I'll Have Scotch and Water Trivia Quiz

Answer: Whiskey and malt liquor

On the morning of October 20, 1969, author Jack Kerouac was working on a book while drinking whiskey and malt liquor when he began to feel nauseous. A short time later, he began to vomit blood due to a stomach hemorrhage caused by his long-time drinking. Surgery was performed, but cirrhosis had caused too much damage to his liver which, in turn, prevented his blood from clotting.

He passed away at 5:15 the following morning without ever regaining consciousness. He was only 47 years old at the time of his death.

Answer: Mickey Mantle

Mickey Mantle was very public about his over-use of alcohol. After years of abuse, he developed cirrhosis of the liver and Hepatitis C. When he was scheduled for a liver transplant, doctors discovered that he also had a rare type of liver cancer that is related to chronic use of alcohol.

The transplant occurred on June 8, 1995. He died in August of that year at the age of 63 after the cancer had spread.

Answer: Richard Burton

Richard Burton was an admitted alcoholic. He smoked heavily, while drinking multiple bottles of hard liquor a day, at some points during his career. He was quoted as saying that he drank "to burn up the flatness, the stale, empty, dull deadness that one feels when one goes offstage." At the time of his death at the age of 58, he had been diagnosed with an enlarged liver due to cirrhosis as well as kidney disease.

Answer: He was driving while drunk and was in a fatal accident.

Dunn was intoxicated while driving the car that was in a single-car accident. The accident caused his death and the death of a passenger in his car. His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit when he chose to drive his car while drunk in 2011. He was only 34 years of age at the time of his death.

Answer: Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday struggled with substance abuse, including alcohol abuse for much of her life. She was diagnosed with cirrhosis in early 1959. Her health declined when she failed to give up alcohol until May, 1959 when she was admitted to the hospital. She was arrested and placed under police guard in the hospital for possession of narcotics.

She died in July, 1959 of pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver, still under arrest with police guard at her bedside for the narcotics that had been in her possession.

She was 44 years old at the time of her death.

Answer: Hank Williams, Sr.

Hank Williams was addicted to prescription pain killers due to a back injury. He also drank to excess in an attempt to control the pain of his back injury. When he became unreliable due to his addictions, he was dismissed from the Grand Ole Opry. Williams died as he lay in the back seat of a car on the way to a concert. Medical science wasn't what it is now when he died in 1953, but given his heavy drinking in the years before he died, and the fact that there were empty beer cans in the back seat of the car that he was travelling in when he died, many believe that alcohol contributed to his death.

He was only 29 years old when he died in 1953.

Answer: Errol Flynn

Not only was Errol Flynn a womanizer and an alcoholic, but he was also a voyeur. When his mansion was sold after his death, multiple peepholes, two-way mirrors, and trap doors for surreptitiously viewing the goings-on in various bedrooms and bathrooms were found. Flynn's extravagant lifestyle caught up with him in the end.

He was in Vancouver making a deal to lease out his yacht to get some much-needed money when he fell ill and died. The coroner found that he had died of heart disease related to cirrhosis of the liver that had been caused by his heavy drinking. Flynn was only 50 years old at the time of his death.

Answer: Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin was scheduled to begin a new concert tour in 1980. On the way to a practice session, Bonham asked his driver to stop for breakfast during which he drank 16 shots of vodka mixed with his orange juice. He continued to drink heavily all day at the rehearsal until he was taken to bed after midnight.

At some point during the night, he vomited and choked to death. An inquest after his death found that he had consumed approximately 40 shots (1-1.4 litres) of vodka in 24 hours. Jon Bonham was 32 years of age at the time of his death.

Answer: John Barrymore

John Barrymore appeared in many early films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Unfortunately, his drinking led to him becoming unreliable, and in the end, he was not offered many film roles. He was hired to host a radio program and died during the taping of an episode for that show.

The official cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver and kidney failure, complicated by pneumonia. Barrymore was only 60 years old when he died.

Answer: William Holden

William Holden was a very successful actor in the 1959s and 1960s. However he drank to excess in many situations. In November, 1981, he was alone and intoxicated when he slipped and fell at home. He hit his head on a table and was unable to get help, likely due to his intoxication. He bled to death as a result. Holden was only 63 at the time of his death.