In fact his level of alcohol consumption was so great, he would have been incapable of most of the feats attributed to him, according to a report in the British Medical Journal.
The report is among the journal’s annual Christmas package of light-hearted medical studies.
It comes in the year of the 50th anniversary of the first James Bond movie.
Dr Patrick Davies, of the paediatric intensive care department at Nottingham University Hospitals, read 14 James Bond novels over six months to analyse his drinking habits. They found he drank as much as 92 units a week – equivalent to 15 bottles of wine – and up to 50 units a day.
Dr Davies and his fellow researchers say they "suspect that the famous catchphrase shaken, not stirred could be because of alcohol induced tremor affecting his hands."
Meanwhile a Sheffield doctor tells how he had to reassure a patient he would "die another day."
Dr Stuart Carter was surprised to find an agitated rheumatology patient during a ward round despite successful treatment.
The cause of the upset turned out to be a wall clock which displayed the message "DIE."
Closer examination by keen-eyed doctors revealed the clock was set to display in German and that the English setting showed "TUE" for Tuesday.
In a third study Irish researchers found a curious link between surnames and medical conditions.
While a surname may reflect a genetic trait, cardiologist Dr John Keaney from Dublin also found that people with the surname Brady had a high incidence of bradycardia – or slow heart rate. Their study found that 1.38% of Bradys had pacemakers fitted compared with 0.61% of the general population.
BMJ 13 December 2013 [abstract]
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