This Day in History: 2023-03-06

Nr. 418

WORLD CUP STOLEN (1966)

On 20 March 1966 former soldier Edward Bletchley was jailed for the theft of the gold 12-inch World Cup Jules Rimet Trophy, but he claimed he was just the middle­man for the subsequent £15,000 ransom demand issued to the Football Association. No one witnessed the theft of the £30,000 trophy from the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, where it was on display with a ‘Sports with Stamps’ display worth £3 million. The 20 March heist was timed to coincide with a church service in another part of the building, when guards had gane missing.
Bletchley was arrested when he went to pick up the ransom money and, while he claimed he didn’t know where the trophy was, it’s said he did a deal with police for information about the trophy’s whereabouts in return for a prison visit from a lady friend. However, in the end it was four-year-old mongrel Pickles who sniffed out the statuette, wrapped in newspaper and lying in the street outside owner David Corbett’s home in South Norwood. The trophy had been missing for just over a week.

Pickles who discovered the lost trophy under a holly bush outside his owner’s house, wearing the silver medal presented to him by the National Canine League.