The maxim ‘beer before wine and you’ll feel fine, but wine before beer and you’ll feel queer’ is advice which has been followed by generations of drinkers eager to avoid a raging hangover.

Yet a new study by Cambridge University and German scientists suggests that the order of drinking does little to stave off nausea and a throbbing head.

Researchers asked volunteers to drink two and a half pints of beer followed by four large glasses of wine, while a second group consumed the same amount of alcohol in reverse order.

The next day they were asked to rate their hangover on a score of 0 - 56 which measures thirst, fatigue, headache, dizziness, nausea, stomach ache, increased heart rate and loss of appetite.

A week later the groups were asked to switch around to gauge whether the order of drinks made any difference.

But after recording the levels of hangovers from both groups, researchers concluded there was no difference. Put simply, if you drink too much, you’re still likely to be ill whether you follow the rule or not.

Dr Kai Hensel, a senior clinical fellow at the University of Cambridge and senior author of the study, said the team originally hoped to come up with sound scientific advice to help people avoid hangovers.