Barry Larkin (prankster)

Larkins backside and told him to run.[5]

Larkin did so, running the rest of the way to Sydney Town
Hall. He ran the rest of the route, protected by police
who thought that he was Dillon. Larkin then presented
the torch to Hills. As Hills was unprepared, he did not
look at the torch and went straight to his speech. While
Hills was talking, Larkin walked quietly away, avoiding
attention. Hills was not told the torch was a fake until
someone whispered in his ear that it was a fake. Hills
looked around for Larkin, but by now Larkin had merged
into the crowd and escaped.[2][3][5]
The Nazi origins of the Olympic Flame relay was one of the reasons why Barry Larkin protested against it.

1.1 Aftermath

Barry Larkin is a veterinary surgeon from Melbourne,

Australia who performed a hoax during the 1956 SumWhen the crowd discovered that the torch was fake, they
mer Olympics where he pretended to be running with the
began to grow unruly. When Dillon arrived with the real
Olympic Flame.
torch, the crowd was still unsettled. Hills had to calm
down the crowd and the police had to clear a path to allow
Dillon to get through. When Button took the torch, an
1 Hoax
army truck had to clear his path.[2]
When Larkin returned to university, he was congratulated
by the director of the college and was given a standing
ovation by fellow students when he attended an exam later
that morning. He was able to perpetrate the hoax partly
because he was acquainted with Marc Marsden, the organiser of the real relay. Larkin went on to become a
[5]
The plan was to get one of the other students, dressed in successful veterinary surgeon.
white shorts and a white top, to carry a fake torch. The The fake torch was taken to the reception of the main hall
fake was made of a wooden chair leg painted silver, on top and then ended up in the possession of John Lawler, who
of which was a plum pudding can. A pair of underpants, had been travelling with the relay in a car. He kept it until
worn by one of the students in National Service, was put it was accidentally lost when tidying his house.[2]
inside the can, soaked in kerosene. The underpants were
set on re. Another student dressed as a motorcycle outrider by wearing a reserve airforce uniform.[2][3][4]
Larkin and eight other students at St Johns College, University of Sydney, planned to protest against the Olympic
Flame. One reason was that the torch relay was invented
by the Nazis for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin,
Germany.[1]

The torch was scheduled to enter Sydney, carried by

Harry Dillon. Dillon would present the Torch to the
Mayor of Sydney, Pat Hills, at Sydney Town Hall. Hills
would then make a speech and pass the torch to Bert Button.[2] Before Dillon arrived, the two students went out
carrying the fake torch. At the beginning, people noticed they were joking and even had the police laughing at
them. Then the underpants fell out of the torch because
the fake runner was swinging his arms too hard. The runner panicked and ed. Peter Gralton, one of the nine students, went to get the pants and told Larkin to pick up
the torch. With Larkin holding the torch, Gralton kicked

1.2 Inspiration
During the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the media
reported the story of Larkins hoax. As a result, the police took measures to prevent any repetition of the hoax
from occurring. This included security guards lining the
route. However, this was not popular, as some people
complained that they could not see the torch. There were
two attempts to disrupt the relay; two people attempted
to steal the torch and one man tried to put out the torch
using a re extinguisher, but none succeeded.[2]
1

References

[1] Bowlby, Chris (2008-04-05). The Olympic torchs shadowy past. BBC. Archived from the original on 6 April
2008. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
[2] Olympic Underwear Relay. Museum of Hoaxes. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
[3] Stephen Fry (2007). QI Presents: Strictly Come Duncing
(DVD). Warner Music Entertainment.
[4] Turpin, Adrian (2004-08-08). Olympics Special: The
Lost Olympians (Page 1)". Find Articles, originally The
Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on
2008-04-13. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
[5] Turpin, Adrian (2004-08-08). Olympics Special: The
Lost Olympians (Page 2)". Find Articles, originally The
Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on
2008-04-13. Retrieved 2008-04-06.

REFERENCES

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