Pickles: The dog who saved the World Cup

Pickles being photographed after he found the Jules Rimet Trophy

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Some wear capes. Others engage enemies on battle lines. They are seldom on all fours and bark.

Such is the story of Pickles.

Hosting he 1966 World Cup was a huge affair for England. It was their moment to show the world what they were made of. Despite being the birthplace of 'The Beautiful Game', they had fallen behind their South American counterparts and their European neighbours.

So when the Jules Rimet Trophy went missing on 20 March 1966, from the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster where it was on exhibition for a Stamps with sports exhibition panic ran through the English FA. Englishman Sir Stanley Rous was then the President of FIFA.

England, in danger of being the laughing stock of the world kept the theft a secret. They even attempted to get a replica of the trophy made from a local silversmith.

A hoax ransom call and an arrest later, things weren't any clearer. No one had a clue where it was.

When the news broke out, people attempted all sorts of methods including magic to recover the elusive trophy.

A week later on 27 March, 1966 Surrey resident David Corbett along with his pet Pickles stepped out of his house to make a phone call from the phone box across the street.

Pickels drew Corbett's attention to a paper-wrapped package next to a shrub in his front garden. When he opened the package, he found the biggest prize in world football, the Jules Rimet Trophy.

"I thought it was a bomb," he said, "there was a lot of IRA action at the time. Even when I starting taking off the paper and saw it was a statue, nothing really stirred. Then I noticed it said Brazil, West Germany and so on and ran into my wife immediately. It wasn't very World Cuppy though very small."

Corbett and Pickles were immediately zeroed down as suspects. Both of them spent the early hours of the following morning in the Scotland Yard office.

"I was thinking, 'What have I done here?, Why didn't I just throw it back in the road?' There were 20 coppers each side of me and I was getting a bit worried."

"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.

When the Police realised it was a dead-end they cleared them of all suspicion.

Next came the plaudits.

Corbett received a £6,000 reward. Pickles was made Dog of the Year, and awarded a year's free supply of food. He also got a prominent role in the film, The Spy with the Cold Nose.

When England won the World Cup later that year, Pickles and his owners were invited to a lavish banquet. Pickles even got to lick his owner's plate clean after he was done.

Both of them enjoyed celebrity status in the country. After all, they had brought the country from the brink of international shame.

Dave Corbett recreates the finding of the world cup by his dog Pickles on Beulah Hill in 2013

It all came to and end soon though as PIckles died the following year after choking on his lease while chasing a neighbour's cat. He was buried in the backyard of Corbett's new house in Surrey.A far from truth account of Pickles' story was shown in 2006 drama, called Pickles: The Dog Who Won The World Cup.

The Trophy was handed over to Brazil permanently in 1970 since they had won it thrice. It was stolen again in 1983 from the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. This time Pickles was not around to save the day.