The story of Pickles the dog and the stolen trophy | Football | The Guardian Close This article is 10 years old On a Sunday evening in March 40 years ago, David Corbett left his ground-floor flat in Norwood, south London, to make a telephone call from the kiosk across the road. With the Thames lighterman was Pickles, the four-year-old mongrel he had taken off his brother John's hands, when he was a puppy, because he chewed furniture. 'I put the lead on Pickles and he went over to the neighbour's car,' recalls Corbett, now 66. 'Pickles drew my attention to a package, tightly bound in newspaper, lying by the front wheel. I picked it up and tore some paper and saw a woman holding a dish over her head, and disks with the words Germany, Uruguay, Brazil. I rushed inside to my wife. She was one of those anti-sport wives. But I said, "I've found the World Cup! I've found the World Cup!"' Corbett, or more precisely, Pickles, had indeed discovered the missing Jules Rimet trophy.

Yet, if the Metropolitan Police had not bungled an operation two days earlier, when a ransom demand went wrong, Pickles would not have found the trophy and his place as lead character in a tale that, even today, may not be fully over. The trophy was stolen on 20 March 1966, a week before Pickles' intervention, from the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster where it was being exhibited in a glass cabinet. Five guards were detailed to keep constant watch. On the Sunday, though, the guard stationed next to the trophy had the day off. With the others enjoying a cup of coffee or a call of nature, it was only when George Franklin finally inspected the case just after midday that he discovered the theft. The thieves had broken in through the back doors. For the Football Association and Sir Stanley Rous, the English president of Fifa, this was the nightmare scenario. Three months before hosting the 1966 World Cup, there was no trophy. The investigation began. Detective Inspector Bill Little heard witness statements from senior guard Frank Hudson and Margaret Coombes, a woman attending a Sunday-school service in a different part of the hall. Both saw a man loitering by the gents.

Although their descriptions differed, the police announced they were searching for just one thief. Meanwhile, the FA attempted to deal with the crisis. Before the theft became public, the FA secretary, Denis Follows, visited silversmith George Bird at his workshop in Fenchurch Street. Follows asked Bird to make a replica of the trophy from the same solid gold as the original, and was told nothing else other than to keep his mouth shut. Very few people, including Rous, knew about the visit. Once the world discovered the theft, a deluge of crank theories arrived at Scotland Yard. One man wrote to say that his clock had told him the trophy was in Wicklow, Ireland. A Susanna Bell in Chile believed 'a coloured man' was the thief. Adolf Hieke sent a photograph from a German newspaper and placed an 'X' on it against the man he believed to be guilty. With the Metropolitan Police an international joke, Little handed over the investigation to the Flying Squad's top man, DI Len Buggy. His break came when the Chelsea and FA chairman Joe Mears was phoned by a man calling himself Jackson. 'There will be a parcel at Chelsea football club tomorrow. Follow the instructions inside,' he told Mears.

On the Wednesday after the theft, it arrived containing part of the Jules Rimet. A ransom note demanded £15,000 in five and one pound notes. 'Dear Joe Kno (sic) no doubt you view with very much concern the loss of the world cup...' it began. '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 its one for the POT.' Jackson called, seeking confirmation that Mears had the parcel. 'Give me £15,000 on Friday and the cup will arrive by cab on Saturday,' he said. As Jackson had requested, Mears posted the message, 'Willing to do business Joe', in Thursday's edition of London's Evening News. But he ignored the warning not to tell the police. On Friday, Buggy arrived at Mears' home but the FA chairman, an angina sufferer, had to go to bed because of stress. So Buggy arranged with Mrs Mears that he would pose as her husband's assistant 'McPhee' when Jackson called. After some hesitation, Jackson agreed to a rendezvous in Battersea Park.

Buggy arrived in Mears' fawn Ford Zodiac with £500 in bundles and the remainder of the ransom made from newspaper. He was told to drive around south London for 10 minutes, before he and Jackson turned off Kennington Park Road. Now, though, the operation went wrong and history opened its door to Pickles. Jackson saw a Transit van and guessed correctly that it was Buggy's back-up team. He tried to escape, but was arrested. The thief's real name was Edward Betchley, a 46-year-old former soldier who had served in the Royal Armoured Corps during the Second World War in Egypt and Italy, before being demobbed with an 'exemplary character' in January 1946. With a previous conviction in 1954 for receiving tins of corned beef, Betchley was hardly bigtime. And at Rochester Row police station, he insisted that he was just the middleman, paid £500 for his part. All Betchley added was that the man behind the theft was known as The Pole. It is not clear if he actually existed. All that mattered now, though, was finding the trophy.

According to the Channel 4 programme, Who Stole the Cup?, which will be shown next month, Chief Superintendent John Bailey was offered a deal by Betchley. He wanted a lady friend to visit him at Brixton prison. If she was followed, Betchley said, then the cup's location would not be revealed. Bailey agreed. Two days later Pickles found the trophy. The media attention was worldwide and, Corbett says, Pickles enjoyed it. Before it began, though, Corbett had to deal with the theory that exercised the police from the moment, breathless and still in his slippers, he arrived at Gypsy Hill police station in Crystal Palace and was taken to Scotland Yard. 'I was suspect number one,' he says. 'I went into this bloody great incident room with twenty coppers taking calls. I heard one say, "We've just searched the Northern [Tube] line because someone said it was under seat number seven." 'They questioned me until 2.30 in the morning. I wondered if I should've chucked it back in the road. I was up at six the next day for work.' Corbett recalls: 'The general election was due but this knocked Harold Wilson off the front pages.

When my mates realised they said, "Bloody hell. I bet you nicked it!"' Eventually, though, Corbett was cleared. Now Pickles began the life of a celebrity. He starred in a feature film, The Spy with the Cold Nose, and appeared on Magpie, Blue Peter and many other TV shows. He was made Dog of the Year, awarded a year's free supply of food from Spillers and there were offers to visit Chile, Czechoslovakia and Germany. 'But I would've had to put Pickles into quarantine for six months and he was only a pet, so I didn't think I could do that,' says Corbett. How did he find the constant attention? 'I got myself an agent. The same as Spike Milligan's. He made me £60 a day, bloody brilliant! He would call and my [ex] wife and I would meet him and his girlfriend and go drinking Champagne.' Corbett's agent arranged entrance to the party on the evening of England's 4-2 victory over West Germany in the World Cup final. 'The streets were full of people. The players were out on a large balcony [of their hotel in Kensington].

I went in with Pickles under my arm and Bobby Charlton, all of them, picked him up. But I ate with the wives in a separate room. The women weren't allowed upstairs. They made a fuss of the dog, but God they were upset. "Our husbands win the World Cup and the FA banish us down here!" they said.' What Corbett was unaware of, though, was the secret plan that had been successfully carried out earlier that day by the FA to ensure they would not be embarrassed again. Once the trophy had been presented by the Queen to Bobby Moore, plain-clothes officer Bob Geggie was detailed to shadow the England players around the Wembley turf on their lap of honour, watching the trophy closely. Geggie can be seen next to the team on film and photographs taken of those moments. And, unknown even to Geggie, a Wembley policeman, PC Peter Weston had positioned himself near the changing rooms with Bird's replica, which had still been made, although from base metal, for the next stage of the FA's scheme. With the team celebrating inside, Weston took his chance.

He tells the C4 programme: 'Luckily the [real] trophy was near the entrance where Nobby [Stiles] was sitting. I said to him, "I'll have that, you have this." He looked bemused as I legged it, but never said a word. But that meant from when I took it off Nobby, the trophy was a replica. Over the next four years I saw it paraded, in newspapers, on TV, and always chuckled to myself.' But the tale of the Cup was hardly over yet. In 1970, Bird's replica was returned to him and the original given permanently to Brazil. In 1983, the original was stolen and never returned. The replica, though, went up for auction 14 years later at Sotheby's. It was bought for £254,000 by Fifa, eclipsing the reserve price of £30,000, and is now at the National Football museum in Preston.

Mears died on 1 July 1966 from the angina attack brought on by the theft, while Betchley, having served the two-year sentence he received for demanding money with menaces, died in 1969 of emphysema. And Pickles' luck also ran out the year after his great find. 'My six-year-old had him on a choke lead,' recalls Corbett. 'He shot after a cat and pulled my son over, before disappearing. I looked for over an hour. Then, in the gardens behind my house I saw him up on a tree. His chain was around the branch. Pickles just hung there.' Corbett buried him in the back garden of the house in Lingfield, Surrey, that the reward money had bought. 'I received £3,000 and paid £3,100 for this house,' says Corbett, who still lives there. Observer Sport has contacted Betchley's daughter, Marie, but she refuses to speak. 'I knew nothing about football then,' she says. 'And I'm not interested now.

I can't understand what people would be interested in 40 years down the line.' The fascination is much to do with a dog named Pickles, and a story that refuses to die. Even now, there must be a question over whether Betchley really was the only one involved. 'I've been offered a few hundred pounds from some newspapers,' Marie's husband, John Stringer, says. 'It'll take a lot more for me to open my mouth. But I handled all my father-in-laws legal affairs at the time. And let me tell you, there is a twist that has yet to be revealed.' It is a shame that Pickles is not around to sniff it out. Pickles: The Dog That Found the Stolen World Cup Pickles: The Dog That Found the Stolen World Cup 1.8k Share What's This? Pickles, the dog poses for a photo after he found the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy on March 27th, after it had been stolen.

Image: Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images By The Retronaut 2014-06-11 21:50:06 UTC LONDON — On the afternoon of Sunday, March 20, 1966, the World Cup trophy was stolen from central London where it was being exhibited. Despite the presence of two round-the-clock police officers in uniform, plus two more undercover officers during daylight hours, someone had managed to remove the Jules Rimet trophy from its display case while police officers were circuiting the exhibition hall. The Jules Rimet Cup. Image: Keystone-France/Getty Images The gold-plated sterling silver and lapis lazuli trophy depicted the Greek goddess Nike, and was named after FIFA president Jules Rimet. It had been Rimet who, in 1929, had passed the vote initiating the first World Cup competition. The day after the trophy's theft, the Chairman of Britain's Football Association received an anonymous ransom demand for £15,000.

Police arranged a handover of a suitcase full of fake banknotes, only to find that the man they apprehended was a local petty thief and used-car salesman named Edward Bletchley and, as far as they could tell, a hoaxer. Bletchley claimed he was acting as a middleman for a criminal known only as "The Pole", but this could not be confirmed. The World Cup trophy on show to the press, London, March 28, 1966. Image: Manchester Daily Express/Getty Images One week after the theft, Pickles, a black-and-white Collie dog, sniffed out the missing trophy while out on a walk with his owner. The trophy was wrapped in old newspapers, tied with string, and hidden at the bottom of a garden hedge in South London. David Corbett with his dog, Pickles, who found the World Cup in his back garden. Image: Keystone/Getty Images Four months later, the World Cup tournament was held in London. England, the home team, won the cup, and Pickles was invited as guest of honor to the official team celebration banquet. The cup's actual thief was never caught, although suspicion briefly alighted upon Pickles and his owner.

Fortunately both owners and dog had an alibi. Pickles poses with his family, the Corbetts. Image: Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images Among other rewards, Pickles received a medal, was named "Dog of the Year" and given a year's supply of food. His celebrity and earning power grew when he starred in the 1966 film "The Spy With the Cold Nose." Sadly within 12 months, Pickles was dead, choking on his leash in pursuit of a cat. His collar is on display in England's National Soccer Museum. Pickles basks in the glory of his newfound fame. Image: Central Press/Getty Images In 1983, the trophy - awarded permanently to Brazil in 1970 after their third win - was stolen again, and to date has never been recovered. The current trophy is a replica. More work from The Retronaut can be found here .

World Cup Archives: Pickles the dog finds the missing Jules Rimet trophy in 1966 | FIFA 2014 World Cup | Football | Sport World Cup Archives: Pickles the dog finds the missing Jules Rimet trophy in 1966 15:00 - 20 Mar 2014 British boxer Henry Cooper feeds Pickles the dog with a huge leg of turkey - a reward for finding the World Cup trophy. Credit: PA In March 1966, a few months before the start of the World Cup finals in England, a mongrel dog named Pickles found the missing Jules Rimet trophy in a London street. One week before Pickles came to the rescue, the priceless trophy had been stolen from the Westminster's Methodist Central Hall where it was being displayed, albeit in a glass cabinet. And this despite the presence of no less than five security guards. On that fateful Sunday, however, the guard stationed next to the trophy had taken the day off. The thieves stole in through a back door and snatched away the World Cup.

For his winning role in the tale, Pickles was made Dog of the Year in 1966 and awarded a year's free supply of dog food. His owner, a Thames lighterman named David Corbett, was a prime suspect in the case and police questioned him for hours before he was cleared. David Corbett with his dog Pickles and his wife Jeanne. Credit: PA The thief was eventually unmasked as Edward Betchley, a 46-year-old ex-soldier who insisted that he was just the middle-man. Betchley told police that the mastermind behind the crime was known as The Pole, although to this day it's not clear if he existed. Relieved police show off the Jules Rimet trophy to the media at a press conference.

Credit: PA How Pickles the dog saved England’s World Cup (1966) – Channel 4 News Share on Twitter In March 1966, four months before the World Cup was due to kick off at Wembley, the Jules Rimet trophy, borrowed from the Football Association for the Stanley Gibbons Stampex exhibition at Westminster Central Hall, was stolen from a public display case despite a heavy security presence, writes Ian Searcey. Quizzed by ITN reporter John Shearer about the theft, the chairman of the exhibition organisers, a clearly rattled Cecil Richardson, was adamant that precautions had been adequate, though admitted that “human error” may have played a role in losing the trophy. The trophy was missing for a week, during which the FA received a hoax ransom demand for £15,000, (the cup was only worth £3,000, despite the £30,000 insurance that had been taken out) before Pickles the dog and his owner David Corbett found it wrapped in newspaper under a small tree near their south London home on the 28th.

Shearer was again on hand to interview Mr Corbett and an uninterested Pickles as they posed for the press by the famous shrub. No-one was ever caught for the theft, and when England went on to win the World Cup, Pickles and his owner were invited to the players’ banquet. David Corbett received £6,000 in rewards and Pickles got a medal before moving into film work (The Spy with the Cold Nose) until his untimely death in 1967. Brazil were permanently awarded the Jules Rimet following their third victory in 1970, but in December 1983 it was stolen again from a bullet-proof case at the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio and, in the absence of Pickles, has never been recovered. March 20, 1966: Football's World Cup stolen as England prepares to host tournament - BT March 20, 1966: Football's World Cup stolen as England prepares to host tournament The Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen from a Westminster stamp exhibition.

Its subsequent discovery by Pickles the dog would be the stuff of legend… Print this story The Jules Rimet Trophy, the prize for the winners of football’s World Cup, was stolen from an exhibition in London on this day in 1966. The trophy had arrived in England in January 1966 prior to the World Cup finals taking place across the country in July. It was kept at the Football Association headquarters in Lancaster Gate, but was occasionally allowed to be used in publicity events. The Stanley Gibbons stamp company had been given permission to display the trophy as part of its ‘Stampex’ exhibition at the Central Hall in Westminster, which opened the previous day, on the condition that it was kept under guard at all times. Two uniformed officers were on duty at the Hall at all times, supplemented by additional guards when the exhibition itself was open, but the display cabinet was not permanently guarded on Sunday March 20, when a Methodist church service was taking place in the building.

At 12.10pm, when the guards on duty were undertaking their regular patrol of the premises, they realised that the back of the display cabinet had been forced open and the trophy stolen, the thieves having entered and left the building by a fire escape. News of the theft travelled around the world at lightning speed. A spokesman for the Brazilian FA called the loss of the trophy “sacrilege”, and proclaimed it would never happen in his country as Brazilians loved football too much. A £15,000 ‘ransom’ demand given to FA Chairman Joe Mears, who was also sent the trophy’s lid (later reunited with the trophy, above), led to the arrest of a con man by the Flying Squad but not to the trophy’s return. On March 27, a dog called Pickles, owned by David Corbett, began to sniff at a parcel that was lying under the hedge of Corbett's house in south east London. When he unwrapped the newspaper, Corbett immediately recognised the Jules Rimet Trophy. Corbett and Pickles would receive around £6,000 in reward money, and the dog briefly became a media star (above).

After England won the World Cup in July, Corbett and Pickles were invited to the celebration banquet with the victorious squad. Do you remember the theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966? Do you think it was the ‘real’ trophy that was recovered by Pickles? Let us know in the Comments below. The Jules Rimet Trophy – Did you know? The Jules Rimet Trophy was originally named ‘Victory’, but was more widely known as the World Cup. It was officially renamed in 1946 to honour Fifa President Jules Rimet, who had initiated the competition with a vote in 1929. The trophy was designed by Abel Lafleur and made of gold-plated sterling silver on a white/yellow marble base. Its body comprised of a decagonal cup supported by a winged figure representing Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. After Italy won the World Cup in 1938, the trophy was stored in a bank in Rome. During World War II, Italian vice-president of Fifa Ottorino Barassi secretly removed the trophy and kept it in a shoe box under his bed, for fear of it falling into the hands of the Nazis.

Despite only being worth £3,000 at the time, the trophy was insured for £30,000 at the time of its theft. Edward Betchley, the 47-year-old arrested for trying to collect the ransom on the stolen trophy, could not be directly linked to its theft and received a sentence of two years’ imprisonment. He died in 1969. Many theories have been proposed about the theft of the trophy, but the real criminals involved were never caught. Some claim that the trophy Pickles discovered was a replica, in a stage-managed publicity stunt to convince the world that the ‘original’ had been found. After England’s victory, the FA had a replica made of the trophy as a security measure, and it was this that was used in displays and exhibitions until the real trophy was handed back to Fifa in 1970. The replica was bought for a remarkable £254,500 at auction in 1997 – by Fifa.

Brazil were allowed to keep the Jules Rimet Trophy after winning the World Cup for the third time in 1970 – but the trophy was stolen from Rio de Janeiro in 1983, and never recovered. Pickles and the stolen World Cup - FIFA.com On this day in 1966... Pickles and the stolen World Cup (FIFA.com) Listen Most of football’s Hollywood-worthy plots take place on the field, featuring underdog triumphs, late goals and impossible drama. However, arguably one of the game’s greatest storylines, involving mystery, intrigue and an unlikely hero, took place away from the floodlights, featuring a church hall, a ransom note and a loyal dog. On Sunday 20 March 1966, the FIFA World Cup Trophy was stolen. It was an event that sparked global news, panic amongst the FA – who had been granted it ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup™ – and London’s Metropolitan Police, before ultimately making a celebrity of the eventual finder, Pickles the dog, and his owner David Corbett. It’s an event that still resonates with football fans around the globe today, as Corbett will testify. “It is amazing really,” he told FIFA.com.

“I think it’s the fact that every four years it comes up again, it’s not like something that happens and then it’s forgotten.” Journalists from around the globe get in contact to hear his memories of the tale, though he modestly admits: “People remember the dog, they don’t remember me!” While the Collie is the star, the plotline that led to Pickles’ ascension into football folklore is intriguing in its own right before the hairy hero enters during the final act. With the World Cup due to kick off in four months’ time, the FA received a request to display the Trophy at the Stanley Gibbons Stampex stamp Exhibition at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster – a well-policed part of London, just a couple of hundred metres from the Houses of Parliament. Then FIFA President Stanley Rous agreed to this, as long as these three conditions were followed: the Trophy had to be transported by a reputable security firm, it must be placed in a locked glass case which was guarded 24 hours a day and it was to be insured for £30,000. The trophy was only valued at a tenth of that, while it was surrounded by stamps worth £3m.

Crucially, though, security was not around the clock and, with the exhibition closed, somewhere between 11am and 12:10pm – with a church service taking place on the floor below – the perpetrator broke in through the back door and left without a trace. Cue hysteria and embarrassment, after the world-famous trophy was stolen from under the nose of the reputed Metropolitan Police. A golden ransom One member of staff on watch was quoted as saying “nothing at all went wrong with our security, the Cup just got stolen” before police issued a description of a suspect: a slim male in his 30s, sporting slicked black hair and a possible scar on the right of his face. Hoaxes causing halted underground trains and possible sightings ensued, before FA chairman Joe Mears received a ransom note. It began: "Dear Joe Kno [sic] 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's one for the POT." Doesn’t look very World Cup-y to me The policeman on duty's response to David Corbett showing him the recently recovered Jules Rimet trophy The sender, known as ‘Jackson’ eventually agreed to meet in Battersea Park, though instead of Mears, Detective Inspector Len Buggy – posing as the chairman’s assistant ‘McPhee’ – would bring the demanded £15,000. However, the case in fact contained just £500 – concealing newspaper below. After being told to drive around south London for ten minutes the supposed-thief, real name Edward Betchley, caught sight of the police back-up vehicle and ran, only to be arrested. Claiming to just be a middle man, Betchley was eventually convicted as such – getting two years in prison – with the burglar never found, though during his court case Betchley did show he was still a fan of the game, saying: “Whatever my sentence is, I hope that England wins the World Cup.” Heroes to the fore Enter Pickles and Corbett to the stage.

Now a week since the robbery, which had been dissected in detail across the national press, Corbett sets out to the telephone box across the road to see if his brother’s new baby had been born, with Pickles in tow. On his way, the black and white dog started sniffing around at an unusual package. “It was wrapped in tightly-bound newspaper and string, laying against my neighbour’s car wheel,” Corbett retold, likely for around the thousandth time in the last half century. “I picked it up and it’s quite heavy, though not very big – it wasn’t a spectacular cup. “At the time the IRA (Irish Republican Army) were at large, so I personally thought it was a bomb. So I put it down. Picked it up, put it down again. Then curiosity took hold. I tore a bit off the bottom and there was a plain disc. Then I tore around and there was Brazil, Germany, Uruguay.

I ran back in and said to my wife: ‘I think I’ve found the World Cup!’” His wife was unperturbed and when presenting it at his local police station was met with the underwhelmed response of: “Doesn’t look very World Cup-y to me.” Even so, Corbett was whisked away and, once the cup was confirmed as genuine, he suddenly had the realisation that he was in the firing-line. “I was the A1 suspect. Until I was sitting in Cannon Row police station I never even thought of that!” After a few hours of questioning, and a few weeks on a list of suspects, his name was cleared. Stardom followed, with the pair appearing on television and at grand openings, receiving a cash reward. Pickles meanwhile was an extra in a film – the Spy with a Cold Nose – and was given a medal and a year’s supply of dog food. Corbett also remembers the two of them being invited to England’s World Cup winner’s banquet – with Pickles being a very popular guest – even if he eschewed all the pomp and circumstance by relieving himself on the five-star hotel’s elevator doors.

Corbett’s faithful friend remains close still, buried in the garden of the house he resided in South Norwood, the same home where his owner still lives today. And whenever the south London resident sees the iconic image of Bobby Moore, hoisted on shoulders, he knows he played his part. “I feel a bit of pride seeing it and, also, I know I got to hold the original trophy too!” Sign in with Facebook The Dog Who Saved the World Cup - History in the Headlines The Dog Who Saved the World Cup March 24, 2016 By Christopher Klein Pickles, with owner David Corbett. (Credit: Keystone/Getty Images) Share this: The Dog Who Saved the World Cup Author The Dog Who Saved the World Cup URL Google Four months before England won the World Cup in 1966, it actually lost it when a London thief swiped the solid gold trophy awarded to the tournament champions. While Scotland Yard came up empty in its search for soccer’s ultimate prize, it took a pooch named “Pickles” to get his country out of a pickle and crack the case.

On March 20, 1966, a daring thief in London fulfilled the dreams of soccer players around the globe by putting his hands on the Jules Rimet Trophy. Four months before England was set to host the World Cup for the first time, panic and embarrassment swept the country when it was discovered that soccer’s greatest prize had gone missing. The Jules Rimet trophy being locked in a safe. (Credit: SSPL/Getty Images) Sport’s most coveted trophy had gone on display only 24 hours earlier when the National Stamp Exhibition opened in Westminster Central Hall, just a few hundred yards from Scotland Yard headquarters. The Stanley Gibbons stamp company had received permission from FIFA, soccer’s governing body, to display the hardware as part of its “Sports with Stamps” exhibit under the condition that it be guarded around the clock. The defense, however, proved porous as the burglar apparently struck on a Sunday morning while the exhibition was closed and a Methodist service was taking place on the hall’s ground floor. Money was apparently no object as the thief who pried open the back of the glass case swiped the small, solid gold trophy valued at $8,400, leaving untouched stamps worth $8.4 million.

Edward Betchley, who is charged with the theft of the Jules Rimet trophy. (Credit: William H. Alden/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Days later, English Football Association chairman Joe Mears received a package containing a piece of the trophy—which depicted Nike, the Greek goddess of victory—along with a ransom note demanding $42,000. In spite of the blackmailer’s threat to melt the trophy if the police were contacted, Mears alerted the authorities. The extortionist, who identified himself as “Jackson,” agreed to meet the soccer official at Battersea Park to arrange an exchange. When Jackson noticed the lurking police, however, he attempted an escape to no avail. The arrested man—47-year-old dockworker and petty thief Edward Betchley—claimed to be only a middleman and did not divulge the location of the stolen cup. As Scotland Yard continued its furious search a week after the trophy’s disappearance, 26-year-old David Corbett stepped out of his house in a South London suburb to take a Sunday evening stroll with his black-and-white collie, Pickles.

Eager to reach a nearby telephone booth to call his brother who was expecting a new baby, Corbett reached down to put a leash on the canine as he sniffed around a strange package located near the front tire of a neighbor’s car. Corbett picked up the small, but surprisingly heavy, parcel wrapped in tattered newspapers and bound tightly in string. Pickles posing for photographers near the spot where he found the trophy. (Credit: Central Press/Getty Images) “At the time the IRA were active, and it was so tightly wrapped in newspaper I thought it might be a bomb,” Corbett recalled to the Manchester Evening News earlier this week. “So I put it down and then picked it up again a few times. Then I worked up the courage to pull away some of the paper and saw these discs saying ‘Uruguay winners’ and ‘Brazil.’” That’s when the soccer fan realized that Pickles had discovered the missing World Cup trophy. Although his wife, who did not share his passion for soccer, wasn’t overly impressed with the find, Corbett dashed off to the police station so quickly that he forgot he was still wearing his slippers.

He burst through the station doors and declared, “I think I’ve found the World Cup!” The gruff sergeant working at the front desk looked at the diminutive trophy and replied, “It doesn’t look very World Cup-py to me, Sonny.” David Corbett with his dog Pickles. (Credit: Keystone/Getty Images) A detective called in to examine the find determined it was indeed the missing prize, and after some pointed questions, Corbett soon realized he was the prime suspect. After being interrogated into the early hours of the morning, Corbett was finally cleared of any connection to the theft. Overnight, Pickles became a national hero for helping England avoid an international embarrassment. “This has saved our honor in the eyes of the world,” Mears told the press. While Corbett received more than $16,000 in reward money, Pickles secured the services of an agent, made numerous television appearances and inked a contract to appear in a feature film, “The Spy With the Cold Nose.” Queen Elizabeth II presents the trophy to Bobby Moore, captain of England’s national team. (Credit: STAFF/AFP/Getty Images) Betchley, meanwhile, was found guilty for his role in the robbery.

Whether he was indeed a middleman or acting alone has never been determined. Before being locked up for two years, he declared to the court, “Whatever my sentence is, I hope that England wins the World Cup.” On July 30, 1966, Betchley’s hopes—as well as all of England’s—came true following his country’s dramatic 4-2 extra-time victory over West Germany in the World Cup final. Wearing a pair of long white gloves, Queen Elizabeth II handed over the very trophy rescued by Pickles to Bobby Moore, captain of England’s victorious squad. David Corbett and Pickles watch the World Cup Final on TV. (Credit: Downing/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Although Pickles had been relegated to watching the match from the comfort of home on his owner’s lap, the canine hero and his master were guests of honor at the team’s celebration dinner at a London hotel. To the cheers of thousands of delirious fans, Moore appeared on a hotel balcony and held the cup aloft—followed by Pickles.

British Prime Minister Harold Wilson gave the dog a friendly pat on the head, and no one even minded when Pickles lifted his hind leg and heeded nature’s call near an elevator in the posh hotel. Four years later, Brazil was awarded the Jules Rimet Trophy in perpetuity after winning its third World Cup, and FIFA began design of a new award that is now handed out to the tournament’s victors. It turned out that history repeated itself in 1983 when the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen once again. No dog came to the rescue for a second time, however. The trophy has never been found and was likely melted down for its gold. Captain Bobby Moore kissing the trophy following England’s victory. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images) A year after garnering headlines, Pickles met an untimely end when he choked to death when his leash caught on a tree while chasing a cat.

Corbett buried him in a humble grave in his back garden underneath a small plaque that reads: “Pickles, Finder of the World Cup 1966.” Tags How Pickles the dog found the World Cup trophy - 50 years on - BBC Sport How Pickles the dog found the World Cup trophy - 50 years on By Rob Stevens Media playback is not supported on this device Witness: Pickles and the Stolen World Cup Heard the one about the dog who helped England win the World Cup? Triumphant on home soil in 1966, the Three Lions have yet to reach such heights again but do have a chance to reminisce when they face current world champions Germany, the beaten finalists at Wembley 50 years ago, in Berlin on Saturday. However, that iconic image of Bobby Moore lifting the Jules Rimet trophy could have been very different but for the crucial intervention of a mixed breed collie called Pickles. Fifty years ago this weekend, the Football Association was left panicking over the theft of the World Cup less than four months before the tournament was due to begin. Step forward, Pickles.

'The whole thing was amateurish' The Jules Rimet trophy was on display at a stamp exhibition in central London but on Sunday, 20 March - just the second day it was on show - it was taken from its case in Westminster's Central Hall. With the security guards absent on a break, the exact circumstances of how the cup was taken remain a mystery. "The idea there were people by the display case all the time is just not true," said Doctor Martin Atherton, author of the book 'The Theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy'. "The whole thing was amateurish - the fact the FA let the trophy out, the security arrangements and the whole recovery of the trophy. "It came out one of the security guards was 74 years old or something. The security was quite inadequate. "We think two people broke in through an emergency exit, took the trophy and walked out again." The Jules Rimet Trophy, valued at £3,000, was taken from its display case at the Stampex exhibition in March 1966 Ransom note Police at Scotland Yard took control of the investigation but had few leads.

"There were two separate descriptions of two clearly different people - a tall person and a short person," said Atherton. "The description the police put out was an amalgamation of the two." In the meantime, the FA secretly commissioned a replica of the trophy to be made by silversmith George Bird. A ransom note for the trophy was received by then FA chairman Joe Mears, signed by someone called Jackson, demanding £15,000. On police advice Mears, who was also chairman of Chelsea, pretended to agree to the deal. An undercover policeman met Jackson - who was really a former soldier called Edward Betchley - in Battersea Park with a suitcase stuffed with newspapers covered with a layer of £5 notes, and Betchley was eventually arrested. A chance discovery With the trophy still missing despite Betchley's arrest, the crucial moment of discovery came on the evening of Sunday, 27 March. Dave Corbett left his flat in Norwood, south London, to make a phone call and take his dog Pickles for a walk. Little did he know they were about to hit international headlines. "Pickles was running around over by my neighbour's car," explained Corbett.

"As I was putting the lead on I noticed this package laying there, wrapped just in newspaper but very tightly bound with string. "I tore a bit off the bottom and there was a blank shield, then there were the words Brazil, West Germany and Uruguay printed. "I tore off the other end and it was a lady holding a very shallow dish above her head. I'd seen the pictures of the World Cup in the papers and on TV so my heart started thumping." Pickles found the World Cup trophy after his owner Dave Corbett left his flat to make a phone call Not 'World Cuppy' Corbett went to his local police station to present the trophy and was initially met with disbelief. "I slammed it on the desk in front of the sergeant and said 'I think I have found the World Cup'. "I remember his words: 'Doesn't look very World Cuppy to me, son'. Eventually, a detective was summoned and Corbett was taken to Scotland Yard for questioning. "It suddenly dawned on me that I was number one suspect," he added. "After an hour or so they ran me back home.

When I got back to Norwood there was all the world's press outside." Once the police cleared him of any wrongdoing, Corbett - and in particular Pickles - became the subject of the international media spotlight. Police display the Jules Rimet trophy to the press in London following its discovery by Pickles A role on film and angry women Pickles was awarded a medal by the National Canine Defence League and received several other rewards. The collie became a TV star and even appeared in a film with Eric Sykes called The Spy with a Cold Nose. "He won Dog of the Year, Italian Dog of the Year and appeared on television on Blue Peter and Magpie," said Corbett, now 76. "He lapped it up and was perfect under the lights. "He was invited to most countries in the world but in those days it was six months' quarantine when you came back." On the back of his fame Pickles got a role in the 1966 film The Spy with a Cold Nose, starring Eric Sykes (bottom left) Corbett, meanwhile, got pay-outs from sponsors and the cup's insurers, which totalled almost £5,000.

The pair were invited to a celebratory dinner after England beat West Germany 4-2 following extra time in the final. "We went into the hotel with all these celebrities and Pickles walked over to the lift shaft and did a wee. I felt so embarrassed," recalled Corbett. "All the wives of the footballers were there but they weren't invited up to the main reception. I have never met so many angry women. "Afterwards, the England team went out on to a balcony and the street was full of people. We went with them and Bobby Moore picked Pickles up and showed him to the crowd, and there were cheers." The FA were so concerned about the Jules Rimet trophy going missing again they arranged for policeman Peter Weston to switch the original with Bird's replica during England's post-match celebrations at Wembley An unfortunate end Corbett bought a house in Surrey with his reward money and was a prosecution witness at the trial of Betchley, who was subsequently sent to jail. However, Pickles did not live much longer to bask in his newfound fame - passing away in 1967. "He was a perfect dog, except he didn't like cats," said Corbett.

"He was outside with my son and had a choke-chain on when a cat shot across the alleyway. Pickles pulled the boy, he let the lead go and the dog went away. "We were looking everywhere and at the back of garden there was a tree and he was halfway up there. I think he must have broken his neck." Pickles is now buried at the bottom of Corbett's garden in Lingfield. Pickles was buried in Corbett's garden with a plaque which reads: Pickles - finder of the World Cup 1966 As for the Jules Rimet trophy, it was given to Brazil following their third triumph in the competition in Mexico in 1970. However, it was stolen from the Brazilian Football Confederation's building when it was on display in 1983 and never recovered. It is believed that it was melted down for gold. The replica, returned to Bird and kept in a box under his bed until his death, was bought at auction by world governing body Fifa in 1997 and is now in the National Football Museum in Manchester. Have you added the new Top Story alerts in the BBC Sport app?

Simply head to the menu in the app - and don't forget you can also add score alerts for your football team and more. Share this page Video: Jules Rimet trophy comes to Old Trafford - Official Manchester United Website 30/03/2016 14:58, Report by Sam Ludbrook Jules Rimet trophy comes to Old Trafford The Jules Rimet trophy visited Old Trafford recently, to mark 50 years since it was stolen in the run-up to the 1966 World Cup. The iconic silverware was famously found by Pickles the dog on 27 March 1966, under a hedge and wrapped in newspaper, a week after it had been taken. As a tribute to Pickles, it toured several landmarks around Manchester and United was proud to be one of the hosts. After being photographed in various locations around the stadium, the trophy was taken to United’s museum, where World Cup winners Sir Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles are also honoured.

Lifted by Bobby Moore in July 1966, following England’s 4-2 win over West Germany after extra time in the final at Wembley, the Jules Rimet is usually housed in the National Football Museum in Manchester.

Question: What was the name of the dog who found the World Cup in 1966 after it had been stolen?
Answer: Pickles