The Wine Blokes

Thomas Becket became Archbishop of Canterbury, only to be murdered in his Cathedral for refusing to endorse the divorce of Henry VIII.

Whilst exiled in France during 1166, Becket drank the best wine that money could buy -albeit diluted with water and only as a form of medication for a bad stomach. He was later venerated as patron saint of wine coopers in Venice and of beer brewers in London as a result of reports that he had turned water into wine and deferred fermentation of beer using his own blood.

As a result of his tempestuous relationship with the king, a ship carrying the archbishop’s wine back from France was sunk by Ranulf de Broc.