EVERYONEs heard an urban myth - those stories that definitely happened to a friend of a friend of a friend, or their neighbours cousins wife. But more astonishing than the outlandishness of the tales is that, just occasionally, one turns out to be true. Now historian Alex Boese has collected the best, and worst, urban myths together in a new book. But can you tell if the following are fact or fiction? Hitlers baby photo The photo of 'baby Adolf surfaced in 1933 and was distributed by Acme Newspictures to all its subscribers. As a result, it ran in many British newspapers. Even so, the photo wasnt real. It actually showed an American child called John May Warren. A hoaxer had somehow obtained the photo (its not clear how) and darkened the childs features to make him look more menacing. In fact, Hitler was a very cute-looking baby. Status: FALSE The French eat rats-milk cheese Theoretically, cheese can be made from the milk of any animal (including humans), but it takes around 10lb of milk to produce 1lb of cheese. So, to produce rats-milk cheese, youd need an awful lot of rats. The website of the Federation of Rodent Cheesemakers alleges that it represents the French rat-cheese industry. It even claims that 'fine rat cheeses are becoming ever more popular. However, the website is a hoax. As much as the French love cheese, they dont make it from rats. Status: FALSE A tree that grows meat A bio enginerering firm developed a tree that grew meat inside grapefruits, according to an article that circulated in 2003. It quoted a researcher as saying: 'We take the genes from cattle that produce key proteins and splice them into the reproductive cells of grapefruit trees. Instead of producing ordinary citrus fruit, the pulp contains meat. What most people didnt realise was that the source of the article was an American newspaper that specialised in spoof news. Strangely enough, though, just a few months earlier NASA-funded researchers had announced their success at growing meat in a lab dish. Status: FALSE Cows urine is sold in India Cow urine is called gomutram in India. Fans claim that drinking it can treat all manner of illnesses, including cancer and diabetes. Owners of Indian cow shelters have found this health fad quite lucrative. They just filter, bottle, and ship the stuff. The biggest problem, apparently, is the smell, but that can be masked with herbs and spices. Or just drink it fast. Demand is so strong that scam artists find it lucrative to pass off buffalo or sheep urine as the real thing. Status: TRUE