“Dinner for One” is a New Year’s Eve classic.
The cult sketch around the 90th birthday of “Miss Sophie” has been causing laughter and entertainment since 1963.
During the course of the dinner, the butler James, played by Freddie Frinton, drinks alcohol for four deceased guests.
A total of 16 glasses of champagne, white wine, sherry and port wine.
Liver specialist Ansgar W. Lohse, professor at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, calculates that James consumes 192 grams of pure alcohol during the dinner.
(Source: “The Silence of the Liver” by Ansgar W. Lohse and Ulf C. Goettges)
This value corresponds to a blood alcohol of 3.92 per mille. Away from the stage there is an acute danger to life.
“The fact that James still makes it up the stairs in this state and staggering mischievously with a wink towards the amorous dessert of the dinner is only due to the poetic freedom.” Ansgar W. Lohse
In view of these findings, there is one thing you should definitely do without on New Year’s Eve: trying to keep up with butler James at the glass.