Although Portuguese striker Eusébio scored nine goals in the 1966 World Cup and England ’s Geoff Hurst boot four goals to lead the home squad to triumph , neither of them was the real most valuable player of that year ’s Cup . That distinction work to an English pooch named Pickles .
As part of the ramp - up to host the 1966 World Cup , English association football officials had been display the Jules Rimet Trophy that went to the Cup ’s winner in various places around the land . That March , the prize had been residing in Methodist Central Hall in Westminster under the watchful eyes of five guard .
Something went awry on the morning of March 20 , though . The guard duty who normally stayed at the prize ’s side had the solar day off , and at some point — when the other four members of the surety point were enjoying their coffee tree or a immediate trip to the loo — thieves broke in a back threshold of the Granville Stanley Hall and swiped the prize .
As you might imagine , this theft did n’t contemplate too well on England . host the World Cup is a complex , logistically difficult operation , and while everything may not go completely according to plan , FIFA at least expects host state not to misplace the trophy itself . The theft straight off became the biggest story in the British imperativeness , and Scotland Yard was before long inundated with screwball theory and false track .
Eventually , the police force take in aransom requirement : The stealer would reelect the trophy in central for £ 15,000 in pocket-sized card . Scotland Yard and soccer functionary reluctantly went along with this plan , but a drag police van spooked the stealer before he chair them to the prize . After police force apprehend the defendant , a petty grifter named Edward Betchley , he claimed he was only a contact who was ferment for a louche , perchance fictitious grapheme known as " The Pole . "
The constabulary had their man , but they were still short one Jules Rimet Trophy . That ’s where Pickles , a four - year - old mutt , accede the picture . On March 27 , Pickles was out for a walk in South London with his owner , David Corbett , when something under a hedge cark the pup . kettle of fish insist on investigating the situation and finally pulled out a newsprint tract tied together with cosmic string . When Corbett afford the piece of land , he realized that Pickles had found the Jules Rimet Trophy . It ’s still not absolved how the trophy stop up under the hedge in the first place .
Corbett execute the prize to his local police post , but the fuzz remember the account of Pickles miraculously find oneself the trophy in a Vannevar Bush was a bit far - fetched . Suspecting Corbett could be responsible for for the trophy ’s thievery , investigator questioned him until 2:30 a.m. and made him stand in a lineup before illuminate his alibi for the day of the burglary .
Once Corbett was clear , the media got the story , and Pickles became an international star . offer to travel to alien country rolled in for the grand blackguard , and he incur a free year ’s supply of pawl food . Pickles even star in a characteristic movie , The Spy With the Cold Nose(as seen in the still above ) . At the height of Pickles ’s popularity , he was earning what would amount to more than $ 600 a sidereal day for Corbett in today ’s dollars .
best still , when the English team win the World Cup that year , the participant asked for Pickles to attend the celebratory feast and even let him cream their plates clean . Corbett received a £ 3,000 reinforcement that he used to bribe a house in Surrey .
unhappily , Pickles did n’t live to see the next World Cup — and the Jules Rimet Trophy was n’t much luckier . When Brazil won the Cup for the third clock time in 1970 , it make the right field to keep the trophy in perpetuity ; the intimate FIFA World Cup trophy someone will win next month made its debut in 1974 . thief slip the Jules Rimet Trophy from a locked showcase in Brazil in December 1983 . Tell your pups to keep their eye open ; the purloined trophy still hasn’tbeen recovered .
This post earlier appear in 2010 .
