Frank Sinatra

In their 2005 book Sinatra:The Life authors Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan write extensively (on pages 325-327) about the singer's drinking. They quote Dr. Robert Morse, chairman of the Medical/Scientific Committee of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence: "There is little doubt that Sinatra had a serious 'drinking problem.'  ... To have such a high tolerance—I see references to consumption of a bottle a day of Jack Daniel's—is the most specific symptom. One can have this kind of tolerance only by becoming an alcoholic. Much of what we know about Sinatra's drinking is consistent with alcoholism."

Anthony Summers contacted me prior to publication. Based on portions of the unpublished manuscript he shared with me, including references to his reported bottle-a-day habit I told him I thought "Sinatra was an alcoholic." He quotes me on page 327 of the published book. 

Jack Daniel's currently has a number of commercials on American television featuring Sinatra. One can be viewed here, another here and yet another here.

Ray Rice Swears off Hard Liquor ...

... but he continues to drink wine.

I have news for Ray Rice: alcohol is alcohol is alcohol.

If you don't know what why NFL footballer Ray Rice is making news view this video.

Which Country Drinks the Most Alcohol?

National alcohol consumption statistics tend to be accurate for one simple reason: alcohol is a popular source of tax revenue in most countries.

Based on this survey Ireland doesn't deserve its reputation as the home of boozers. Citizens in twenty other countries out-drink them.

King Richard III may have been a drunk

King Richard III may have been a drunk say researchers who claim he drank three litres of alcohol every day.

Scientists have built up new picture of King after tests on bones and teeth Identified significant changes to alcohol intake after he was crowned in 1483 Showed 25 per cent increase in alcohol consumption ...

John Cheever’s Ossining House for Sale

By Alexander Nazaryan

 

 ... In 1964, Time magazine called Cheever “Ovid in Ossining,” because he saw what he called in one story “the pain and sweetness of life” as fully as the Roman poet had two millennia before him. Ovid, of course, spent the last decade of his exile from Rome in the desolation of Tomis (today, Romania). Cheever exiled himself, leaving Manhattan in 1951 for Westchester County and never returning. That journey into the manicured countryside beyond the Bronx would define his career more than his impoverished Massachusetts childhood or posh Sutton Place, where he lived while becoming famous for his New Yorker stories.

 

...  Unlike his brother, Fred, who succumbed to alcoholism, Cheever quit drinking in 1975, devoting himself seriously to Alcoholics Anonymous. Two years later, he published Falconer, based on his experience teaching at the nearby prison (he had started doing so in 1971, after deciding that he’d “exhausted his old landscapes”). Joan Didion called the novel “extraordinary” in The New York Times. This magazine put Cheever on the cover, calling Falconer a “great American novel.” Five years later, Cheever died of cancer.

 

Link.

 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he will try to stay sober if reelected — but no promises

Ford, who returned this week to City Council from two months in rehab, said in an interview on Newstalk 1010 that he can’t make promises about something over which he has “no control.”

Robin Williams takes part in 12-step treatment at Minnesota facility

 Details here.