Can you tell which of these urban myths are actually true?

Everyone's heard an urban myth - those stories that definitely happened to a friend of a friend of a friend, or their neighbour's cousin's wife. But more astonishing than the outlandishness of the tales is that, just occasionally, one turns out to be true. Now historian Alex Boese has collected the best, and worst, urban myths together in a new book. But can you tell if the following are fact or fiction?

HITLER'S BABY PHOTO

The photo of 'baby Adolf' surfaced in 1933 and was distributed by Acme Newspictures to all its subscribers. As a result, it ran in many British news-papers. Even so, the photo wasn't real.

It actually showed an American child called John May Warren. A hoaxer had somehow obtained the photo (it's not clear how) and darkened the child's features to make him look more menacing. In fact, Hitler was a very cute-looking baby.

Status: FALSE

A HIPPO ATE A DWARF

The story goes that one night in a circus, a dwarf called Od was bouncing happily on a trampoline. Then - for reasons unknown - he pinged off, and straight into the jaws of a yawning hippo waiting nearby. The hippo's gag reflex caused it to swallow, and it was curtains for the circus performer.

Versions of this story have cropped up over the past ten years on the internet, in newspapers in Thailand and Australia, and even in the Manchester Evening News.

But the truth is that it almost certainly didn't happen, and may even have been dreamed up by U.S. humour magazine National Lampoon.

The only thing we can say with certainty is that it was penned at some time before 1994, and since then it has been swallowed (sorry) by thousands of people.

Status: FALSE

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