Although its footballers have long since returned home in disgrace, one English native has become the surprise success story of the World Cup. Paul, an octopus who was born in Dorset, has correctly predicted the result of all six matches involving Germany and now all eyes are on him as he prepares to pick the winner of Sunday’s final. Anyone who backed each of his predictions with a £10 flutter so far would be £84 up, but if they had rolled the bets into an accumulator would have won £1426. Graham Sharpe, a spokesman for the bookmakers, said: “Punters are superstitious creatures at the best of times – and many have favourite tipsters they like to follow, but they tend to be human, so this is the first time we’ve genuinely had punters coming into betting shops and asking staff about the predictions made by an octopus.” On Friday morning, aquarium handlers will ask Paul to decide on the winner of the third-place playoff between Germany and Uruguay by extending one of his eight suckered arms towards one of two boxes bearing their flags. He will then be asked to decide which team will lift the trophy on Sunday. But having already eaten Paul may decline to make another prediction, plunging the worlds of sport and gambling into turmoil. telegraph.co.uk Fans are now placing money on the mystic mollusc himself, rather than the outcome of the big game, while senior politicians have expressed concern about threats to his safety made by supporters of losing teams. Paul has also …
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