April Fools’ Day: What it is, where it came from and the rules
Love it or hate it, April Fools’ Day rolls around each year to the fanfare of pranksters everywhere. The day is devoted to pranks and practical jokes, encouraging everyone from your younger siblings to the national media to try to pull a fast one.
Last year, there were rumours that Wrexham FC’s newest owner, Ryan Reynolds, would be jumping from owner to goalie for the club’s FA cub semi-final. While the Flying Scotsman, the iconic steam locomotive, has been featured many times whether that’s a new tartan paint job or as part of the Virgin Trains fleet.
The non-religious holiday is one of the most recognised and celebrated in the world. And the irony of it is that, despite being marked in calendars for several centuries, no one really knows where April Fools’ Day comes from.
Though its history may be shrouded in mystery, we’re sure that many of you will be enjoying a practical joke here and there. Here is everything that we know about April Fools’ Day.
What is April Fools’ Day?
For those unfamiliar with it, April Fools’ Day is celebrated on April 1st each year. It is commonly linked with practical jokes and pranks, with “April Fools” yelled out as the punchline.
Where did April Fools’ Day originate?
It’s not really clear where April Fools’ Day originated, with some suggesting it has been around for several centuries. One theory floated by historians suggests that the day is the brainchild of the French in the 16th century.
When France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1582, the date of the new year was switched to January 1. Originally, the new year was celebrated in line with the spring equinox, which falls towards the end of March and into the start of April.
It is said that the people who failed to recognise the news, or those who just didn’t receive it, continued to celebrate the new year during the last week in March and were called “April fools” by those who celebrated earlier.
Another theory harks back to the Ancient Roman festival of Hilaria, which was celebrated at the end of March. Festivities included games, processions and masquerades, during which disguised commoners could imitate nobility to devious ends.
What are the rules of April Fools’ Day?
According to the unofficial, but traditional rules of the day, you can only tell April Fools’ jokes until midday (12pm) on April 1. After that time, jokers are supposed to come clean about their pranks.
Dating back to the 1700s, the rules state you can’t delay your jokes until the afternoon. Anyone telling pranks afternoon is considered to be the fool themselves – as they either don’t know the proper rules or have failed to properly acknowledge them.
What are the most famous April Fools’ Day pranks?
Washing the of the lions
One of the most famous and first recorded April Fools’ Day pranks occurred way back in 1698 when several people went to the Tower of London to watch the “washing of the lions” ceremony in the moat. The joke continued for many years after that and even required a newspaper to debunk the joke after people kept falling victim to it.
The BBC’s Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
In 1957, BBC news show Panorama announced that due to a mild winter and the elimination of the ‘spaghetti weevil’, farmers in Switzerland were enjoying a thriving spaghetti crop.
Footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees was shown and an incredible amount of viewers believed this trick, with many calling the BBC up and asking how they could grow their own spaghetti tree.
The BBC told viewers to “place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”, the director-general of the BBC at the time even fell for this trick, looking in an encyclopedia to find out if this was actually how spaghetti was grown.
London’s UFO
In 1989 on March 31, the then 36-year-old chairman of Virgin Records, Richard Branson, flew in a hot air balloon which had been specially designed to look like a UFO. Hundreds of motorists driving on the motorway outside London looked up to see what they thought was a glowing flying saucer descending into London.
When the “flying saucer” landed in a field on the outskirts of London, local residents called the police to report the “alien invasion”. A police officer reportedly approached the “spaceship”, but ran in the opposite direction when the UFO door opened and a silver-suited figure came out.
It is believed that Branson’s original plan was to land the craft in London’s Hyde Park on April 1, but when the wind blew him off course he had to land his balloon a day early and in the wrong place.
Tesco’s carrots
On April 1 2002, Tesco ran an ad in The Sun announcing that they had successfully developed a new, genetically modified “whistling carrot”. The ad stated that the orange veg had been specifically engineered to grow with air holes which, when fully cooked, would emit a signal equivalent to the noise level of a drill to indicate that they were ready.