Puppet master: Giovanni Del Rio with his Pinocchio dolls. Picture by Garry Atkinson

Diners at a York restaurant should make sure their dinner table conversations are honest and truthful. For a lifesize Pinocchio has turned up at Del Rio's Restaurant near Micklegate Bar - and rumour has it that he can tell when people are fibbing.

The Pinocchio, carved in solid wood and complete with a bright red jacket and pointed hat, has a nose which reputedly just gets longer whenever he detects an untruth.

In fact, the Rocking Horse Shop at Fangfoss, which carved the model, made several noses of different lengths which can be screwed in and out of the face by restaurant staff.

Restaurateur Giovanni Del Rio used to bring small Pinocchio models back to England with him after visits back to Italy. Then he decided to commission the shop to carve a giant one.

Anthony Dew, proprietor of the Rocking Horse Shop, said its main business was carving rocking horses. "But we love to have special commissions to challenge us, and this was a delightful project to take on."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.