%20(1).png)
The Tichborne Claimant was either a 19th century lord, long thought missing at sea or a butcher from Wagga spinning an elaborate lie to get his hands on the Tichborne fortune.
After the real Roger Tichborne was lost at sea in 1854, his mother refused to believe him dead. Her worldwide search for her lost son lead to Australia where Tom Castro, a butcher from the Australian outback, admitted that he was the missing nobleman. Tichborne’s mother believed Castro was her son despite him being shorter, fatter and not speaking French like Roger did.
And then there is the matter of Tichborne’s retractable penis…
In this episode author and historian Robyn Annear explores one of the most notorious court cases in Australian history and Nicholas gets distracted by the phrase ‘Retractable Penis.’
A blended image of Roger Tichborne and the Tichborne Claimant
In his podcast Scamapalooza Nicholas attempts to separate facts from fraud as he explores the worlds of deception, illusion and swindles with the rogues gallery of writers, magicians, comedians and confidence artists that are his guests.
Nicholas J. Johnson is a Melbourne magician, author, entertainer and collector of scams.