Today on the blog, just for a bit of fun, we’re looking at some of the greatest lies told in history and their far reaching consequences……….

Robert Louis Stevenson once said that “the cruellest lies are often told in silence”, but there are some lies that have become so famous that the figures who told them wished that they too had kept to silence!

Perhaps the most famous political lies of this century have emerged from across the Atlantic. The Watergate scandal of the 1970’s was the biggest string of political lies, deceit and fraud that the American public had ever seen, and resulted in Richard Nixon being the first American president to resign from office, although he was the only Watergate schemer who did not spend any time in jail.

The effects of the scandal were enormous. Politics, and the behaviour of senior politicians began to be regarded with great cynicism by many people, especially in relation to the Republican Party. The Watergate scandal was the driving force for reforms in the regulation of lawyers, and in the amendment of the Freedom of Information Act.

Just when American politics was beginning to recover, and the world thought they had a trustworthy and down to earth White House resident, scandal hit again in 1998 with the Clinton and Lewinsky affair. President Bill Clinton resolutely denied claims of an extra marital affair with a young intern at the White House named Monica Lewinsky, but his denial was later discovered to be untrue, as the famous blue dress and taped recordings of conversations Lewinsky had with a friend were used as evidence against him.

Luckily for Clinton, he did not suffer the same fate as his peer Nixon, and although accused of perjury and abuse of power, these charges were later dropped and Clinton was acquitted and remained in office. However, his actions were seen as dishonest and immoral by the American voters, and the public never quite forgave him for shattering their image of him as an honourable and honest, family man.

Clinton was not the only man in history to be troubled because of lustful desires. When the most famous king of England, Henry VIII^th became disenchanted with his second wife Anne Boleyn and his sights were already set on his third wife Jane Seymour, he had to devise a plan to release him from his marriage. With the help of Thomas Cromwell, it is believed that Henry conjured a plot and a string of untruths that meant Anne Boleyn was charged with treason, adultery and incest. Although her alleged lovers confessed to having relationships with Anne, these confessions were gained under torture. Nevertheless, the king’s court found Anne guilty and on May 19^th 1536, she was beheaded at the Tower of London, where it is reported that her restless ghost still wanders today.

Another very famous historical fantasist was the German baron Karl Munchhausen, born in 1720. He loved to tell tales of his life as an adventurer, soldier and sportsman. His feats were reported to include travelling to the moon, riding on a canon ball and pulling himself out of the ocean with his own hair! The tales were later collected and published by an anonymous author, and there have since been many adaptations and editions of the tales. Munchhausen has even inspired several films, included one directed by Terry Gilliam in 1988 and a board game where players are challenged to taking part in role plays and tale telling.

The most famous of fictional fibbers of course is everyone’s favourite liar, Pinocchio, who was dreamt up in 1883 by Italian Carlo Collodi. Pinocchio captured hearts all over the world, perhaps most famously in the Disney animated adaptation of the story in 1940, where the little wooden puppet had to learn to be “brave, truthful and unselfish” if he was to become a real boy, which, after several nose lengthening lies, he achieves at the end of the story.

From wiki commons

Several literary lies have recently been exposed, and shocked the media and the readers that have felt they have been duped. James Frey’s first book “A Million Little Pieces” was published in 2002 and was a memoir of his battle with alcohol and drug addiction. The book was a huge success and became a New York Times Number 1 Bestseller. However, it was later revealed that some parts of the book had been heavily embellished, and were even fictitious.

A very public controversy ensued, with the author and his publisher famously appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show to confront Oprah’s unease at the fictitious content of the book. The author later admitted he had inflated many parts of the memoir, and his publishers agreed to refund the price of the book to any of its readers who felt deceived. New editions of the book include a note for the reader which explained that the nature of some of the content. The James Frey case sparked a much wider debate about the use of creative licence and the nature of the written memoir.

There is perhaps one thing that all these famous deceivers have in common, and that is if it wasn’t for their legendary lies, the history books would probably have long forgotten most of them!