"The Police are watching. Act normal."

Factual Questions
1

It is said that in the 1960s, a hoaxer once telegrammed this message to every member of the British Houses of Parliament: “The Police are watching. Act normal.”

… six of them immediately took flight.

Great story, huh? Those wacky Brits and their scandals, ha ha, that will show them by attacking them at their own guilt, right?

But is it true? I must admit, while I loved this story growing up, and used it in countless anecdotes since the 1980s, only recently did my “urban legends” alert flag raise. I looked all over the web, and even asked two librarians, and while I have seen this tale spun repeatedly (more or less the same way I just did), I have never seen a link, news article, or any fact that actually showed this might have really happened.

Can someone out there verify if this is truth or merely a hopeful legend? Don’t make me try this out on California delegates to see if it works…

2

Hey!
You do and I’ll tell your neighbors over at Quantico.
Did I spell it right?
Anyway, I’ve heard variations of this, and just assumed it was legend. It would be pretty cool :cool: though if it were true.
Peace,
mangeorge

3

This stirs memories of a book (perhaps a detective story?).

If it was a Sherlock Holmes, the words would be something like “Flee - all is known!”

Sorry I can’t be more positive…

4

Arthur Conan Doyle claimed he one sent five or so important people a telegram reading “ALL IS DISCOVERED - FLEE AT ONCE.” According to Doyle, they all fled the country by the end of the week.

5

I think that’s what I meant - thanks for that!

Interestingly a quick search doesn’t find authentication - but there are many sites using the story - and all are sermons on guilt. :eek:
The sites seem to think it was 12 people, and their text varies slightly, but not much from yours above.