THREAD. Who’s this guy, and why on earth are we tweeting about him? 1/13

It’s Charles Hindley, who was the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire between 1835 and 1857. Obviously. 2/13

As well as an MP, he was also a cotton mill owner and a director of the South Australian Company. An accomplished man. 3/13

But his life is not the point of this thread. We’re more interested in the unusual circumstances around his death. 4/13

In late November 1857 Mr Hindley fell ill, and this guy, his doctor Robert Bentley Todd, prescribed an ounce of brandy to be drunk every half hour until the patient was better. 5/13

That’s approximately a 25ml single shot of hard liquor, every thirty minutes, while very sick. They even woke him every half hour at night to make him drink. 6/13

72 hours and six pints (3.5 litres) of brandy later, Charles sadly died, aged 61. 7/13

He was poorly anyway. But drinking 136 units of alcohol in three days, which is almost ten times the recommended weekly limit, was probably not the best idea. 8/13

A similar fate befell Dr Todd himself three years later, when he also died through an excess of alcohol. 9/13

Dr Todd lives on, in a way – he gave his name to the Hot Toddy. 10/13

Next time you have one, think of the good doctor and how lucky we are to live in an age when ‘treatments’ and ‘things that will kill you’ are different things. 11/13

Get to the point you say? Well here you go: don’t be like Charles, who paid the price for listening to terrible advice. 12/13

Social media is full of messages with rumours, half-truths and outright lies in them about COVID-19. If you’re not sure about some advice you’ve been given, check trusted sources like the council, NHS or Public Health England websites.  https://www.ealing.gov.uk/coronavirus  13/13