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Olympic rowing star James Cracknell has got his stolen gold medals back after they were found by a dog.

The medals won at the Sydney and Athens Games were back with Cracknell last night, the dog's owner having handed them to a neighbour in Chiswick.

The important canine element to the recovery of those precious items will revive memories of "Pickles", the dog who found the World Cup under a bush in Beulah Hill, South-East London, in 1966.

The world-famous "Jules Rimet Trophy" had been stolen in March, four months before the World Cup tournament was due to start, having been on display at the Stampex Exhibition at Central Hall, Westminster.

During the frantic week that followed FA Chairman Joe Mears received calls to his home demanding money for the safe return of the trophy. He also received part of it in the post. But intense police activity had failed to trace the missing cup.

A week after its disappearance, late on the Sunday evening, it was found in the garden of a house in Beulah Hill, not too far from Crystal Palace's ground, by a man called David Corbett who was taking his dog for a walk.

The dog, "Pickles", sniffed out the trophy as it lay under a bush wrapped in a newspaper. Within an hour it had been taken to Cannon Row Police Station.

"Pickles" earned instant fame and remains one of the most famous dogs in history.