Exposed: the myth of cello scrotum

Peer who fooled the medical world with a letter to the British Medical Journal in 1974 finally comes clean

A scandal involving a member of the House of Lords is exposed today – but this one occurred 34 years ago and the only harm caused was to anyone lacking a sense of humour.

Baroness Elaine Murphy, a cross-bench peer and former Professor of Psychiatry at Guy's Hospital, has confessed to manufacturing a medical condition which only existed in her imagination.

In a letter to the British Medical Journal published in 1974, the young Dr Murphy claimed to have discovered "cello scrotum", a painful affliction which only affected male players of the instrument.

The spoof letter was written in response to an earlier one about "guitar nipple" from a Dr P Curtis, which the young Dr Murphy thought likely also to be a spoof.

Baroness Murphy had a distinguished 25-year career as a doctor and academic in the NHS before moving into NHS management.

Cellist Yo Yo Ma will be pleased to learn Baroness Murphy's condition is fake