Matilda

This article is about the hen. For the food trucks, see Melt and Eugene's Hot Chicken.

Matilda (born 1990; died February 2006) was a Bessemer chicken which held the Guinness Book of World Records title for "World's Oldest Chicken". For most of her life, Matilda was employed in the magic act of Mort the Mystifying. After she was listed by Guinness, she appeared with Mort on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

A special "broken perch" ceremony was conducted as a memorial to Matilda during the annual conference of the Southeastern Association of Magicians hosted by the local Judge Arnold Drennen Ring 35. Bill Pitts, a former president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, performed the ceremony at the Hilton Perimeter Park Hotel on August 5, 2006.

In September, 2006, Matilda became the first chicken inducted into the Alabama Animal Hall of Fame in Montgomery.

Reference

• Plott, Bill (August 4, 2006) "Clucking no more, hen to receive magician's honors." The Birmingham News
• Plott, Bill (September 12, 2006) "2 Jefferson County animals inducted into hall of fame." The Birmingham News