He Wasn't Just a World Leader, He Held a Drinking Record

Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke is dead at 89
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted May 16, 2019 11:35 AM CDT
For This World Leader, a World Drinking Record
Former Australian Prime Minster Bob Hawke, right, enjoys a drink while watching Australia and Pakistan during their cricket test match in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017.   (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

A former Australian prime minister by the name of Bob Hawke died Thursday, and the 89-year-old is getting due consideration for his four terms as prime minister from 1983 to 1991. But Hawke also has an unusual entry on his resume, especially for a world leader—he's in the Guinness record book for drinking. More specifically, Hawke put down 2.5 pints in 11 seconds in 1955, while a student at Oxford University, reports the AP.

"This feat was to endear me to some of my fellow Australians more than anything else I ever achieved," Hawke wrote in his autobiography. In fact, a 2012 video of a then 82-year-old Hawke chugging a full beer at a cricket match is approaching 2 million views on YouTube. For a more standard roundup of Hawke as a politician—he focused on trade union issues— see this post at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which has big moments from his career. (More Australia stories.)

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