Tangerinegate

Tangerinegate refers to a hoax phone-call to the London radio station LBC in February 2010, which claimed that the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had thrown a tangerine at a laminating machine. This hoax was then reported in British national media without further verfication.
The Phone Call
According to the Financial Times Westminster Blog, a caller called Robin from West Hampstead told a phone-in show:
“……he threw a tangerine which he had, and it hit a machine, the actual lamination machine, and the actual fruit got stuck in the machine and clogged the whole machine, the whole machine broke down because of the peel, and it was very embarrassing, we had to sort of stop the tour and he got even more angry and he called the person that gave him the tangerine a citric idiot and shouted.
“They sat him down…you could see they were giving him tea and calming him down.
“And then he apologised and afterwards he gave a signed photograph of us which we put up but someone stole. But I have witnessed at first hand, it’s very strange.”
This phone call was actually fictious, being made by comedy writer Robert Popper
Reporting the phone call
This hoax was reported as a true event in the Daily Telegraph and the Sun, as well as being referenced (although it was noted that it was only 'alleged') on comedy news show The Bubble. The Financial Times website published a blog post,stating its belief that the story was a hoax. The FT also reported on the emergence of a computer animated version of the the events from Hong Kong. Similar stories regarding Gordon Brown having temper tantrums were widely published in the British media during February 2010, following publicity about Andrew Rawnsley's upcoming book The End of the Party
The Financial Times has issued a follow up post acknowledging the hoax.
Reaction
Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science reported on his Twitter feed that this "Awe-inspiring hoax makes Sun, Tele, FT: @robertpopper has basically rewritten the book on win"

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu