Ripley's world of the weird

As connoisseurs of the outlandish go, there has never been anyone to match Robert Ripley.

From head-shrinkers in Ecuador to the man who grew mustard plants on his upper lip, he scoured the world for the weird and bizarre and presented it in the newspaper column that made him famous, Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

For nearly 30 years until his death in 1949, the cartoonist and amateur anthropologist astounded his readers with unbelievable tales, such as the tribe in Congo who blew up the bodies of dead chiefs or the man in India who held his hand closed for 12 years so that his fingernails grew through the palm.

Now Ripley is a global brand - and London is about to get its first Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum.

The collection of oddities will include a stuffed two-headed calf, a four-metre model of Tower Bridge made out of matchsticks, and a Mini Cooper covered with Swarovski crystals that is worth £500,000.

Jim Pattison Jr, president of Ripley Entertainment, said: "The museum will not only be unique but it promises to be the most incredible visitor experience. We're looking forward to shocking visitors from all over the world."

Other exhibits at the museum in Piccadilly Circus include a 3,000lb piece of the Berlin Wall and three shrunken human heads. There is a portrait of Princess Diana made of laundry lint from a clothes dyer, a copy of The Last Supper painted on a grain of rice, a mummified man and a moon rock.

Ripley, who played semi-professional baseball in his teens, started his professional career by selling cartoons to newspapers as a schoolboy.

As a sports columnist in New York, he once filled a slow day with a panel of cartoons about unusual sports, including a backwards race, called Champs and Chumps. That turned into his Believe It Or Not! column, which was syndicated across America from 1929.

Ever the entrepreneur, Ripley opened his first "Odditorium" at the Chicago World Fair in 1933, featuring hundreds of unusual finds from around the world and attractions such as a man who would eat and then regurgitate a rodent.

Despite the scepticism of some of his readers, he was rarely wrong - mainly thanks to the efforts of Norbert Pearlroth, his full-time fact-checker.

Pearlroth spoke 11 languages and used to spend 10 hours a day in New York public library six days a week, finding and verifying unusual facts.

There are now 30 Ripley museums worldwide. The London opening is on 20 August.