An outrageous miscellany of serious and light-hearted lies, myths, untruths, fibs and fabrications that tells the tall tale of South Africa.

The fibs come thick and fast, like a burst sewerage pipe:

• Why everything we've learnt about Shaka Zulu, 'Africa's Napoleon', is a pack of lies.

• Back in the darkest of ages (the 1970s!), citizens were told that there were satanic messages if you played some of The Beatles songs backwards.

• National icon Hansie Cronje was a paragon of virtue, and integrity … until he wasn't.

• President Nelson Mandela told us that we, as a nation, were 'special'. Turns out we aren't.

Whether a fabulous fib, an artful con, a doctor's spin, or simply a bald-faced lie, there's something for everyone.