Well, such was Victor Lustig’s confidence that he managed to convince not just one but two men that he had the authority to sell the iconic building. Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. As the most commanding mistress in the French court, she bettered the lives of many and became a beloved figure…. Perhaps never in American history has the word “liar” been thrown around so promiscuously as over the last few years. Eventually, researchers realized someone had simply stained a human jawbone to look old and buried it with orangutan teeth. Han van Meegeren was a great painter, but his work was going nowhere. Remembered as Wild Bill Hickok’s sidekick, her popularity might have even overtaken his at times. The CEO and chairman of Enron, he was one of the richest and most influential businessmen in the world before his mismanagement and dishonesty led to the company going bankrupt and over 20,000 employees losing their jobs. Still, St. Germain was a great favorite at court, in part because he claimed he could fix the flaws in gemstones. Bernie Madoff is a former stockbroker and investment advisor who is serving a 150-year prison sentence for executing one of the largest financial Ponzi schemes in history. The army accused him of selling secrets to the Germans. I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. After her passing, he advertised her “autopsy” as an attraction and took 50 cents from each audience member who wanted to watch her being “cut up.” This process revealed she was actually in her 80s, half of what Barnum had been telling his audience. The Fact Checker is keeping a running list of all of President Trump’s false or misleading claims, reviewing every word the president says (or tweets) to compile an exhaustive catalogue of misstatements. Several members of the Chicago White Sox lied to their fans when they accepted $100,000 to lose the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Nixon and his team took the idea of “keep an eye on your enemy” a little too literally. Thanks for your help! Talk of the County: 'President Obama is the biggest liar' Oct 30, 2018 at 10:30 AM ormer President Barack Obama speaks during a rally in Detroit Friday, Oct. 26, 2018. On the way, he became a master cheque-forger and swindled banks out of millions of dollars. At some point this week, Obama and his team seemed to figure out that their seven-month jig was up. [1], In 2008, John "Johnny Liar" Graham won the competition for the seventh time after telling the judges a story of a magical ride to Scotland in a wheelie bin that went under the sea. Obama is the biggest liar in U.S. presidential history. There was only one problem: The Americans captured the British general he was in cahoots with. He served time, but eventually, the FBI realized that he possessed a very useful set of skills. [2], Paul Burrows from Essex won the competition in 2010. At Factinate, we’re dedicated to getting things right. [4] The previous year Graham's winning lie was that a World War II German submarine had invaded Britain to capture digital television decoders. It’s the nature of the job, almost, to skew facts toward a political end,” said University of Memphis historian Aram Goudsouzian. Makes you feel bad for those readers! So, the Greeks won and the Trojan Horse became legendary. The entire debacle had been an anti-semitic attempt to turn public opinion against Jewish people in France. Joe Biden. After years of passionate denial and personal attacks against anyone who claimed otherwise, the truth finally came out in 2012. ... By the time Nazism arose in Germany in... 2. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from “Life” to “Compact Cars and Trucks” to “A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius.” We’ll get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics you’re interested in. Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant, made a fortune off of lying to people. Benedict Arnold Arnold was initially one of the better U.S. generals during the Revolutionary War and is largely... 2. Kim Philby was part of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service for many years. Ironically, his names include both the “Father of History” as well as the “Father of Lies” because of his tendency to embellish the truth. Perhaps never in American history has the word “liar” been thrown around so promiscuously as over the last few years. Authorities eventually charged Lay for securities fraud and for misleading investors—but he died before his sentence hearing. Borgia supposedly had five more kids with other women as well. Rodrigo de Borgia, or Pope Alexander VI, was one of a kind, to put it mildly. He offered peace, but what he meant was that he was gong to start a civil war in Russia and then launched “suicidal” attack on Germany. Their sloppy pitching became the reason for their loss, and but almost immediately, people could tell something was up. Nope. Authorities caught up to him in 2008, and that’s when the world finally learned that he’d been swindling billions from many innocent investors. Most prominent among them is Bernie Madoff. Nobody ever saw him eat, and he talked about past events so familiarly it seemed he had been there. Let’s just…, The Borgias (2011–2013), Showtime Networks, The Spy Who Went Into the Cold (2013), CTVC, The Tudors (2007–2010), Showtime Networks, Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress, Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s First Wife, Shot Through The Heart! He was hiding them and sending them to concentration camps or … He told a story of how the lakes and mountains of the Cumbrian countryside had been stolen from the county of Essex, leaving it as flat as it is today. The biggest liar in US political history is the one currently occupying the White House. Bad idea. Although he only revealed the truth when he had absolutely no other option, he was able to come out of the scandal relatively unscathed. Robert Ripley’s Believe it or Not comic strip was so popular that it earned him a $100,000 salary from the infamous William Randolph Hearst—during the Great Depression no less. The CEO and chairman of Enron, he was one of the richest and most influential businessmen in the world before his mismanagement and dishonesty led to the company going bankrupt and over 20,000 employees losing their jobs. Barnum exhibited many other humans who appeared “different” and passed them off as anomalies. The Swede helped thousands of Jews escape from concentration camps by providing them with fake passports and papers. Above all else, Arnold was a jealous man, and he felt like the Americans hadn’t given him proper respect. [1] Her winning tall tale was about how the ozone layer became damaged, ice caps melted and people had to be taken to work on camels. One of Ritson's most famous fibs was that turnips grew so large in the Lake District that people carved them out to make cow sheds. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. If it happened (it probably didn’t) it’s one of the greatest deceptions in history. Watch: President Trump is … Ever. The 7 Biggest Liars in Presidential History 1. Afterward, he ordered the men to stand guard, went to the train station himself, and disappeared. While Charles didn’t take it seriously initially, everyone around him did and this lie led to the deaths of many Catholics at the hands of the Protestants. He had to give them up when the Supreme Court subpoenaed them though, and he resigned when his impeachment became inevitable. And he seems intent on dominating the category the way Rocky Marciano dominated the heavyweight boxing ranks in the 1950s. Historians see in Trump the biggest liar in presidential politics. Why did people like it so much? [11] He is the nephew of Joss Naylor, better known as a fell runner, but himself also a former winner of the competition. He and Charles Ponzi would probably have been best friends if they met! 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