From Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast to Richard Dimbleby‘s Panorama TV programme about spaghetti trees, we British have always been suckers for a good April Fool prank! In this article, Paul Whitelock lists a selection of famous pranks that have hoodwinked people over the years.
April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day is a holiday celebrated in a number of countries on 1 April 1, although not in Spain, where the equivalent is el Día de los Inocentes, celebrated on 28 December, the date which somewhat bizarrely commemorates the slaughter of new-born male babies by King Herod following the birth of Christ.
April 1st is marked by the perpetration of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbours, or sending them on a fool’s errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible.
The earliest recorded association between April 1st and foolishness can be found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1392).
Other well-known pranks include:
But, my favourite of the lot was San Serriffe. The Guardian printed a supplement in 1977 praising this fictional resort, its two main islands, Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse, its capital, Bodoni, and its leader, General Pica. Intrigued readers were later disappointed to learn that San Serriffe (sans serif) did not exist except as references to typeface terminology.
Have a nice day! But watch out! Pranksters are all over the place!
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Fun, fun, fun! There were some new ones to me in that list. Some of these journos are very creative in their ‘cons’.