He’s only here for the beer is Brandy, the seven-week old lamb with a taste for beer, gin and tonic – and cigarettes.

Mr R.E. Godman’s pet is a regular at the White Hart, Bedmond, where he downs a daily half-pint of mild at a speed that leaves the other regulars gasping.

In fact, Brandy emptied his bottle before our photographer had time to focus his camera and had to be treated to a second drink, much to his delight.

Says Mr Godman: “He was an orphan and I bought him when he was a week old, and reared him on glucose and milk. He loves riding in the car and comes everywhere with me. When I visited the White Hart I tried giving him a bottle of water to keep him quiet, but he didn’t think much of that idea, so we tried him with beer just for a joke – and he went mad over it.

“The other day he drank one chap’s gin and tonic when he put it down for a minute. He likes crisps too, and has just started eating cigarettes as well.”

[From the Watford Observer of May 26, 1972]