Editor's Blog: My Drinking Diary, by Marc Astley

The drinking habits of a group of journalists and broadcasters are to be put under the spotlight.

BBC Radio Devon has launched a project to discover just how much people know about their alcohol consumption.

As part of the experiment, Echo editor Marc Astley, Radio Devon breakfast show DJ Matt Woodley, and BBC Spotlight weather presenter Emily Wood have all agreed to keep a drinks diary.

At the end of the week, a liver expert will assess how much damage they are self-inflicting.

Matt and his producer, Jess Baker, will be keeping listeners posted with the team's progress all week and Marc is writing this blog:

It wasn't the best of starts.

After agreeing to take part in BBC Radio Devon breakfast show's alcohol experiment, I was late for the photo-shoot.

DJ Matt Woodley called to see where I was and asked if I wanted a drink waiting for me when I got to the pub.

Automatically, I plumped for my favourite tipple, red wine – a small one mind - and headed off to the Exeter Arms.

It was when I was introduced to my fellow guinea pigs that I realised I'd fallen at the first hurdle…they'd all ordered soft drinks.

As Jess Baker, Matt's producer (or Miss, as I now call her), began to brief us, I began to regret ever agreeing to take part.

In military fashion, she told us that we must keep a diary, preferably detailing when, where and how much we drank. She also stressed that we must be honest and, to emphasise her point gave us a steely glare that said: 'I'll know if you are lying'.

Miss then went on to tell us that a liver expert would scrutinise our results and give us our life expectancy down to the last minute (OK, I made that bit up but that's how it felt to me).

Next Matt thrust a microphone under our noses and in true life coach-style asked us what our “expectations” were (that I'll drink a lot less than I normally do so as not to look like a soak, I thought).

After that bossy boots Baker ordered us to examine a range of glasses and bottles and guess how many units were in each.

It was here that my old mate Richard Best, the editor of the North Devon Journal, came into his own. Units, the alcohol content of premium beer, measures – he knew the lot. Ma Baker was impressed with her star pupil, I could tell. Her mood changed though when I suggested a single measure of spirits was 5ml. She cast me a withering look. “It's actually 25ml,” she informed me and I knew she was that close to adding the word “idiot”.

Only wino Woodley was worse than me at this particular party game. However, he had earlier let slip he'd been weaned on Alco pops. It explains a lot.

I think young Emily Wood (soon to be a star weathergirl on Spotlight) wondered what the heck she was doing amongst this motley crew. However, it will be good training for her – she's going to have to work with David Braine and his multi-coloured wardrobe.

If you're interested, I'll be letting you know how day one in Baker's Boot Camp went tomorrow.

Hic.

Day 1

I've received several messages offering me support/condolences/advice (delete where appropriate) since it was announced that I will be keeping a drink diary for BBC Radio Devon presenter Matt (Wino) Woodley.

And typical of the sort of empathetic treatment I have received was a little missive from Mike Trim, Exeter City Council's man in charge of rubbish and recycling.

At the end of a perfectly polite business email, he wrote: “Oh, and don't forget to keep a true record of your drinking but I suspect after about 8pm on most nights you've had so much you can't count”.

The cheek of the man!

Now don't get me wrong, I quite like Trimmy – well, as much as you can like someone who gets excited by cardboard – but he, like many of my so called friends and contacts, seems to think by committing to this project I'm going to be terribly exposed.

Dan Pritchard, one of EDF's communications gurus, was similarly supportive when he came to my office for a meeting yesterday afternoon.

“So are you going to keep a real diary or one that you want people to see?” he asked me with wide-eyed incredulity.

It's the same at home. In fact, my partner still hasn't got past the hearty guffaw stage each time I mention the diary.

Well, Trim, Pritchard and her indoors – today I publicly challenge you to join the experiment and see how you shape up.

Bootcamp Baker (Wino's producer) is in the search for fresh blood after one of our number dropped out. Rumour has it she was too hung over to read the comprehensive instructions we have to comply with.

Trim would make a particularly interesting case study as his liver has been in use for 145 years and Pritchard is from East Anglia, therefore his internal organs have not yet fully evolved.

And my other half? I'd better leave that one there…she's watching me.

Cheers – I'll be back tomorrow.

Day 2

I think I’ve hit a raw nerve by giving Matt Woodley the nickname Wino.

Why? Well, on day one of our drink diary challenge, not a drop of booze passed his lips.

Bossy Boots Baker, Matt’s producer, sank a crystal goblet of Montrachet Grand Cru Chateau de Puligny (she’s quite posh). Meanwhile, I made a small glass of Tesco’s finest Spanish red last an hour and Spotlight weathergirl, Emily Wood, necked a gin and tonic – one of ‘her measures’ mind, which can mean anything, frankly.

No one has heard from North Devon Journal editor, Richard Best, since the experiment began but rumour has it the brown paper bags and bottles have disappeared from his office desk drawer too.

Frankly, the whole thing is turning into a mini soap opera with back biting (mostly in this blog), insults (yes, me again) and rumours flying via text and email.

However, at least me, Bossy Boots and Devon’s answer to Wincey Willis are playing with a straight bat…don’t worry, she won’t remember her, she’s too young.

And as we expose our vices publicly and for the greater good of the nation’s health, Wino is in denial claiming he ‘just didn’t feel like a drink’. Please! That’s like his fellow BBC Radio Devon DJ David Fitzgerald saying he didn’t want another pie.

I suspect subterfuge and would not be at all surprised if this sudden demonstration of temperance is a front. I mean, Wino even went to a pub at lunchtime and wants us to believe he didn’t succumb.

So, dear reader, Bossy, Wincey and myself require your help. We are launching ‘Woodley Watch’.

If you see our colleague so much as sniffing a beer mat we want you to let us know.

How will you recognise him? Easy. His ears are really FM transmitters, he’s got BBC This Is What We Do tattooed on the back of his neck, oh, and he falls over his own feet a lot – even when he’s ‘sober’.

I rest my case.

Salud!

Day 3

I’ve discovered that it’s not just me watching how much I drink – everyone else is too!

Ever since I began keeping my diary for BBC Radio Devon DJ Matt ‘Wino’ Woodley, I can’t enjoy a relaxing tipple publicly.

All of a sudden everyone thinks they have a right to lecture me on my alcohol intake.

Others just don’t seem to get the concept of the experiment and shout things like: “Ha, ha – caught you drinking. Thought you’d given up.”

So far, I think I’m doing OK having consumed about six units of alcohol since Monday.

However, I felt even smugger when I heard my old mate Richard ‘Boozer’ Best on Wino’s show this morning as he’s fallen off the wagon in spectacular style.

Unfortunately for him, his sports editor is leaving this week and so they all went out for a meal and a few drinks.

The problem is Boozer takes after his football superstar namesake when it comes to partying and therefore used up most of his units in one marathon drinking session which involved beer, wine and brandy!

Bossy Boots Baker – Wino’s producer – is demonstrating restraint ahead of a big weekend as she’s got friends down who she hasn’t seen for a while and Emily ‘Wincey’ Wood claims she had a small drink the other night ‘mainly so she had something to write down’.  She’s a dark horse, that one.

Wino completely lost the plot on Wednesday and had a bottle of beer - during the day! I suspect he was sat on a park bench with a brown paper bag concealing his guilty secret but I’m not sure because Woodley Watch has been a complete flop (see day 2).

Meanwhile…hang on…there’s someone peering through my office window. This is getting ridiculous!

Yiamas!

Day 4

Hats off to Boozer Best – you can’t accuse him of being economical with the truth.

As he revealed on Wino Woodley’s show yesterday, he drank a small lake at a leaving do on Wednesday night and bravely noted down every last millilitre.

What he didn’t reveal - he was probably too hung-over to do the calculations - is the number of units he consumed.

However, today dear reader, I can reveal the startling truth.

Boozer started with a couple of pints (4.6 units), then sank the best part of a bottle of wine (7 units) and then manfully finished off with a couple of brandies (2.8 units).

That’s a total of 14.4 units which, as Bossy Boots Baker will tell you, is a lot. In fact, It’s more than a woman should consume in a week.

What our liver expert will make of this I’m not sure but at least the lad has brought a healthy dose of reality to the whole experiment.

Wino would have us believe he’s a mess after just one bottle of beer, Bossy revealed she topped up the dregs of her last bottle of 2006 Chablis Les Preuses with soda water rather than open another (like that would normally happen) and Spotlight weathergirl Emily ‘Wincey’ Wood sent me an email suggesting she’d be drinking green tea on Saturday night!

And me – I’ve been the model of temperance and sobriety that all the others aspire to.

OK, I’m being economical with the truth.

The fact of the matter is, when you start looking properly at how much alcohol you consume, it’s quite frightening.

Yesterday I was telling everyone I thought I’d notched up about six units since Monday but when I applied the ‘Best Test’ to my figures, it was closer to 10!

And truth is, if I wasn’t being monitored (I’ve installed mirror glass in my office now) it would have been more.

For a whole number of reasons this has already been a sobering experience.

Was that the bell for last orders…?

Day 5

It’s the weekend – normally a time for celebration and copious amounts of booze.

For me however, it’s an opportunity to get my calculator out and assess just how many units I’ve got to last me until midnight on Sunday.

Bossy Boots has headed off to Yorkshire for a reunion, Boozer is throwing shapes at the Eden Project and Wincey is going out for dinner (a take-away to you and me). Meanwhile Wino is no doubt nursing his obligatory bottle of Becks in front of the goggle box.

I’ve got a rare night in but rather than feel relaxed, I’m anxious.

Should I crack open the wine? Problem is, if I do I may finish the bottle. How about the tinnies then? I’ve only got Kronenberg 1664 and that’s about 2.2 units a can. Maybe I should just drink mineral water. Just think how righteous I’ll feel come Monday morning. But it’s the weekend and we said we would be honest with our diaries.

If nothing else this whole process has made me stop, think and question my habits and it’s prompted people I know to look at their lifestyles too.

After I threw out a challenge on this blog, my old mate Trimmy (Exeter City Council’s resident Womble) has agreed to keep a diary of his alcohol intake – amazing really as the old boy’s liver currently resides in the Natural History Museum.

And, like me, he has been surprised at the amount he chucks back in a week (I must admit I’m surprised he’s surprised but there you go!)

Would you be surprised, pleasantly or otherwise? Why not find out?

If you fancy joining in, it’s not too late – just keep a drink diary this weekend. Log onto http://www.units.nhs.uk/ for some help with calculating the alcoholic value of your tipple and see how you do.

I’d love to hear how you got on. You can email me at mastley@expressandecho.co.uk

That’s it, I’ve decided, I’m going for the wine. It’s the weekend!

I’ll be back on Monday.

The Day of Reckoning

Today feels like the first day at school, a trip to the dentist and my driving test all rolled into one.

In just a few hours, my drinking habits will come under the scrutiny of a health expert and then laid bare by Radio Devon DJ Matt ‘Wino’ Woodley and his producer Jess ‘Bossy Boots’ Baker.

After a week of measuring, abstaining and being watched everywhere I go, it’s the day of judgement.

And to make matters worse, I’ve just clapped eyes on Wino’s tally for the week and it’s probably a third of what I’ve knocked back.

I’ve consumed more than 30 units over a seven-day period – that’s nine more than is recommended for a man.

Even Mike Trim, Exeter City Council’s chief Womble, has imbibed less than me. It’s not looking good.

My only hope is that North Devon Journal editor Richard ‘Boozer’ Best has remained in party mood and notched up another two or three 14.4 unit marathon sessions.

There’s also a good chance that Bossy will have fallen off the wagon as she was visiting friends over the weekend (and she’s got seven fewer units to play with).

And maybe Emily ‘Wincey’ Wood, Spotlight’s new weathergirl, will be the surprise package but I doubt it. She’s a dark horse, that one.

Whatever the results, I don’t think any of us will be as cavalier towards the amount we drink as we might have been in the past. It really has been an eye-opener, probably best summed up by Uncle Bulgaria himself.

In a note accompanying his drink diary, he said: “I wish I'd never said yes to this as now instead of thinking I'll have a nice glass of wine I'm thinking I'll have 140mils at 12.5 per cent!”

I’ll drink to that…

You can find out how I got on tomorrow.

They tried to make me go to rehab but I said no, no, no!

You’re lucky Matt Woodley is on the radio because you really don’t want to see the smug look he’s wearing at the moment.

He emerged as teacher’s pet during our visit to liver expert Dr Jonathan Mitchell yesterday.

In fact, it has to be said he is so temperate I’m going to have to drop the ‘Wino’ moniker.

Our expert, Dr Jonathon Mitchell, greeted us with a semi-arched eyebrow and a wry smile.

Whether it was deliberate or not I’m not sure but he then sat us in a circle so that we resembled a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.

He was great company and to put us at our ease regaled us with several tales of patients who had died, or nearly died, because of their drinking.

And then he turned to our diaries… and it was like being back in the headmaster’s office. In fact, he even out-bossed Bossy — which really takes some doing!

One by one, he picked us off whether it was for drinking every night, bingeing or simply consuming too much across the week.

Apart from one person... the artist formerly known as Wino.

He emerged as teacher’s pet, having consumed only seven units of alcohol during the whole week.

In fact, he was so temperate, I’m going to drop the disparaging moniker and from now on he will be referred to as Saint Matt of Woodley.

Meanwhile, Wincey and I are on the naughty step, although we’re still not quite sure how much she drank (she’s a dark horse that one), Bossy has managed to convince herself she did well, despite drinking every day and Boozer was due to get his lecture today live on air after sending a note from his mum to Dr Jon on Monday.

To my surprise, I’d drunk 36 units of alcohol over the seven days, not the 30 I had estimated.

In fact everyone, apart from Saint Matt, had busted their limits.

And although we didn’t fall into any of the worrying categories, the message clearly was ‘must do better’.

I left Derriford feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Not only had I not stuck to quite clear health guidelines but also faced a mild public ticking off.

There’s only one word to sum up this whole experience... sobering.

If you fancy keeping a drink diary, log onto http://www.units.nhs.uk/ for some help with calculating the alcoholic value of your tipple and see how you do.

I’d love to hear how you got on. You can email me at mastley@expressandecho. co.uk.