Authors confess to "cello scrotum" spoof
Pranksters come clean over "cello scrotum" rouse after 30 years
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Wednesday, 28, Jan 2009 09:06
The co-authors of a spoof letter sent to the British Medical Journal more than 30 years ago have finally come clean over their "cello scrotum" ruse.
In 1974, John Murphy and Elaine Murphy submitted correspondence to the BMJ citing a condition dubbed "cello scrotum", which was published by the then-editors.
And after seeing the letter referenced by Dr S Bache and Dr F Edenborough in an article in December 2008, entitled "A symphony of maladies", the authors decided to declare their prank.
Mr and Mrs Murphy said their letter had been prompted by a previous submission to the BMJ by a Mr P Curtis on a condition called "guitar nipple", which they suspected was a prank.
They said this had influenced them to invent "cello scrotum" and write to the journal, although they admitted to being surprised when their correspondence was published.
"Reading Curtis' 1974 letter to the BMJ on guitar nipple, we thought it highly likely to be a spoof and decided to go one further by submitting a letter pretending to have noted a similar phenomenon in cellists, signed by the non-doctor one of us (JPM)," the authors wrote.
"Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realise the physical impossibility of our claim.
"Somewhat to our astonishment, the letter was published.
"The following Christmas we sent a card to Dr Curtis of guitar nipple fame, only to discover that he knew nothing about it - another joke we suspect."
They added: "We have been dining out on this story ever since.
"We were thrilled once more to be quoted in 'A symphony of maladies'."