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1966 theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy

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The Jules Rimet Trophy, awarded to the winner of the football World Cup, was stolen in 1966 prior to the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. The trophy was later recovered by a dog named Pickles who was later commended and gained a cult following for his heroism. One man was convicted for being involved but other possible culprits are still unknown. The trophy was eventually won by the hosting team England.

The Queen presents the Jules Rimet trophy to England winning captain Bobby Moore weeks after the trophy was safely recovered.

Trophy placed in an exhibition

The Football Association had received the silver-gilt trophy in January 1966 before the scheduled World Cup tournament the next July. It was usually kept in their headquarters at Lancaster Gate apart from for a couple of publicity events. In February, Stanley Gibbons' stamp company received permission to place the Trophy in their Stampex exhibition in March on condition that it would be under guard at all times. The trophy was also insured for £30,000 (despite its official value being only £3,000).

The exhibition was held in the Westminster Central Hall and opened on 19 March 1966, and the World Cup was a major attraction. Two uniformed officers guarded the trophy around the clock, reinforced by two plainclothes officers during the day. Additional guards stood beside the display cabinet when the exhibition was open, but nobody was watching the trophy all the time. On Sundays the Central Hall was used for Methodist services.

Theft

On Sunday 20 March, when the guards began a noon circuit, around 12:10 they noticed that someone had forced open the display case and the rear doors of the building and stolen the trophy. The wooden bar that held the door closed was lying on the floor; thieves had removed the screws and bolts that held it from the other side of the door. They had removed the padlock from the back of the display case, taken the trophy and left the way they came. None of the guards had seen or heard anything suspicious, though one of them reported that he had seen a strange man by the public telephone when he had visited the lavatory on the first floor.[1]Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Pettifor also revealed the sources of his investigations in a seven part 2020 podcast series called Stealing Victory.[2]

The theft of the Jules Rimet Trophy has been interpreted in the game Reverse: 1999, featuring Pickles as a playable character.[3]

References

  1. ^ "1966: Football's World Cup stolen". BBC News. BBC. 20 March 1966. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  2. ^ "Stealing Victory". Spotify.
  3. ^ "Ver.1.1[The Theft of the Rimet Cup] Version Update Maintenance Preview". Reverse: 1999 | Off to the Next Era.

Further reading

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