By definition an urban legend is an often lurid story or anecdote that is based on hearsay and widely circulated as true. You can never be totally certain that one of these accounts is authentic but to be considered an urban legend the tale must have its foundations based on fact – you can’t just make something up, wholesale, and call it an urban legend.
So then what are your favourite urban legends??? Both with regard to (i) horse racing and (ii) the wider world. Mine would be:
(i) It was the annual Breeders Cup jamboree and Barrington Hills was about to walk through the ‘Owners and Trainer’s' gate to gain entry. He is abruptly stopped by a filly security guard, who is as wide as she is tall, and told there is no admittance without the relevant pass. ‘Do you know who I am?!?’, thunders Barrington, ‘I’m the legendary English racehorse trainer, Barry Hills’. ‘Honey’, responds the security guard, ‘I don’t care if you’re Beverley Hills you ain’t going through that gate without a pass’. After a string of profanities Barrington tersely turned on his heels and returned to his hotel to get his documentation.
(ii) One Saturday old boy John Prescott’s phone rings. It’s a tabloid newspaper who tell him that tomorrow they will be publishing a story detailing an affair he had and asks for a comment. Brusquely, Prescott gives a ‘potty mouthed’ response. He then calls for the Fragrant Pauline before hesitantly breaking the news of his relationship with another MP. He concludes by saying this is the first time he has been unfaithful and that it will never happen again. The Fragrant Pauline storms from the room amid an atmosphere of animosity and enmity. By the following morning the Fragrant Pauline has calmed down a notch or two but still silence reigns in 'Prescott Towers' as the Sunday papers pop through the letterbox and fall on the old mat. And the headline – ‘John Prescott had affair with his Secretary’.
So then what are your favourite urban legends??? Both with regard to (i) horse racing and (ii) the wider world. Mine would be:
(i) It was the annual Breeders Cup jamboree and Barrington Hills was about to walk through the ‘Owners and Trainer’s' gate to gain entry. He is abruptly stopped by a filly security guard, who is as wide as she is tall, and told there is no admittance without the relevant pass. ‘Do you know who I am?!?’, thunders Barrington, ‘I’m the legendary English racehorse trainer, Barry Hills’. ‘Honey’, responds the security guard, ‘I don’t care if you’re Beverley Hills you ain’t going through that gate without a pass’. After a string of profanities Barrington tersely turned on his heels and returned to his hotel to get his documentation.
(ii) One Saturday old boy John Prescott’s phone rings. It’s a tabloid newspaper who tell him that tomorrow they will be publishing a story detailing an affair he had and asks for a comment. Brusquely, Prescott gives a ‘potty mouthed’ response. He then calls for the Fragrant Pauline before hesitantly breaking the news of his relationship with another MP. He concludes by saying this is the first time he has been unfaithful and that it will never happen again. The Fragrant Pauline storms from the room amid an atmosphere of animosity and enmity. By the following morning the Fragrant Pauline has calmed down a notch or two but still silence reigns in 'Prescott Towers' as the Sunday papers pop through the letterbox and fall on the old mat. And the headline – ‘John Prescott had affair with his Secretary’.
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