That’s because The Santon Bridge Inn, located by the rolling hills and sugar caves of Cumbria’s Wasdale Valley, is the site of an annual contest to find the world’s biggest liar.

The unlikely contest attracts fibbers, liars and storytellers from all over the world. Competitors have up to five minutes to tell the biggest and most convincing lie they can without the aid of any props. Members of the legal profession and politicians are banned from entering as it is felt they are too practiced!

This year, entrants from America, Brazil, Australia and, according to one teller of tall tales, Narnia entered the fray. But they were no match for Cumbria’s own John Graham, a man so adept at fibbing that he’s known as Johnny Liar. 69-year-old Graham span a yarn that involved him catching a 9 foot cod that somehow involved German U-Boat crews storming Cumbria to capture Digital TV set top boxes. His excellent equivocating secured him the title of world’s biggest liar for an unprecedented sixth time.

Competition controversies

For a contest based on dishonesty, there have unsurprisingly been a few controversial incidents at The Santon Bridge fib-fest over the years. In 2006, comedian Sue Perkins, who was making a documentary about the event, ended up winning the contest with a tale about flatulent local sheep causing holes in the ozone layer.

In 2003, allegations of cheating and racist abuse tarnished the competition as a foreigner claimed the title for the first time. Abrie Kruger, a South African, was subjected to an audience chorus of Rule Britannia and abused for “not being Cumbrian” after his story of being anointed as the King of the Wasdale Valley was deemed the best lie by tournament judges.