Philip Marlowe, Chandler's fictional detective, was an alcoholic's ideal. His creator, as with every other alcoholic that ever existed before or after Marlowe, was an uncouth drinker in comparison. When he drank (gimlets were a favourite) Chandler suffered blackouts, threatened suicide and annoyed friends.

Born in 1888 into an Irish Quaker family and brought up in England he moved to America after school. He first took to drink as a soldier in the First World War. Although he wrote some flimsy poetry, it was not until he was sacked from his job as an LA oil tycoon (due to drink) that, at 44, he took up writing to earn some money.

Chandler's devotion to his sick wife Cissy had a sobering effect, but when she died in 1954 he took up the bottle and stuck to it, his health deteriorating. Five years later Chandler died of pneumonia perhaps haunted by Marlowe's words that; 'Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off'.