The first of April, some do say, is set apart for All Fools’ Day. It’s a day when people make pranks and share April Fools’ Day jokes among friends and family members. But why do the people call it so, neither I nor they themselves know. But on this day people are sent on purpose for pure merriment. The history of April Fools’ Day or All Fool’s Day is uncertain and somewhat confusing say Will and Guy.

Introduction

April Fools’ Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on the 1st of April every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools’ Day, April 1st is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness.

The day is marked often by the commission of good-humored or otherwise funny April Fools’ Day jokes, hoaxes, and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, and work associates.

Traditionally, in some countries such as New Zealand, Ireland, the UK, Australia, and South Africa, the April Fools’ Day jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an “April Fool” and taunted ‘April Fools’ Day’s past and gone, You’re the fool for making one.’

Elsewhere, such as in France, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Russia, Holland, Germany, Brazil, Canada, and the USA the jokes last all day.

Origins and History of All Fools Day

The first known reference in English is from John Aubrey who said in 1686: ‘Fooles holy day. We observe it on the first of April. And so it is kept in Germany everywhere.’

Another reference is from Poor Robin’s Almanac in 1790:

Current thinking is that it began around 1582 in France with the reform of the calendar under Charles IX. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year’s Day was moved from March 25th – April 1st [New Year’s week] to 1st January.

Word travelled slowly in the 16th Century and some people only found out about the change many months/years later. More awkward citizens refused to change and continued to celebrate the last day of the former celebration – 1st April. These people were labeled “fools” by the general populace, were subject to ridicule and sent on “fool errands,” sent invitations to nonexistent parties, and had other practical April Fools’ Day jokes played upon them. The butts of these pranks became known as a “poisson d’avril” or “April fish” because a young naive fish is easily caught. In addition, one common practice was to hook a paper fish on the back of someone as a joke. Further information may be found here:

April Fools’ Day Jokes Worldwide

a) Scotland: The First of April is devoted to pranks involving the buttocks and as such is called Taily Day. The butts of these April Fools’ Day jokes are known as April “Gowk”, another name for cuckoo bird. The origins of the “Kick Me” sign can be traced back to the Scottish observance we have discovered.

b) England: Here April Fools’ Day jokes are played only in the morning. Fools may be called “gobs” or “gobby” and the victim of one of the April Fool’s Day jokes called a “noodle.” It was considered bad luck to play practical April Fool’s Day jokes on someone after noon.

c) Italy: In Rome, the holiday is known as the Festival of Hilaria, celebrating the resurrection of the god Attis, and is on March 25th and is also referred to as “Roman Laughing Day.”

d) Portugal: April Fools’ Day falls on the Sunday and Monday before Lent. In this celebration, some people throw flour at their friends.

The Madmen of Gotham – Is This Really Where It Started?

British folklore links April Fools’ Day to the town of Gotham, the legendary ‘town of fools’ located in Nottinghamshire [Gotham is a town between Leicester and Nottingham] in the UK.

According to legend, it was traditional in the 13th century for any road that the King placed his foot upon to become public property. So when the citizens of Gotham heard that King John [1166-1216] planned to travel through their town, they refused him entry, not wishing to lose their main road.

When the King heard this, he sent soldiers to the town. But when the soldiers arrived in Gotham, they found the town full of lunatics engaged in foolish activities such as drowning fish or attempting to cage birds in roofless fences.

Their foolery was all an act to make the King believe they were insane. The King fell for the ruse and declared the town too foolish to warrant punishment. Ever since then, according to legend, April Fools’ Day has commemorated their trickery and that’s how April Fools’ Day jokes became a tradition in the UK.

An April Fool Song

Three examples of the men of Gotham’s fake stupidity are immortalized in this song – the words and music are from Colin Reece.

In this picture, we can see the “fool” built a fence around the bird to keep it inside!

The cuckoo flew high in the clear summer sky and in the Gotham town bush he did land
He sang a beautiful song and so before very long just how to keep him there the villagers planned.

Oh it seemed all good sense to build around a fence Oh I swear that I tell you the truth

One last cuckoo he gave and then the bird flew away For what good’s a cage without a roof?

Chorus: Oh you stupid, you foolish, you madmen of Gotham
What next will you simpletons do?
Oh you stupid, you foolish, you madmen of Gotham
But the last laugh will never be on you.

The rider took his old horse down to the water, of course, to take a drink was all he wanted to do
And when the moon disappeared behind a cloud it was clear that the reflection in the pond would go too.

“Oh you’ve swallowed the moon you stupid four-legged loon”
Oh how the idiot sorely did shout
And then he split poor Ned from his behind to his head
On the assumption that the moon would fall out.

[Chorus]

Off to market one day with two bushels of hay the horse and master set off from the farm
But the horse was too old to carry such a great load and so the farmer tucked them under his arms.

“Oh it’s too long a road for me to carry this load”
And then the farmer sat and thought with a frown
And then still clutching the sacks he climbed up on the horses back
And rode the poor nag into the ground.

[Chorus]

April Fools’ Day Jokes and Stories

There is something special about April Fools’ Day morning. To get ideas for some really practical April Fools’ Day jokes, you should just get into the mood and review past masterpieces.

Examples of Will and Guy’s All Fools’ Day Jokes

Here are some ideas for April Fools’ Day jokes. While many of these April Fools’ Day jokes are well-known pranks, you could modify them to suit your circumstances.

Spaghetti Bushes

What made these April Fools’ Day jokes convincing was that it was put on the BBC. This was a time when the BBC was the pillar of society, no one could believe that even on the first of April, the BBC would put out a fake program about the manufacture of spaghetti.
This is how they pulled off the hoax.

War of the Worlds

Watch out for alien April Fools’ Day jokes. However, the first alien hoax was on the 30th of October 1938. This famous ‘War of the Worlds’ April Fool’s Day jokes caught millions by surprise. See what actually happened.

Turn a Black and White TV into Color

This one is one of the greatest April Fool’s Day jokes of all time. Will and I chose this joke because it illustrates the naivety that you get when any new technology hits the masses.

This is one of the most popular April Fools’ Day jokes that shows how Kjell Stensson tricked thousands of Swedish viewers.

Ten Funny, Interesting and Thought-Provoking “April Fool” Quotes

Not only do modern April Fools’ Day jokes capture the essence of this day. In fact, other than April Fools’ Day jokes, there are plenty of thought-provoking quotes that reflect the spirit of All Fools’ Day:

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. – Chinese Proverb
If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings. – Welsh Proverb
We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. – Japanese Proverb
Don’t give cherries to pigs or advice to fools. – Irish Proverb
Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: It’s good to be silly at the right moment. – Horace [65 BC – 8 BC]
It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly. – Anatole France [1844 – 1924]
The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes. – Winston Churchill
What a fool does in the end, the wise do in the beginning. – Spanish Proverb
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread. – Alexander Pope
A fool may have his coat embroidered with gold, but it is a fool’s coat still. – Antoine Rivarol

This final quotation from Abraham Lincoln probably deserved inclusion: You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Advice on Getting Away With An April Fools’ Day Jokes

Most bosses have no sense of humor when it comes to April Fools’ Day. It seems like they just can’t get April Fools’ Day jokes.

For example, a recent survey of 500 executives found that 73% thought April Fools’ Day jokes inappropriate in the office.

It’s best to target a whole group rather than single out an unfortunate individual.
Pranks that tie up the network server won’t be well received, especially by the manager.
Keep the hoax local, you don’t want a video or email to go viral and turn up on the internet.
Guiding principle, don’t play any kinds of April Fool’s Day jokes where you need to apologise later.

Elizabeth Fournier considers herself someone with a good sense of humor. Because she runs a funeral home in Boring, Oregon, this tends to come in handy every April 1.

Will and Guy’s Brief Look at April Fools’ Day

April Fools’ Day Jokes

Russian April Fool Hoax

Now, let’s discuss some Russian April Fools’ Day jokes. The regional government in the Ulyanovsk* region of Russia decreed that maternity wards should play the national anthem every time a baby is born. The idea was to promote patriotism. This seems to be true.

Will and Guy unearthed another report that each on 12th September, married men in Ulyanovsk are given an afternoon off work to go home with their wives and take part in the “Give birth to a patriot” scheme. Couples who produce a baby on Independence Day, nine months later, are given prizes of TVs and fridges. We cannot be sure, but this seems to be a nice hoax among all the other April Fools’ Day jokes.

* Ulyanovsk was named after Lenin, whose real name was Ulyanov.

F-15 Plane Hoax

While this did not happen on April Fools’ Day, nevertheless this is an interesting hoax and can be listed among April Fools’ Day jokes. Will has prepared a PowerPoint Presentation explaining this hoax.

Celebrity April Fool’s Day Jokes and Hoaxes

It’s fascinating to see how hoaxes in general, and April Fools’ Day jokes in particular get re-cycled. Celebrities are a prime target for a prank because they are outrageous, lead strange unconventional lives, and a good portion of the population is happy to laugh when a star’s ego gets pricked. This is the sort of thing to look out for:

Kate Winslet Affected by Dutch Elm Disease

Professor Prawo Jazdy says that it’s now been proven that Dutch Elm Disease can attack red-headed women and cause their hair to turn yellow. According to these April Fools’ Day jokes, people such as Sarah Ferguson, Amy Adams, and Kate Winslet could also be affected.

Dog Fleas Attack Blue-eyed Blonde People

Dr. Allergo reports that Ctenocephalides canis (common dog flea) has hopped species and can now attack humans. However, it is only those of Nordic extraction that are affected, those with dark skin and hair are still immune from this dog parasite. It’s the kind of story that makes you wonder if it’s one of those clever April Fools’ Day jokes.

It’s Bieber’s world, we’re just living in it

The tween pop singer hijacked Will Ferrell’s comedy video site and used it for April Fools’ Day jokes, renaming it “Bieber or Die.” “Justin Bieber has decided to buy Funny or Die and do with it whatever his tiny little heart desires,” a clip at the top of the site states.

According to the 16-year-old pop star himself, “Anything that’s not Bieber, dies.”

Beware of being asked to phone an organization and ask for a person with a strange name, for example, Myra Manes at a funeral parlor. Also, any spokeswoman called ‘Avril Foujour’. As you can see, sometimes even celebrities make such April Fools’ Day jokes.

Barbary Apes

Legend has it that when the Barbary Apes leave Gibraltar, or become extinct, then the British will be forced to leave that outpost on Spain’s border. Watch out for such April Fools’ Day jokes that claim something has happened to all these Barbary Apes.

Despite their name these ‘Barbary Apes’ are true monkeys and are sometimes called macaques, as with other animals, their population varies and we believe that a scare story is brewing regarding a mystery illness that will reduce their numbers drastically and thus cause a diplomatic incident if Britain has to withdraw from Gibraltar.

Recycling of Old Urban Myths

Talking of monkeys, beware of new footage purporting to prove an old tall tale, for example, that Charles Manson once auditioned for the 1960s pop group ‘The Monkeys’. Such releases on the eve of April Fools’ Day start with a little-known but true fact, for example, Mickey Dolenz starred in ‘Circus Boy’. As a part of their April Fools’ Day jokes, they go on to say that Davy Jones starred in the soap Coronation Street (also true). Then they slip in the curve ball, new footage shows Charles Manson auditioning for ‘The Monkeys’ (false).

Military April Fools’ Day Jokes

Because of their rigid discipline, the army is always a good source of April Fools’ Day jokes.

Spoof Documentaries and Exposés

Will and Guy say watch out on April 1st for a variation on the Bambi paintball hoax, one of those April Fools’ Day jokes that caught everyone by surprise. We feel that Texas is a candidate for resurrecting this spoof, although Atlantic City or Foxwoods, Connecticut are likely alternative venues. The first example of this hoax, a classic in the archive of April Fools’ Day jokes, was back in 2003 when hunters were offered the opportunity to shoot naked women with paintball guns. For $10,000 you could go to Las Vegas, get kitted out with your paint gun, and stalk ‘Bambi’.

If you would like to fly out to wonderful fun-filled Las Vegas, Nevada for the hunt of a lifetime now is your chance. You can actually hunt one of our Bambi babes and shoot her with paintballs while we film the whole thing and tape it for your own home video. That’s how you can add an unforgettable chapter to your collection of April Fools’ Day jokes.

We will send you a complete list of wall hangers to choose from once your reservation is confirmed for your hunt. With over 30 women ready to be chased down and shot like dogs we guarantee a wide variety of Bambi’s to choose from. Whether it is the girl next door or a
perfect 10 we have an abundance of these beauties.

So if you are the ultimate sportsman and are seeking the ultimate adrenaline rush then come out to our ranch and shoot one of these trophies, in what could only be described as one of the most audacious April Fools’ Day jokes. Then take home the video of her mounted on the wall for all your friends to see. This is the gift for the person who thought he had it all and who became a legend in the annals of April Fools’ Day jokes.

This story was sensationalized by Klas Television who accepted the advert at face value. The city of Las Vegas officials admitted that the Hunting for Bambi video is a hoax. This is just a revelation that has since become a classic example of how April Fools’ Day jokes can sometimes be taken too far. No “hunts” have ever been sold, and no “Bambis” have ever been shot with paintballs, the officials said in concluding a weeklong investigation.

Footnote:
No animals were harmed in the making of the hoax! Consider this as a reminder of the playful spirit intended behind April Fools’ Day jokes.

Marketers Use April First to Launch Real Products

Will and Guy predict a series of double bluffs. Companies will make announcements that look like April Fools’ Day jokes, but turn out to be true. For example, Google launched Gmail on the 1st of April 2004. People assumed it was just another one of April Fools’ Day jokes. However, when it turned out to be true, Gmail and Google got a second round of free publicity – clever marketing stuff.

DYK (Did You Know)

Pay special attention to any ‘Did You Know’ articles on April 1st. Such items may be truths, or at least half-truths dressed up as April Fools’ Day jokes. These are a new breed of sophisticated double bluffs that marketing gurus cunningly launch on or just before April Fools’ Day.
Their mission is a maximum amount of free publicity for a real product.

Possible April Fool’s Day jokes include Coca-Cola announcing green cans instead of red. Or, new whisky-flavored chewing gum, and they can now breed square apples. One off the stop press. Pencil sharpeners become extinct in America.

Fake Scientific Inventions

Prescription Lenses for Touring Cars Windscreens

This one shows us April Fools’ Day jokes show us a great capacity for human creativity. After successful trials in touring car championships, prescription windscreens are now available for the general public. Here is a press release from Auto Windscreens.

Constantly having to swap your glasses or remember to bring along a pair for driving? Do away with the hassle, as Auto Windscreens, innovators in automotive glazing, has successfully launched its first prescription windscreen.

Beware of machines to make diamonds from sand, or gismos which turn lead into gold. Perhaps 2011 is the year when that old gadget that turns water into wine resurfaces. And in that case, we can assume that April Fools’ Day jokes really have the potential of transforming our everyday skepticism into wonder.

Other Ideas for April Fool’s Day Jokes

Another rich seam of April Fools’ Day jokes is the discoveries of extinct animals. Although the Piltdown Man forgery was not unearthed in April, this is the type of fakery to watch out for on April the first.

Finally, when it comes to scientific April Fool’s Day jokes UFOs are never far away. There are more sightings of Martians, little green men, fairies, and other curious creatures on April the first than any other day of the year.

Inventing New Medical Conditions for April Fools’ Day

Chinese doctors have identified the human gene that causes Pedaspheraphobia. Believe it or not, this might just be one of the most clever April Fools’ Day jokes yet. Symptoms Dr Chang of the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacology, reports that symptoms of Pedaspheraphobia include vertigo and nausea whenever watching sports.
See more about Pedaspheraphobia here.

Spurious Invitations as April Fools’ Day Jokes

Look out for invitations to non-existent events. These April Fools’ Day jokes have scope for duping lots of people to turn up in the expectation of an event. Such April Fool’s Day jokes have reoccurred at regular intervals, ever since the invitation in Victorian England for people to watch the Washing of the Lions at the Tower of London. Crowds really did turn up to this wonderful April the 1st practical joke.

Often the hoaxer enjoys private April Fool’s Day jokes by using an anagram of April Fool in the person’s name or address, for example, Prila Loof or Sallipa Roof.

Sweeping Bad News Under the Table

Beware governments and local authorities trying to hide bad news amongst the melee of April Fools’ Day jokes. A recent example was the UK government hiking the petrol tax on April 1st, 2009. Another particularly mean example was when local authorities introduced drastic reductions in the scope of free bus passes starting on April 1st.

Tried and Tested April Fool’s Day Jokes

There are certain April Fools’ Day jokes that always work on youngsters. That’s part of the reason why they’re delivered with a straight face by an authority figure, and secondly, because it’s something outside their normal experience.

‘Hey Junior, go to the stores and get a packet of sky hooks’

At the stores, Charlie knows this game well: ‘You want sky hooks, go over there and ask Tom if he has any of the “Low cloud” variety left’.

The game within a game is to see how long you can keep Junior running around before he realizes he has been the subject of April Fools’ Day jokes. It says a lot about the victim’s character and how well he reacts to being duped. Other variations are a bucket of compressed air, tartan paint, or for the particularly gullible – a long weight (wait).

Also: When I was in air cadets if some newbie was being a pain we’d send him to fetch a yard of shoreline.

More April Fools’ Day Jokes

April Fools’ Day Jokes – Will and Guy Reveal All

1. An elaborate April Fools’ Day hoax featuring video footage of the world’s first “flying hotel” in a converted helicopter. The viral email clip appears to show a Russian-made Mil V-12 being used as the first-ever flying five-star “Hotelicopter”.

Will and Guy have found out that it claims to have 18 luxurious rooms; apparently, the hotel guarantees a first-class, unique, and memorable experience. We learn that hundreds of prospective passengers fell for this trick which transpires to have been an elaborate marketing ploy.

2. The Sun newspaper has published a spoof that England fans [preparing for tonight’s World Cup qualifier at Wembley] would have to stand through the world’s longest national anthem: some at six and a half minutes, before the World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.

3. The Daily Express records that a British inventor has created an invisible car to allow motorists to beat speed cameras.

4. The Daily Mail has a photograph making it appear as if the British Home Secretary, Mrs Jacqui Smith was walking out of a branch of an Ann Summers sex shop.

5. The Guardian reports that it was to become the first newspaper in the world to abandon print and be published exclusively on the social networking site Twitter.

6. The Times produces a photograph of what appears to be a “tartan” sheep.

7. Finally, The Daily Telegraph claims that harnessing the power of fish swimming through a river could hold the key to meeting Britain’s future electricity needs.

Please let us know what April Fool’s Day jokes have been played in your neck of the woods. We will publish the best and give credit to everyone who sends a story to us.

St Bernard Dogs – Saviour Now Bring Coffee

Black drink from dog saves from white death

Switzerland’s St Bernard dogs used to be famous for finding avalanche victims and reviving them with a tot of brandy. Now these lovely big dogs have been forced to adapt to the harsh economic climate. From Wednesday 1st of April, the barrels round the necks of the Swiss Alpine Club’s 133 mountain rescue dogs will be replaced by miniature Nespresso-style coffee machines.

“It was a purely business decision,” said Jörg Ettinghadt from the Swiss Alpine Club.

“The global financial crisis has meant we’ve got to either cut back the number of dogs or find some extra money. Using the Desperesso machines means we won’t have to reduce the dogs.

Ettinghadt told us that the 3kg appliances work on the same “capsule” principle as the best-selling high-street models but with a few practical alterations.

“Every second counts when it comes to surviving an avalanche – the chances of survival have been estimated at 85 percent within 15 minutes, 50 percent within 30 minutes, and 20 percent within one hour. A warming drink of coffee – can make all the difference,” he said.

Irish Times April Fool Article

ELECTRONIC TAGGING for “Tax Exiles”

The Department of Finance is considering ELECTRONIC TAGGING for “tax exiles” in advance of next week’s budget. The measure is aimed at monitoring the presence in the State of individuals who claim to be non-residents for tax purposes.

Last year, 5,803 people claimed non-residency for tax. The Revenue believes that 440 of those are “high net worth” individuals. “These are the people who we’d be aiming this proposal at,” a spokesman for the department said. Foreign-based Irish millionaires can avoid Irish tax if they spend fewer than 183 days in the State. Last November, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan abolished the so-called “Cinderella” rule, whereby an individual is not deemed to have spent a day in the country if they leave by midnight.

“We’re still concerned that there are a few fairy tales being told about where people are actually living,” said the spokesman.

Electronic tagging is a form of non-surreptitious surveillance consisting of an electronic device attached to a person, usually certain criminals, allowing their whereabouts to be monitored. The devices locate themselves using GPS and report their position back to a control center via a mobile phone network.

The devices are usually built into ankle monitors, which are designed to be tamper-resistant and will alert the authorities to tampering attempts. According to the spokesman, certain technical issues remain to be resolved before the plan is implemented.

“For example, many of these people have ‘panic rooms’ in their homes to protect themselves against criminals,” he said. “We’re not absolutely sure of the technicalities, but if these rooms are lead-lined, they might block the signal from the electronic tag. “In theory, it might be possible for a high-net-worth individual to remain in a panic room for days or even weeks without us knowing.”

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners is in discussions with a US-based high-technology security company, FailProof, on providing the service.

Footnote:
April Fools’ Day article kindly sent in by Brian Kearney

He Sells Sea Shares On The Sea Shore

One of the world’s leading luxury cruise operators is about to announce the launch of a new credit crunch cruise liner, 40 percent of which will be owned by its passengers on a time-share basis.

The ship concerned is an old classic that has been quietly renovated in one of Europe’s biggest shipyards and is expected to be re-launched from Southampton in June 2009.

Initially, timeshares will be available through the national press and by applying online on the cruise operator’s website. Time shareholders can take up to six brief luxury cruises a year.

Tickets will also be available to non-time share-holding customers on a strictly first-come-first-served basis for specially reduced rates that match or are well below prices for similar cruises by other operators.

All of the ship’s usual facilities will be available to time-share passengers including the bargain liner’s leisure suite, theatre/cinema, crèche, and library; although the swimming pool will only be heated for a few hours in the morning to encourage passengers to take a swim rather than have a shower.

Other measures to keep costs down and ensure that time shareholders get value for money will include passengers making up their own cabins. The cruise ship’s laundry will, as usual, be self-service but energy-inefficient tumble dryers will be replaced by environmentally-friendly washing lines hung from the ship’s mast and funnel.

All passengers will be encouraged to make their own entertainment by participating in karaoke, amateur dramatics, and stand-up comedy.

Midnight buffets will be replaced by vending machines selling drinks and snacks at reasonable prices. Passengers will also be encouraged to bring on board their own alcoholic drinks – to keep their extras down. All meals will be served on reusable plastic plates which, at the end of each cruise, will be burnt in the ship’s furnaces with other waste to reduce fuel costs.

One cruise industry insider remarked last night that, “…there is general agreement in the industry that we must do everything we can to encourage more people to take a cruise for there has been significant investment in recent years and we must look to the future.

“No doubt many potential passengers would like to own shares in a cruise ship for it would guarantee holidays afloat for themselves and their families and friends for many years to come, at an affordable price.”

At Midday on April 1st

April Fool’s gone past
You’re the biggest fool at last
When April Fool comes again
You’ll be the biggest fool then

The origin of this ditty is Hampshire, England. The meaning is that you cannot play any more April Fool’s Day jokes after midday, or else you become the fool.

Will and Guy love variety, hence we have collected Poisson d’Avril, Hunt-the-Gowk, Pesce d’Aprile, and other international April Fools’ Day jokes.

The French and Poisson d’Avril

The French have their own idiosyncratic take on April Fools’ Day with Poisson d’Avril. You may have guessed that Poisson means fish, and this theme is taken up by French schoolboys who pin paper fish on their classmates.

It’s not straightforward getting the Poisson d’Avril to stick on the victim’s back. If you make a fish and sew on a safety pin it’s not easy to get people to sit still while you unobtrusively attach the poisson. Velcro is good, but there never seems to be any around just when you need it.

As is so often the case with April Fools’ Day, the precise derivation of Poisson d’Avril is both obscure and disputed. Perhaps it’s just because fish are considered stupid and easy to catch. A more erudite origin of Poisson d’Avril claims that those born under the star sign Pisces (the fish) forget that their sign ends on March 20th.

The Eiffel Tower Spoof

One of the April Fool’s Day jokes Will and Guy particularly enjoyed hearing about in 2007 was of a prank played by a newscaster on French television. He explained, in a serious voice, how the third level of the Eiffel Tower in Paris had been removed so that repairs might be carried out. Hundreds flocked to the tower only to find they had been victims of a clever joke.

Footnote 1:
Amazing how history repeats itself. In 1986 it was reported that the Eiffel Tower was to be dismantled. This international symbol of French culture would then be reconstructed in the new Euro Disney theme park being built, at the time, to the east of Paris.

Footnote 2:
Are the French particularly gullible when it comes to their beloved Eiffel Tower? Will and Guy ask because in 1925 Victor Lustig conned a scrap dealer that he could sell him the Eiffel Tower. Ah yes, the name of Victor Lustig’s ‘mark’? Monsieur Poisson.

French Patisseries

Naturally, writes Will, as someone who enjoys France in large part because of all the amazing food, my personal favorite part about Poisson d’Avril is the plethora of bakeries a “chocolatiers” that make fish-shaped French pastries and chocolates in honor of the holiday.

These are very traditional *ganache-filled chocolate “sardines” *with a chocolate glaze

Origin of Poisson d’Avril

In 16th-century France people celebrated New Year’s Day on March 25, this neatly coincided with the beginning of spring. In this festivity the French partied until April 1. Then in 1564, Pope Gregory reformed the calendar and the good catholic King Charles IX proclaimed that New Year’s Day should be celebrated on January 1st instead of March.

Some of the French resented the change and continued to celebrate New Year from March 25 to April 1. However, the more adaptable French mocked the revelers by sending them foolish gifts and invitations to nonexistent parties.

The victim of an April Fools’ Day prank was called a “Poisson d’Avril,” or an “April fish,” because this corresponded to the sign of Pisces.

Pesce d’Aprile in Italy

The traditional April Fool’s trick (Pesce d’Aprile) in Italy consists of a kid surreptitiously attaching a paper cut-out of a pesciolino (small fish) to the back of a school mate – similar to Poisson de Avril in France. Then his friends jokingly ask: L’hai visto?—Chi?—Il pesce d’Aprile! (Have you seen the April Fool!) and makes derisive comments about the victim.

The more sophisticated adult pranks are classics such as rumors that money is being given out: “Si distribuiscono soldi a tutti, andate in via Tal dei Tali al numero…”

Each year there are new pranks that trick gullible individuals. The Italian media reported them on April 2nd and ranks the migliori pesci d’Aprile. One Italian specialty is a recipe for ravioli al pesce d’aprile to celebrate April 1st.

Sauf en Laisse – Except on a Leash!

Germans Have Aprilscherz

Aprilscherz is the German for April prank.

Hunt-the-Gowk Day in Scotland

Guy’s uncle Jimmy once told him that his grandfather enjoyed playing a prank called Hunt-the-Gowk on April the 1st. It seems “gowk*” is Scots for fool, however, none of Jimmy’s children remember this term and we often wonder if Uncle Jimmy just made up this phrase.

Although the way Uncle Jimmy told the tale, there seemed a grain of truth in the hoax. What he said was he wrote a note asking for help and gave it to the “gowk”, and told him to take it to McTavish. When McTavish read the note, he passed the victim to Rab Ferguson, and then on
Ian Blair … and so on and on until the gowk realized he had been sent on a fool’s errand.

*Gowk is also Celtic for cuckoo. Hence a person who is a bit cuckoo or foolish.

The Spanish Hold a Fools Day in December

In Spanish-speaking countries, youngsters carry out pranks on 28th December, the Day of the Holy Innocents or Dia de los Santos Inocentes. This practice is similar to the English All Fools Day on April 1st.

Dia de los Santos Inocentes – Day of the Holy Innocents is a religious holiday named in honor of the young children who were slaughtered by order of King Herod around the time of Jesus’ birth. These young victims were called Santos Inocentes or “Holy Innocents” because they were too young and innocent to have committed any sins.

Although the feast remains on the Catholic Liturgical calendar, today the religious aspect has been almost forgotten and the pranks that became popular during the Middle Ages have been combined with winter festivities of pagan origin. Similar to Halloween, groups of children in towns across Spain used to go from house to house asking for candy or cookies, making noise with spoons and anise bottles, and singing traditional Christmas songs.

The Celebrations Today

Today most Spanish children play simple pranks like putting salt in the sugar bowl or sticking paper cut-outs on people’s backs. These little practical April Fool’s Day jokes are called Inocentadas.

However, unusual celebrations that we have come across, stemming from ancient traditions, continue to be held, such as the “Flour Battle” that takes place in the streets of Ibi, Valencia, and the “Crazy People’s Dance” in Jalance, also in Valencia.

The Origins of April Fools’ Day Jokes:

April Fool’s Day jokes have a tantalizing history. One question is: could there be a common origin, or has the April Fool’s idea arisen spontaneously in different countries in different eras?

Joseph Boskin had an article entitled ‘The Origin of April Fools’ Day’ published in the Associated Press in 1983. The article reported that the mystery of the origin of April Fools’ Day had finally been solved.

Joseph Boskin, a History professor at Boston University, had discovered that the April Fool’s celebration began during the Roman Empire. A court jester had boasted to Emperor Constantine that the Fools and jesters of the court could rule the kingdom better than the Emperor could.

In response, Constantine had decreed that the court Fool would be given a chance to prove this boast, and he set aside one day of the year upon which a fool would rule the kingdom. The first year Constantine appointed a jester named Kugel as ruler, and Kugel immediately decreed that only the absurd would be allowed in the kingdom on that day.

Therefore the tradition of April Fool’s was born.

News media throughout the country reprinted the Associated Press story. But what the Associated Press reporter who had interviewed Professor Boskin for the story hadn’t realized was that Boskin was a hoaxer. Not a word of the story was true, which Boskin admitted a few weeks later. Boston University issued a statement apologizing for the joke, and many papers published corrections.

Other researchers point to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as the instigation of April Fools, however, Will and Guy could find no such reference, admittedly it’s a difficult book to read.

The Left-Handed Burger April Fools’ Day Hoax

Burger King once published a full-page advertisement in ‘Today’ announcing a new item to their menu: a ‘Left-Handed Whopper’ specially designed for the 33 million left-handed Americans. According to the text, the new burger had the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated through 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers.

The next day Burger King followed up with an advert saying that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. In addition, according to Burger King, ‘other customers requested their own ‘right-handed’ Whopper burger.’

GeneDupe – The Best April Fools’ Day Hoax

What threw Will and Guy off the track with the GeneDupe hoax was the publication, of a respectable journal called The Economist. However, when suspecting an April Fools’ Day the date of any press is then a give-away. The next thing to check is any names, Gene Dupe; hmmm… Then there is Dr Paulo Fril, Guy was a bit slow on the uptake until Will pointed out the anagram – Paulo Fril = April Fool.

GeneDupe’s concept is intriguing, to literally bring exotic animals to life. We are not talking about any exotic animals, but Unicorns and Dragons. What’s cunning is that in theory, it would be possible to manipulate lizard DNA and create a new beast which you could call a dragon.

The full article was expertly written in science-speak, touching all the right buttons with its talk of mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum, and the Golgi apparatus. These are all real structures that ‘A’ level biologists are familiar with. Rather like a good conjurer brings a real rabbit out of the hat, the GeneDupe article allows our imagination to create the method whereby genuine genetic techniques could be modified to produce mythical beasts such as gryphons and dragons.

Will and Guy also appreciate the sting in the tail. At the end of the Economist, the article draws attention to a previous Paulo Phil hoax, where he made a live goldfish made of gold. The concept was to genetically engineer fish so that they produced gold deposits in their skin cells. What next Dr Paulo – pigs that fly?

All Fools’ Day Hoax from the BBC

One of our favorite April Fool’s Day jokes was a spoof BBC trailer showing penguins migrating from the Antarctic to rainforests in S. America. Most convincing. April Fools’ Day penguin hoax

Fake products in catalogs are a good wheeze, the best of this genre was squirrel underpants.

Marketers Use April First to Launch Real Products

Famously, Google launched Gmail on the 1st of April 2004. People assumed it was an April Fools’ Day hoax, however, when it turned out to be true, Gmail and Google got a second round of free publicity – clever marketing stuff.

Spaghetti Bushes BBC April 1st Hoax

Swiss Spaghetti Bushes

Where does Spaghetti come from?
Back in 1957, no lesser source than the BBC, informed us with one of the most iconic April Fools’ Day Jokes – that Spaghetti came from bushes.

Now my guess is that you could resurrect this April Fools’ Day stunt for the next April Fools
Day. Today’s children are more sophisticated in many ways, for example, they would not believe that a radio programme purporting that Martians had landed in America was true. However, today children are notoriously ignorant of the sources of food.
All they know is that if they want food, they just open a ready meal or raid the fridge.

My favored method to trick older children is to recreate the hoax but to substitute Tagliatelle for Spaghetti. While, for younger children, the idea of a plain pasta tree may capture their imagination.

The original 1957 BBC hoax succeeded because it was shown on the prestigious Panorama Programme. In true reverential, BBC documentary tone, Richard Dimbleby explained how Spaghetti was harvested from bushes, dried, and then processed into strands of spaghetti.

Will remembers the Spaghetti Saga and believed it himself, as he didn’t know any better!! Will recalls, ‘We didn’t have a TV and I had to rely on friends repeating the tale; whether they had stayed up to watch I know not. I was 10 years old.

Also, the audience lapped it up, a few people even phoned in asking where
they could buy a Spaghetti bush.

As an aside, what I like about a good spoof is that it not only fools people, but
also, someone else gets mad, in this case, the staff of the BBC got upset because they felt that the BBC had wasted a Panorama slot on a mere hoax.

Well, this Programme went out on April 1st, 1957. It would be three months before Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was to tell us: ‘Most of our people have never had it so good’. I leave it to you to decide if he was talking about Spaghetti bushes or Tagliatelle Trees!

Sago Tree

We have a local counterpart of the spaghetti-themed April Fools’ Day jokes. It has to do with a local refreshment ingredient called sago (balled tapioca), which when sweetened with arnibal (sugar cane syrup) and combined with gulaman (gelatin), results in a very refreshing drink.

When we ask schoolkids, or even adults: “Have you seen a sago tree?”

They experience a temporary brain crash before they ask you: “Is there
really one?”

Footnote:
Item kindly sent in by Roger M.

Australian Farmer Claims Compensation For Damaged Spaghetti Crop

Will and Guy have persistent rumours that an Australian farmer claimed
$20,000 for his damaged crop.

Please write to us if you can elaborate
on this story.

Poor Robin’s Almanac [1790]*

The first of April, some do say, April The 1st
Is set apart for All Fools’ Day.
But why the people call it so, Nor I, nor they themselves do know.
But on this day are people sent On purpose for pure merriment.

* Poor Robin’s Almanac was a British almanac. It was published
from circa 1663 until 1828. The poet Robert Herrick is thought to have established it.

Footnote:
Please send us your April Fools’ Day jokes

April Fool’s Day jokes. Space shuttle, War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast

April Fools’ Day Stunt and a Classic Radio Hoax

1) Space Shuttle Discovery Lands at Montgomery Field, San Diego:

On April 1st, 1993 Dave Rickards was broadcasting as usual on radio station KGB-FM in San Diego. Dave grabbed the attention of his listeners by announcing that the space shuttle Discovery had been diverted from Edwards Air Force Base. This was hot news as Dave reported that Discovery had been diverted to Montgomery Field, a small, but well-known local airport.

Thousands of locals, who had listened to the broadcast, hastened towards the landing site. The result was traffic tailbacks of over 10 miles.

Police were notified and went to clear the traffic. People arrived at the airport carrying cameras, camcorders, and folding chairs. Journalists described how the crowd swelled to over 1,000 people.

Of course, the shuttle never landed. Montgomery Field Airport would have been far too small for the shuttle to even consider landing there. As it happened, there wasn’t a shuttle in orbit at the time.

The police took a dim view of the extra work caused by the April Fool hoax and threatened to send a bill to the radio station, they wanted compensation for the cost of officers required to deal with the traffic. KGM-FM broadcast a fulsome apology and the police decided to leave it there, after all, it was April Fools’ Day.

2) A Famous Previous Radio Hoax

Does it happen to you? Or is it just a lingering effect of my misspent youth telling April Fool’s Day jokes in boozers? What still amazes me is how a single one of these April Fool’s Day jokes triggers my memory to retrieve a similar story.

War of the Worlds Broadcast

In this instance, my memory is saying, remember the ‘War of the Worlds’ radio panic. The event happened on October 30th, 1938, so people weren’t expecting an April Fool’s style hoax. What actually happened was that people mistook a science fiction program to be a real Martian attack. This true account of the radio program and its effects may seem incredulous, but remember in 1938 there was no mass television. What made this event interesting is that it was not intended as a hoax.

Two things combined to create mass panic, firstly many listeners did not hear the start of the program, which introduced Orson Wells as reading from the H.G. Wells book, ‘The War of the Worlds’. Secondly, there was no chance of switching on CNN news for corroboration, just the mesmeric effect of the radio.

Here is a verbatim script of what listeners heard when they tuned in about 10 minutes after the program started.

ANNOUNCER A

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. From the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza Hotel in New York City, we bring you the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra. With a touch of the Spanish, Ramón Raquello leads off with ‘ La Cumparsita.’

(LA CUMPARSITA’sTARTS PLAYING, THEN QUICKLY FADES OUT)

ANNOUNCER B

Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News.

At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving towards the earth with enormous velocity.

Professor Pierson of the Observatory at Princeton confirms Farrell’s observation and describes the phenomenon as, quote, ‘like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun, ‘unquote.

We now return you to the music of Ramón Raquello, playing for you in the Meridian Room of the Park Plaza Hotel, situated in downtown New York.

(MUSIC PLAYS FOR A FEW MOMENTS UNTIL PIECE ENDS… SOUND OF APPLAUSE)

ANNOUNCER A

And now a tune that never loses favor, the ever-popular ‘ Stardust.’ Ramón Raquello and his orchestra…

(MUSIC: ‘STARDUST’)

ANNOUNCER B

Ladies and gentlemen, following the news given in our bulletin a moment ago, the Government Meteorological Bureau has requested the large observatories of the country to keep an astronomical watch on any further disturbances occurring on the planet Mars.

Due to the unusual nature of this occurrence, we have arranged an interview with a noted astronomer, Professor Pierson, who will give us his views on this event. In a few moments, we will take you to the Princeton Observatory in Princeton, New Jersey.

We return you until then to the music of Ramón Raquello and his orchestra.

(MUSIC: ‘STARDUST’ PLAYS FOR A WHILE, THEN QUICKLY FADES OUT )

ANNOUNCER B

We are ready now to take you to the Princeton Observatory at Princeton where Carl Phillips, our commentator, will interview Professor Richard Pierson, the famous astronomer. We take you now to Princeton, New Jersey.

(ECHO CHAMBER. SOUND OF TICKING CLOCK.) CARL PHILLIPS

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Carl Phillips, speaking to you from the observatory of Princeton. I am standing in a large semi-circular room, pitch black except for an oblong split in the ceiling. Through this opening, I can see a sprinkling of stars that cast a kind of frosty glow over the intricate mechanism of the huge telescope. The ticking sound you hear is the vibration of the clockwork.

Professor Pierson stands directly above me on a small platform, peering through the giant lens. I ask you to be patient, ladies and gentlemen, during any delay that may arise during our interview. Besides his ceaseless watch of the heavens, Professor Pierson may be interrupted by telephone or other communications. During this period he is in constant touch with the astronomical centers of the world…

There followed disturbing details of dramatic events that were going on in space and in America. Remember that radio is a great medium for using people’s own imagination against them.

This is an excerpt of what the Professor said:

Of the creatures in the rocket cylinder at Grovers Mill, I can give you no authoritative information – either to their nature, their origin, or their purposes here on earth. Of their destructive instrument, I might venture some conjectural explanation.

For want of a better term, I shall refer to the mysterious weapon as a heat ray. It’s all too evident that these creatures have scientific knowledge far in advance of our own. It’s my guess that in some way they are able to generate an intense heat in a chamber of practically absolutely no conductivity. This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against any object they choose, by means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition, much as the mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light. That is my conjecture of the origin of the heat ray…

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank:

Famous April Fool’s Day jokes through Time by Rekab Mailliw. Pub. Jan. 2006

The Museum of Hoaxes: Alex Boase c. 2003

Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia

Good, clean, free April Fool’s Day jokes. One-liners, short funny April Fool’s Day jokes. Have a laugh, enjoy a chuckle, and bring a smile to your face. Will and Guy hope that you share our sense of humor (or humor).

April Fool’s Day Jokes. Kell Stensson appeared on Swedish T.V

Kjell Stensson’s Instant Color TV

On April 1st, 1962, Kell Stensson appeared on Swedish T.V. to explain how you could exploit the moiré effect to turn black and white television into 256 colors.

Kell explained that all you needed was a pair of nylon stockings. He said that best of all were the newly introduced tights. He proceeded to demonstrate how you could tune the television by pulling the tights over the screen. He claimed that 25 deniers worked best. 40 denier caused the picture to go very dark. We have to remember that television sets were smaller in the 1960s, so it was then possible to stretch nylons over those little screens.

It was rumored that insiders bought shares in stockings immediately before the broadcast, but this was never proved. What did happen was that thousands of people gave it a try. As we know, this technique has no chance of working, however, it did give con men ideas.

In England, several of my family were taken in by fake color sheets of plastic. Smooth salesmen claimed that their gadget would turn black and white television instantly into color sets.’ Just fix our plastic over the screen and see everything in color’, they said. In fact, all you got was a sort of green tinge, it made clouds seem like a chemical gas attack.

TV Quotes

Television is a new medium. It’s called a medium because nothing is well done. Fred Allen

Television enables you to be entertained in your home by people you wouldn’t have in your home. David Frost

Change That T.V. Channel!

Wal-Mart Gang Murder Initiation

In March 2009 police in South Florida were swamped with calls about a gang initiation in which two women were murdered in a Walmart parking. The precise location varies, Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade are commonly cited, but rest assured all are a combination of April Fool’s Day jokes, well-meaning people, or anxious relatives.

Will and Guy seem to remember a similar hoax about 4 years ago, except at that time the targets were in Memphis. Such events are not funny, just a waste of time and a drain on police resources.

Free Wine for Everybody:

In 1987 the Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende wrote that the state alcohol monopoly had over 10,000 litres of wine which had been confiscated from smugglers. People were invited to Bergen’s main retail outlet to receive their share: it would be a sin to pour so much good quality wine down the drain.

In the early morning, hundreds of wine collectors appeared carrying all manner of containers: bottles, buckets, bowls, pots only to realize that they had been ‘had’.

One reason why people were so taken in could be the fact that alcohol in Norway is very expensive and government laws force its limited availability.

April Fool Pranks

Student Pranks for April Fools’ Day

Alarm Clock Confusion

Set ten alarm clocks so that they go off at 2-minute intervals. The skill is in the concealed placement, for example, behind ceiling tiles or heating vents.

You could camouflage the prank by putting up signs around that say April 1st is Alarm Clock Day so people don’t mistake the sound for a bomb.

Red Letter Day – B E R K

Each member of your gang needs to get a T-shirt with a different letter printed on the front. Each person only needs one big letter. The trick is to stand near members of staff while your group makes a word, and then you take a photo. Friends with letters B, E, R, and K can stand next to your class teacher while you snap a photo.

April Fools’ Day Pranks

Superglued Coins

These April Fool’s Day jokes work every year. Superglue high-value coins to a location where lots of people walk past. If possible stand at a discrete corner and make a video of your prank.

Human Contact Spreads Computer Viruses (April Fools’ Day Prank)

The well-respected PC Magazine published an article by ‘A.C. Feafunnoll’ on April Fools’ Day 2005. It stated that:

‘The federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Science Foundation (NSF) have issued a stunning joint announcement: PC viruses, worms, and spyware can now be transmitted via human contact. Researchers at St. Paul’s College in Virginia have isolated roughly 100 cases of systems infected by human contact, the two agencies said at a press conference at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Virginia…

One researcher, Avril Hidokwon, said she investigated a case where the Netsky. P virus spread to 10 systems by sneezing’

The story then gave a link: ‘For instructions on how you can decontaminate yourself and your PC and also avoid infection.’ This URL took gullible readers to one of the most controversial April Fool’s Day jokes.

Space shuttle Discovery lands at Montgomery Field, San Diego

Following the broadcast, thousands of locals rushed towards the landing site. The result was traffic tailbacks of over 10 miles.

See what else Dave Rickards said on April 1st, 1993.

Piltdown Man

How could a part man, part ape skull fool so many for so long? This true story has the extra ingredient that no one has conclusively solved who carried out the Joke. Investigate Piltdown Man yourself

April Fool Computer Pranks

Computer pranks are only funny if you are in the right mood. The extra factor on ‘All Fool’s Day’, is that the victim too has to be in the right mood to enjoy the April Fools’ Day jokes.

Top Ten April Fools Computer Pranks

Unplug all PC’s keyboards.
Send a colleague a fake email from HR, demanding that they go to the HR floor to discuss their email habits.
Move the contents of a desk to another part of the office.
Tell male colleagues it’s “wear a brightly colored shirt day”.
Switch the refrigerator’s handle.
Hang clear cellophane across a doorway.
Hand someone a phone message asking them to return an urgent call from Mr Lyon. The number listed is for the local zoo.
Tape is very good when placed over the pickup button on a telephone – no ring tone follows.
Do some “replacement changes” by switching the coffee room’s sugar with salt.
Go into the victim’s office and locate every pencil and pen on their desk. Paint the tips with clear nail polish. When they try to write, none of them will work. [After the prank is revealed, the nail polish can be removed by dipping the pens and pencils in polish remover]

April Fools’ Day Jokes for the Office

‘Office pranks are good for morale and could even help reduce stress,’ a new report has claimed.

Will and Guy suggest that pranksters consider their victims carefully to ensure appropriateness. We have been friends for many years and have learned that Guy is much more relaxed about pranks than Will – so tread carefully.

‘Playing a practical joke on a colleague could encourage creativity and improve teamwork,’ according to an executive job site. ‘When people come together to create a prank, it encourages creativity, and teamwork and gives the office a shared experience outside of the workload.’ So writes Sarah Drew, general manager of TheLadders.co.uk.

Whoopee cushions may be deemed inappropriate.

However, an alternative view is taken by Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com when she says, ‘Pranking at work can be risky business.’

Virus Warning

Even the most advanced antivirus programs from McAfee cannot take care of this bug. Norton is no help either.

Virus Symptoms:

Tricks you into sending blank emails.
Results in you sending an email to the wrong person.
Causes you to send the email back to the person who sent it to you.
Makes you forget to affix the attachment.
Triggers your pressing ‘SEND’ before you’ve finished.
Forces you to hit ‘DELETE’ instead of ‘SEND.’
Pressurizes you into clicking ‘SEND’ when you should click ‘DELETE.’
Causes you to send the same email twice.
Causes you to send the same email twice.
This virus only affects those who were born before 1958.

Oh, I nearly forgot, this virus is called the: ‘C-NILE VIRUS.’

April Fools’ Day Jokes from the Classroom

Ned and his photography

When I was a Greenhorn teacher I was slightly shocked by some of the strokes that older teachers pulled on their students. One episode that opened my eyes was Ned’s photography stunt. Because of cutbacks, old Ned Foreman had to run his 3rd-year photography class (now called Year 9?) with no money for film.

What Ned did was to assure his pupils that there was film in the cameras. He then sends them around and about to take pictures for their projects. When it came to printing the non-existent photographs, Ned had a myriad of excuses; he seemed to invent a different excuse for every class. If he was in a bad mood, Ned would stage an event where the class duffer opened the cameras. Ned then lambasted the stooge for accidentally exposing some old film he that he secreted in the cameras between lessons.

If he was in a good mood, Ned would take partial responsibility himself, I remember him spellbinding my class with a dramatic tale of how a bird flew into the photography dark room (aka his kitchen) and caused a shaft of light to expose the film. On another occasion, it was a long saga about how a rabid dog ate the film.

Guy the Greenhorn and his yogurt project

As a greenhorn, I was the reverse of Ned. I remember devising a bold project whereby the class made yogurt out of sour milk. It would be illegal now of course, but rules were lax 25 years ago. Far from giving the class reasons why the sour milk did not turn into yogurt, I spent my own money and bought a dozen real cartons of plain yogurt and claimed that their experiment was a great success.

Guy and the Cactus – April Fools’ Day Prank

Years later when I was an older and wiser teacher, I pulled a stunt on my class. The project for the Easter term was cactus. I invested some of the departmental budgets in some nice cactus plants for the pupils to take cuttings, we even had proper pots and a greenhouse to keep them warm.

Next, I arranged for a class outing to visit a local expert and admire his collection of cacti. When they returned to the lab, the class was impressed, but they now wanted to grow their own cactus from seed. Have you ever seen cactus seeds? They look just like gravel. Today is March 31st, what shall I do for tomorrow’s lesson?

Time for an April Fools’ joke.

As I was getting prepared for April Fools’ Day jokes, I could hardly keep a straight face as I told them that I managed to get some Cactus seed at great expense. In fact, I was giving them gravel that I picked up on the way to the lesson. My pupils dutifully planted the ‘seeds’ in their pots. Finally, we formed a crocodile and deferentially stored the ‘seeds’ in the greenhouse to germinate over Easter. At this point, the bell went for the end of the lesson, so I dismissed them with the words, ‘You know those Cactus seeds you just planted – April Fool’.

Tech Support Jokes

Perhaps one of these April Fool’s Day jokes will inspire you for an April Fools computer joke.

Double-space
Customer: ‘My disk ran out of space when trying to save my Word document, so I changed it from double-spaced to single-spaced and it still wouldn’t fit!’

Change of Mind
Customer: I keep getting inappropriate pop-ups on my computer and don’t want my wife to think that it’s me.’
Advisor: ‘I will remove them for you.’

Customer: ‘How do I get them back when she is not in?’

Change Channel?
Customer: How do I change the channel on my monitor?
Advisor: Your monitor won’t have channels like a TV.
Customer: But I was watching the internet channel the other day and now I just get the word processing channel.

Footnote
Please send us your April Fool’s computer pranks and practical April Fool’s Day jokes.

Google April Fools’ Day Pranks

Google is beginning to make a name for themselves as April Fools’ Day jokes masters or prankstars. In 2009 they offered an “autopilot” tool for Gmail. The idea was it would send out the appropriate automated responses to messages. “As more and more everyday communication takes place over email, lots of people have complained about how hard it is to read and respond to every message. This is because they actually read and respond to all their messages,” said Google.

Google introduced the CADIE artificial intelligence service, which stands for Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity, it had a “mind of her own” and the potential to “change the world”. Its Google Brain Search tool would use CADIE technology to index web users’ brains, “improving the speed and accuracy of memory retrieval” and eliminating “tip of the tongue syndrome”. CADIE even had its own logo a cartoon panda with her own website.

In another development, Google announced that its Chrome web browser would be available in 3D. Furthermore, Google provided printable red and blue 3D glasses in case web users don’t have a pair at home.

Google has a long history of April Fools pranks. In 2000, it launched MentalPlex, a search technology that could read people’s minds, eliminating the need to physically type in search queries, while in 2004, the company said it had established a research facility on the moon.

While back in 2004 the launch of Gmail 2004 was erroneously considered an April Fools prank, potential users simply could not believe the offer’s free 1 GB of online storage.

April Fools’ Day Virus – Conficker.c

This could be a double bluff. The Conficker.c virus could become virulent on April 1st, 2009. What seems to have happened is that thousands, possibly millions of machines have been infected, but so far the infection has not done anything malicious. However, on April
1st a master computer may be programmed to gain control of these infected zombie machines. One possible outcome is that the virus manifests itself as an invitation to buy a variety of fake products.

Another possibility is the April Fools’ Day virus is another hoax. A quick way to see if your computer has been infected is to see if you have received any automatic updates in the last month. If so, then all is well.

Stop press: Conficker.c exploits a vulnerability that Microsoft patched last October as part of Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 (see URL below). However, about 25% of all Windows machines worldwide are still not protected against this vulnerability. Irish Times April Fool Article

ELECTRONIC TAGGING for “Tax Exiles”

“We’re still concerned that there are a few fairy tales being told about where people are actually living,” said the spokesman.

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners is in discussions with a US-based high-technology security company, FailProof, on providing the service.

Footnote:
April Fools’ Day article kindly sent in by Brian Kearney

More Examples of April Fools’ Day Jokes

One of the Best Victorian April Fool’s Day Jokes – Washing the White Lions

In the Middle Ages lions really were kept in the Tower of London. However, by Victoria’s reign in 1837, all the lions had been moved to safer accommodations in Regents Park. In 1860 April Fools’ Day would fall on a Sunday, this gave some pranksters a brilliant idea; to invite all and
sundry to the Tower of London to see the annual washing of the white lions.

The invitation said: Admit the bearer and friend to view the annual ceremony of ‘Washing the white lions’ on Sunday, April 1st, 1860. What happened on that fine April day was that thousands of people turned up, and milled around, until one-by-one, it dawned on them that they had been hoaxed.

Will and Guy wish that we could trace the name of the person who invented this ‘Washing the White Lions’ hoax. We can only speculate that he was a member of the aristocracy. Our reasoning is that he had time on his hands, and also the means to pay for and to distribute the invitations (no desktop publishing in 1860!).

The hoaxer also introduced a few nice touches, for example, the Tower of London has a ‘White gate’ thus linking to ‘white lions’ in the minds of locals. Also, lions had been kept in the Tower within living memory. Perhaps it was reading reports in The Times that white lions were sighted in various parts of the British Empire, which sparked off this idea for an April Fool’s hoax.

Another fortuitous factor was that in 1860 the 1st of April fell on a Sunday, thus the perpetrator knew that people would be free to attend the ‘Washing of the White Lions’. Finally, the idea of washing white lions in April sounds like the right thing to do after the dirty mud of March.

We wonder how many imitations of ‘Washing the white lions’ there have been down the years. For example, ‘Wash the white elephants’, or ‘Bathe the brown bears’. Watch out, because our gut feeling is that another one of April Fool’s Day jokes along these lines is overdue.

New York City April Fools’ Day Parade:

In 2000 a news release was sent to the media stating that the 15th annual New York City April Fools’ Day Parade was scheduled to begin at noon on 59th Street and would proceed down to Fifth Avenue. According to the release, floats in the parade would include a ‘Beat ’em, Bust ’em, Book ’em’ float created by the New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle police departments. This float would portray ‘ themes of brutality, corruption, and incompetence.’

A ‘Where’s Mars?’ float, reportedly built at a cost of $10 billion, would portray missed Mars missions.

Finally, the ‘ Atlanta Braves Baseball Tribute to Racism’ float would feature John Rocker who would be ‘spewing racial epithets at the crowd.’

CNN and the Fox affiliate WNYW sent television news crews to cover the parade. They arrived at 59th Street at noon only to discover that there was no sign of a parade, at which point the reporters realized they had been hoaxed.

The prank was the handiwork of Joey Skaggs, an experienced hoaxer. Skaggs had been issuing press releases advertising the nonexistent parade every April Fools’ Day since 1986.

More April Fools’ Day Pranks | Jests for Apr 1st

Rather like any humor, April Fools’ Day jokes are only funny if you are in the right mood. The extra factor on ‘All Fool’s Day’, is that the victim has to be in the right mood too!

All Time Favourite April Fool’s Day Jokes and Hoaxes

Water on Mars: On April 1st, 2005, the official NASA website [National Aeronautics and Space Administration, USA] uploaded a news story regarding the discovery of water on Mars. Upon clicking the link, readers were greeted with this picture of a glass of water on top of a Mars bar! (See picture right.)
A clever idea became a funny hoax in 1986 when it was reported that the Eiffel Tower was to be dismantled. This international symbol of French culture would then be reconstructed in the new Euro Disney theme park being built, at the time, to the east of Paris.
The noted British astronomer, Patrick Moore, announced on the radio in 1976 that at 9:47 am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth’s gravity. Moore
told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation. Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.
The London Times reported in 1992 that formal negotiations were underway to divide Belgium in half. For those who are unaware, Belgium is a mixed country: the north is Dutch-speaking [Flemings], and the south, is French-speaking [Walloons], in a ratio of approx. 5 to 3. It was announced that the Dutch-speaking north would join the Netherlands [Holland] the French-speaking south would join France and Belgium would disappear. The Belgian embassy, in London, received numerous ‘phone calls from journalists and
expatriate Belgians seeking to confirm the announcement.
On April 1st, 1965, a Copenhagen newspaper, reported that the Danish parliament had passed a new law requiring all dogs to be painted white. The purpose of this, it explained, was to increase road safety by allowing dogs to be seen more easily at night.
In 1980, Boston’s Channel 7 news announced that the 635-foot hill in Milton Massachusetts had erupted. They showed footage of lava pouring down a hillside. They said that this eruption was a result of a chain reaction set off by the recent eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington.
A full-page BMW car advertisement was run on 1st April 1986, explaining their new car for driving between Great Britain and the Continent. It was both left and right-hand drive, had pedals on both driver’s and passenger’s sides, had a detachable steering wheel that could go either side and a full set of instruments on each side, the unused one was covered by a lovely walnut panel.
There was once a report that hawks [birds of prey] carrying cameras would be used on the motorways of the UK by police to catch speeding motorists.

Top Ten Pranks For Your Office – Especially on April 1st

Unplug all PC’s keyboards.
Move the contents of a desk to another part of the office.
Tell male colleagues it’s “wear a brightly colored shirt day”.
Switch the refrigerator’s handle.
Hang clear cellophane across a doorway.
Hand someone a phone message asking them to return an urgent call from Mr Lyon. The number listed is for the local zoo.
Do some “replacement changes” by switching the coffee room’s sugar with salt.
Tape is also very good when placed over the pickup button on a telephone – no ring tone follows.
Send a colleague a fake email from HR, demanding that they go to the HR floor to discuss their email habits.
Go into the victim’s office and locate every pencil and pen on their desk. Paint the tips with clear nail polish. When they try to
write, none of them will work. [After the prank is revealed, the nail polish can be removed by dipping the pens and pencils in polish
remover.]

True Story of an Ill-conceived Prank

Sitra Walker was an employee at a clothing store in Columbus, Ohio. She had only been working there for two weeks, but already she felt that she knew the manager well enough to joke around with him. So on April 1, 2003, she called him up at his home and told him that armed men were robbing the store.

The manager immediately called the police, who promptly dispatched four cruisers. Minutes later Walker phoned the manager again and screamed ‘April Fool!’

Too late. When the police arrived moments later they weren’t amused and charged her with inducing a panic. Walker’s manager fired her.

This story reminds us of Plato’s quotation: ‘Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something.’

More Student Pranks for April Fools’ Day

Alarm Clock Confusion

Set ten alarm clocks so that they go off at 2-minute intervals. The skill is in the concealed placement, for example, behind ceiling tiles
or heating vents.

You could camouflage the prank by putting up signs around that say April 1st is Alarm Clock Day so people don’t mistake the sound for a bomb.

Red Letter Day – B E R K

Each member of your gang needs to get a T-shirt with a different letter printed on the front. Each person only needs one big letter. The
trick is to stand near members of staff while your group makes a word, and then you take a photo. Friends with letters B, E, R, and K can stand next to your class teacher while you snap a photo.

April Fools’ Day Funny Pictures

The purpose of this page is to give you ideas for your April Fools’ Day jokes. We admit that these pictures were not actually taken on April the First, nevertheless, they capture the hoax theme.

Flying Penguins – One of the Best April Fools’ Day Pictures from 2008

Terry Jones undertakes an epic journey. The video shows spectacular footage of Adelie Penguins flying thousands of miles from Antarctica to the Amazon Rainforest.

See latest on flying penguins

Daily Telegraph Reports – Ferrets Lay Broadband Cables

Ferrets are being specially trained to bring broadband cables to rural areas. Virgin Media has developed literally groundbreaking techniques to fit microchips to ferret’s jackets so they can check for damage to the underground network.

Office Surprise

Surprise your co-workers. Here are more ideas for April Fools’ Day jokes in the office.

Google Changes Its Name to Topeka

Just on April 1st, 2010, Google changed its name to Topeka. It was one of the all-American April Fool’s Day jokes as only the USA saw the change, the rest of us just saw the regular Google. Perhaps the pranksters thought that UK readers would not know of the link between Topeka and Google.

CrunchPad

We’ve been hard at work on a new gismo that lets anyone create an iPad-like device from any laptop screen. It’s called the CrunchPad Kit and it’s now on sale for $49.

The key piece of technology is a transparent resizable modular touch screen overlap material that you add to the screen after removing it from the rest of the laptop. You then install the remaining electronics, as well as a power supply, and the device is ready to go. Also included in each kit is a 4G module that you can optionally activate and add to the device for always-on connectivity.

Bearskins Trimmed

Soldier magazine revealed that the fur on the bearskin helmets worn by the Irish guards while on duty at Buckingham Palace keeps growing and needs to be regularly trimmed, ‘The most hair-raising fact about the bearskins has been discovered by scientists recently. The skins retain an original hormone, which lives on after the animal has been skinned. Scientists call it otiose and it is hoped it can be put to use in medical research – especially into baldness.’

Guy the Greenhorn and his Yogurt Project

I remember devising a bold project whereby the class made yogurt out of sour milk. It would be illegal now of course, but rules were lax 25 years ago. Far from giving the class reasons why the sour milk did not turn into yogurt, I spent my own money and bought a dozen real cartons of plain yogurt and claimed that their experiment was a great success.