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Cape Town - Hollywood actor Tom Hanks claims to have placed a £100 bet on Leicester to win the English Premier League title, according to the Stuff website.
The Foxes are just one win away from becoming English champions for the first time in their 132-year history, in what's emerged as one of the greatest sporting fairytales of all time.
Hanks is accustomed to magical stories himself, after Saving Private Ryan, surviving Apollo 13 and fighting pirates in the Indian Ocean as Captain Phillips - all of course on the big screen.
But what Leicester are close to achieving is real and a win at Manchester United this weekend would wrap up the title - after being 5 000/1 outsiders at the start of the campaign.
Hanks, a high-profile Aston Villa tragic, joked with reporters that he would be able to cope with Villa's drop to the Championship because he'd backed long-shots Leicester to win the Premier League.
"What are you trying to do? Are you trying to make me cry on television?" Hanks said about Villa's relegation.
"That's bad, but do you know what I did at the beginning of the season? I put a 100 quid on Leicester, so I think I'll do okay," he said with a wry smile.
However, when quizzed on whether he was telling the truth he hedged his bets - "maybe I did, maybe I didn't".
Should Hanks be telling the truth, he stands to win £500 000 - or R10.5 million.
