It has been exactly 60 years since a black and white collie dog called Pickles saved England's blushes and found the stolen Jules Rimet Trophy. The unlikely hero's discovery came after the trophy had been stolen from a public exhibition just a few months before the 1966 World Cup was due to get underway in England. The pooch's heroics made him a superstar in the UK, but tragically the "dog of the year" met a premature end just a year later.
The Theft
On March 20, 1966, the trophy was on exhibition at London's Westminster Hall. At around 11am, a security guard checked the space where the famous silverware was being housed and noticed – to his horror – that the prize that was to be awarded at that year's World Cup in England was gone.
The disappearance made national news and a huge trophy-hunt was launched. With the clock ticking until the competition got underway in the summer, FIFA members' pulses were racing when, after a week, the Jules Rimet cup still hadn't been found.
The Discovery
That was until the mighty Pickles stepped up as he sniffed around a neighbor's car in Upper Norwood, south London. His owner David Corbett recalled in 2016: "There was a package by the front wheel. It was very tightly wrapped - the IRA was in action in those days and I thought to myself 'was it a bomb?' So I picked it up. Put it down. Picked it up, put it down again. I tore a little bit off the bottom and saw a shield. I recognised it straight away and thought 'This is it!'"
Corbett was initially treated as a suspect before being cleared of any wrongdoing once the trophy had been identified as the real thing. As for Pickles, he was presented with a cash prize for finding the treasure and was photographed posing with a football.
Stardom and Tragedy
Pickles was immediately catapulted into stardom, which was amplified when Bobby Charlton's boys won the World Cup later that year. If dogs could talk – Pickles would tell one hell of a story. He was named Dog of the Year in both the UK and West Germany and was promised a year's supply of free dog food. He also starred as himself in a biopic. For a while he became the Harry Styles of the canine world.
Celebrity, however, is so often stalked by tragedy. Shortly before his sixth birthday, Pickles died after his lead caught on a branch as he chased a cat. He was buried in his owner's back garden and his collar is on display in the National Football Museum in Manchester.
Legacy
The game Reverse: 1999 features Pickles as a playable character, with an interpretation of the theft of the Trophy as part of its storyline.
