How cool is it that Sir Anthony Hopkins is “47 years” sober, that he’s 85, and that he shares his New Year’s Eve birthday (TODAY) with Sir Ben Kingsley?

This message reminds us that the Great Drunks of British Acting could have claimed another Burton, O’Toole, Oliver Reed and Richard Harris in Hopkins among their ranks — all, even the longest-lived among them, dead too soon.

And he got sober and lived long enough to win Oscars, become a legend and wish you all a happy new year.