{"id":13068,"date":"2018-07-09T16:00:37","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.factstoryhub.com\/?p=13068"},"modified":"2025-02-20T14:50:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T14:50:34","slug":"world-cup-trophy-stolen","status":"publish","type":[],"link":"https:\/\/www.factstoryhub.com\/world-cup-trophy-stolen\/","title":{"rendered":"The World Cup Trophy Was Stolen & Found By A Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"
It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there when somebody managed to steal the World Cup trophy right under the noses of guards!\n
It was then later discovered by a dog named Pickles and brought back to its rightful place.\n
You must think I’m barking mad… but it’s totally true.\n
Sit back and listen to this fascinating ‘tail’ (pun intended).\n
It was March 20, 1966, three months before the World Cup finals were set to commence in England for the first time in World Cup history.\n The World Cup trophy, also known as the Jules Rimet Trophy (a different trophy to the one used nowadays in the World Cup), was on display in a glass cabinet at an exhibition in the Methodist Central Hall at Westminster.\n Five guards had been detailed to keep a constant watch on the trophy as it sat on display. However, on that auspicious Sunday the guard stationed next to the trophy had the day off work.\n With three of the other four guards enjoying a lovely cup of tea, there was only the single guard George Franklin on watch, who discovered the display case at midday only to find that the famous Jules Rimet Trophy had been stolen.\n For the Football Association (FA), and Sir Stanley Rous, the English president of FIFA, this was the type of nightmare scenario one has when already locked in a terrifying nightmare.\n With a quick call to the Fuzz, an investigation into the theft was triggered.\n Now, we of the modern world have to bear in mind how hard a crime like this would be to solve in the 60s: scarce CCTV cover \u2013 if any, no traceable mobile phones or internet chatter to be monitored, no social media campaigns to help search for a suspect.\n Detective Inspector Bill Little took witness statements from Frank Hudson, a senior guard on duty, and Margaret Coombes, a woman attending a Sunday-school service in a different part of the hall, both of whom said they saw a man loitering by the gents\u2019 toilets that day.\n Even though their separate descriptions of said shifty gent lurking by the loos differed, the police decided they were looking for just the one thief.\n Whilst this was occurring, the FA attempted to deal with the crisis themselves. Before news of the theft broke out into the public consciousness, FA secretary Dennis Follows visited a silversmith named George Bird at his workshop on Fenchurch Street.\n Follows asked Bird to recreate the Jules Rimet Trophy from the same solid gold as the original version, telling him nothing else but to keep his lips sealed about it at all costs.\n Only a handful of people, including English president of FIFA Sir Stanley Rous, knew about this.\n Once news of the theft broke out and became public, Scotland Yard was flooded with a plethora of prank calls. One man rang the police to say his clock had told him the trophy was in Wicklow, Ireland.\n A Susanna Bell in Chile called to say “a colored man” was behind the theft, and a German guy named Adolf Hieke sent a photo from a German newspaper with an \u2018X\u2019 marking a man he believed was behind the theft. Trolling before the advent of the internet was also rife, as it would appear.\n As you can imagine, at this point the Metropolitan Police had become an international laughing stock, and as such Bill Little handed the case over to the specialist Flying Squad\u2019s top man, Detective Investigator Len Buggy.\n Len caught a break in the case when Chelsea FC and FA Chairman Joe Mears was phoned by a guy calling himself Jackson, telling him ‘There will be a parcel at Chelsea football club tomorrow. Follow the instructions inside.’\n On the Wednesday after the theft, in true thriller crime story fashion, the package arrived containing part of the Jules Rimet Trophy along with a ransom note demanding \u00a315,000 in five and one pound notes.\n The note, in its entirety, read: “Dear Joe Kno no doubt you view with very much concern the loss of the world cup… To me it is only so much scrap gold. If I don’t hear from you by Thursday or Friday at the latest I assume it\u2019s one for the POT.”\n Jackson then called to confirm that Mears had received the parcel. “Give me \u00a315,000 on Friday and the cup will arrive by cab on Saturday.” As per Jackson\u2019s request, Mears posted a message in Thursday\u2019s edition of London\u2019s Evening News saying “Willing to do business, Joe.” However, against Jackson\u2019s wishes Mears informed the police. Now the hunt was well and truly on.\n After meeting with Mears, Len Buggy planned to meet with Jackson, armed only with \u00a3500 in notes and the rest of the ransom made up from newspaper. Despite the fact that the sting ended up a bust, on Buggy\u2019s part, Jackson was still captured by the back-up team as he tried to escape.\nHow many men does it take to change a lightbulb?\n
An investigation begins!\n
Keep it swept under the rug.\n
You’re in the dog house now!\n
Investigator given a new lead.\n