It’s often thought or said that heavy drinkers don’t contribute anything to society. Well, we believe the opposite is true. Some of the greatest men and women in world history also got smashed on a daily basis. These are the stories of the people who will be remembered forever. Brave warriors, wise politicians, creative artists, excellent sportsmen and many other distinguished historical figures made this list. Just think what the history and present existance of human kind would have looked like without these boozers…

Buzz Aldrin, astronaut and 2nd man on the moon

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey

Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist

Goran Bregovic, Yugoslavian singer

Lord Byron, English writer and poet

Winston Churchill, British prime minister in World War II

Cleopatra, last Egyptian pharaoh

William the Conqueror, first Norman king of England

Gerard Depardieu, French actor

Charles Dickens, English writer

Pat Eddery, Irish jockey

Elizabeth, Queen Mother of the U.K.

Benjamin Franklin, ‘Founding Father’ of the United States

Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut

André the Giant, French wrestler

Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter

Ulysses S. Grant, General in the American Civil War and US president

Alexander the Great, conqueror from ancient Greece

Peter the Great, the Russian tsar of partying

Václav Havel, Czech dissident and president

Ernest Hemingway, American writer

Billy Joel, American singer-songwriter

Junior Johnson, American NASCAR-legend

Martin Luther King Jr. American Civil Rights Icon

Stephen King, American writer

Shane MacGowan, Irish singer of the Pogues

Ferdinand Magellan, Portugese explorer

Mickey Mantle, American baseball player

Karl Marx, German founder of communism

Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter and poet

Nero, Roman emperor

Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter

Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic and advisor to the imperial family

Babe Ruth, American baseball player

Selim II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer

Frank Sinatra, American singer and movie star

Jan van Speijk, captain of the Dutch fleet and national hero

Jozef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union

Jan Steen, painter in the Dutch ‘Golden Age’

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovski, Russian composer

Nikola Tesla, Serbian inventor

Tiberius, Roman emperor

Mark Twain, American writer

Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first president

Stories yet to come:

Marcus Antonius (Marc Anthony), Roman general

Johan Sebastian Bach, German composer

Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionair and national hero

Charles Bukowsi, American writer and poet

Graham Chapman, English actor

Bette Davis, American actress

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian writer

William Faulkner, American writer

Gao Yang, Chinese emperor

Paul Gauguin, French painter

Mel Gibson, Australian actor

Jimi Hendrix, American rockstar

Giorgos Karaiskakis, Greek general and national hero

Lemmy Kilmister, English singer-songwriter

Edgar Allen Poe, American writer and poet

Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet

Kimi Raikkonen, Finnish Formula 1 driver

Orson Welles, American movie director

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You may also want to see:

The 11 greatest drunks in football

11 Drunken cult heroes in football

6 Stories on alcohol from the world of cycling

Our page with Historical Tales about Alcohol