#WorldChampagneDay: 10 amazing facts about the world's most luxe drink

That means that when uncorked, champagne emits 30 bubbles per second. According to one enterprising statistician, five bottles of champagne will get you as many bubbles as stars in the Milky Way!

We mean, obviously, the region - this year, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee took the historic decision to include the Champagne Slopes, Houses and Cellars - which together make up France's legendary Champagne region - on its list of heritage sites.

That means a trip to Champagne is now practically an educational experience.

Chalk cellars (les crayeres) for storing champagne. Photo: Getty Images

On paper, his favourite drink may be a martini, shaken not stirred - but in reality, the drink he's been spotted drinking most often in the film adaptations is champagne; over 40 sightings to date.

It was his favourite drink; his favourite brand Pol Roger. The revered champagne house made a custom pint bottle for him.

Post his death, the house created a prestige vintage called Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill. Possibly the only politician in the world to have both champagnes and cigars named after him: Churchills are both a size of cigar and a brand of Cuban cigars, called Sir Winston

That probably explains why statistically, you have a greater chance of being killed by a flying champagne cork than a poisonous spider

Photo: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

The actual colour of champagne is routinely different from the shades used to describe it - largely because it's impossible to capture the effervescence of the bubbles in a flat colour - but it hasn't stopped the colour from taking on luxurious association.

Till a couple of years ago, the nation projected to take over the title of second-highest champagne drinking was, remarkably, Nigeria - but that honour has since gone to the British, who've developed a passion for bubbly.

That's incredible, given that only about 76,000 acres of vineyards that make up the Champagne region in France produce the stuff.

It should be common knowledge but in fact isn't: while all champagne is sparkling wine, all sparkling wine is not champagne. Only the drink bottled within the certified domain called the Champagne region is true champagne. A lot of the sparkling wine in the world is very good, but champagne it's not.

Three grapes primarily go into making champagne: Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay. The particular proportion in which they are blended, among other factors, shapes the bottle of bubbly you uncork.

But then sport has always had a special relationship with champagne. Formula 1 race car drivers mark their win by opening a Magnum. Ditto for World Cup cricket winners. Ditto for pretty much any victory celebration you can visualise.

But the Magnum - the size of two standard bottles - is hardly the biggest of them all. If you want to really go king size, get the Primat - which is the equivalent of 36 bottles of champagne or the ultimate bottle of bubbles ever, the Melchizedek size: which holds the equivalent of 40 regular bottles of champagne.

And rest assured Sir Winston would have raised a toast to you.