A confession: there’s no such thing as “cello scrotum”

bmj A letter published in the British Medical Journal:

Perhaps after 34 years it’s time for us to confess that we invented cello scrotum.
Reading Curtis’s 1974 letter to the BMJ on guitar nipple, we thought it highly likely to be a spoof and decided to go one further by submitting a letter pretending to have noted a similar phenomenon in cellists, signed by the non-doctor one of us (JMM). Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realise the physical impossibility of our claim.
Somewhat to our astonishment, the letter was published. The following Christmas we sent a card to Dr Curtis of guitar nipple fame, only to discover that he knew nothing about it—another joke we suspect.
We have been dining out on this story ever since. We were thrilled once more to be quoted in “A symphony of maladies.”
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;334:b288
Elaine Murphy, member¹, John M Murphy, chairman²

¹ House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW, ² St Peter’s Brewery, St Peter South Elmham, Bungay, Suffolk NR35 1NQ

The original letter isn’t online, nor is the guitar nipple submission. Here’s the recent BMJ article article that mentions both. And, yes, one of the perpetrators of the hoax is a member of the House of Lords.

Thanks, Leo!