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Jonty Haywood is a University of Cambridge graduate[1] and teacher[2] from Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom. He is the creator of the Cornish Porthemmet Beach hoax and the LoseTheGame.com website.
Porthemmet Beach hoax
In late August 2007, Haywood invented a fictional place in Cornwall called Porthemmet Beach, the "best beach in Cornwall", to confuse tourists and amuse locals.[1][3] Haywood created the hoax website porthemmet.com as well as erecting signs to the beach around the county that eventually led tourists out of Cornwall on the A30 road.[4]
Haywood was inspired by a similar hoax about an "Ice Bar" in a Scandinavian city.[5][6] The Porthemmet hoax sparked controversy over Cornwall's perceived hostility towards tourists despite their input into the Cornish economy. VisitCornwall, the Cornwall tourism board, criticised the hoax, while the chief executive of South West Tourism took the view that "any publicity is good publicity".[5]
The website features various words related to Cornwall, such as pasty or chough, and encourages tourists to use false pronunciations, causing potential embarrassment for anyone duped by the hoax. On the website, the name 'Porthemmet' is claimed to have been derived from the name "Port of Emmet", where Emmet is a Cornish saint, brother of the patron saint of Cornwall, Saint Piran. Emmet is in fact a Cornish dialect word for ant, and has come to be used in Cornwall as a derisory nickname for tourists,[4] or for people who have emigrated to Cornwall.
In July 2008, a second set of signs appeared. News sources turned to Haywood, who jokingly attempted to blame Osama bin Laden for their appearance, before revealing his involvement by offering a prize to the first to discover all seven signs.[4]
LoseTheGame.com
Haywood is the creator of the website LoseTheGame.com, which provides information about and documents the history of the mind game known as The Game. Haywood first heard about The Game in 2001, and created the website in 2005.
In a January 2008 article about The Game written by Canadian Press, Haywood's site is described as the "biggest website" about The Game.[7] In this article, Haywood claims that the site had attracted over 300,000 visitors. In a June 2008 statement, this had risen to 500,000.[8]
A December 2008 Metro article shows "www.LoseTheGame.com" written on Chinese banknotes and in graffiti.[9][10]
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