The green elixir of long life; Oliver Reed’s last day; Peter the Great’s All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters; and prime minister who got drunk and announced a snap election.

The secret recipe for Chartreuse was an elixir for long life.
The actor Oliver Reed died after a serious drinking and arm-wrestling binge in a Maltese bar.

Peter the Great’s drinking club – the All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters – terrorised 18th-century Moscow.

In 1984 the prime minister of New Zealand announced a snap election live on television while extremely drunk. He did not win.