From Grenoble – in the French Alps – came titanic wrestler Andre The Giant, for whom any boy who grew up in the 80s will have an instant recollection of being the one who took on Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III and Wrestlemania IV. His height was reported to be various figures: the then WWF used to put him at a fairly optimistic 7′5″. However according to this article, he also didn’t mind putting away a pint or two.
When the bartender hollered last call, Andre, slightly annoyed, announced that he didn’t care to leave. Rather than risk an altercation with his hulking customer, the bartender told Andre he could stay only if he was drinking, imagining, surely, that he would soon be rid of the big fella. Andre thanked the man, and proceeded to order 40 vodka tonics. He sat there drinking them, one after another, finishing the last at just after five in the morning.
Using Arnie as a wishbone
Comments at the bottom indicate doubt as to the accuracy of some of the article, but this bit made me giggle:
A very green rookie wrestler named Hulk Hogan toured Japan several times with Andre and witnessed the Giant’s alcohol consumption first hand. According to Hogan, Andre drank, at a minimum, a case of tall boys during each bus ride. When he finished a can Andre would belch, crush the can in his dinner-platter-sized hand, and bounce the empty off the back of Hogan’s head. Hogan learned to count each thunk, so he could anticipate when Andre was running low. Whenever the bus stopped, it was Hogan’s job to scamper off to the nearest store, buy as many cases of beer as he could carry, and make it back before the bus departed, a sight that never failed to make Andre roar his bassoon-like laugh.
[no idea who sent me this now, but well done, whoever it was]