World's Biggest Liar

The World's Biggest Liar competition is held every November at the Bridge Inn, Santon Bridge, in memory of Will Ritson (1808–1890), a pub landlord^[3] from Wasdale, who was well known for his "tall tales".^[4] One of Ritson's most famous fibs was that turnips grew so large in the Lake District that people carved them out to make cow sheds.^[4]

The World's Biggest Liar competition is held every November at the Bridge Inn, Santon Bridge, in memory of Will Ritson (1808–1890), a pub landlord^[3] from Wasdale, who was well known for his "tall tales".^[4] One of Ritson's most famous fibs was that turnips grew so large in the Lake District that people carved them out to make cow sheds.^[4]

In 2003, Abrie Krueger of South Africa was named the world's biggest liar after telling a story about how he was crowned King of the Wasdale Valley. This marked the first time that a foreigner had won the competition, which was marked with allegations of Krueger having cheated.^[5] A Bishop of Carlisle^[6] was supposed to have once won the competition with the shortest-ever speech; he simply said, "I have never told a lie in my life."^[7]

Comedienne Sue Perkins won the competition in 2006, marking the first time in the event's history that a woman won the competition.^[1] Her winning tall tale was about how theozone layer became damaged, ice caps melted and people had to be taken to work on camels.^[1]

In 2008, John "Johnny Liar" Graham won the competition for the seventh time after telling the judges a story of a magical ride to Scotland in a wheelie bin that went under the sea.^[4] The previous year Graham's winning lie was that a World War II German submarine had invaded Britain to capture digital television decoders.^[2]

Paul Burrows from Essex won the competition in 2010. He told a story of how the lakes and mountains of the Cumbrian countryside had been stolen from the county of Essex, leaving it as flat as it is today.^[8]

The 2011 winner is Glen Boylan. His story involved betting on a snail race with Prince Charles (who advised him to remove the shell to make it more aerodynamic) and losing because his opponents cheated with battery-operated snails.^[9][10]

2013 saw Mike Naylor win for the third time of his Lying career. Naylor, a 57 year old man from Wasdale told a story about Wassie, the monster that lives in Wastwater, the local lake. ^[11]