Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ben n.3

also benjamin trovato
[Ital. proverb se non e vero, e ben trovato, even if it is not true, it is a happy invention; this was anglicized as benjamin trovato, a lie, then shortened to ben trovato, ben tro and finally ben]

(UK society) a lie.

Show quotations
[UK]Referee 29 Mar. in Ware (1909) 26/1: Perhaps this story isn’t true. Anyway it will do to go into the Benjamin Trovato series.
[UK] (ref. to 1880) in J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.