April 1st: This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three-hundred and sixty-four.
Mark Twain

April Fool’s Day or All Fools’ Day, though not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible.

Superstitions

Traditionally, pranks are supposed to be performed before noon. Those done afterwards are supposed to bring bad luck to the perpetrator. This limitation is not, however, universally adhered to since it is believed to have been contrived by annoyed parents and school teachers wanting a respite from the day of pranks, as well as since many of the hoaxes listed below first appeared after noon. Anyone who fails to respond in the proper spirit of tolerance and amusement to the tricks played on them is also said to be liable to suffer bad luck. It is (unreliably) said that being fooled by a pretty girl will be compensated by marriage to, or at least friendship with her. Another superstition is that marriage on April Fool’s Day is not a good idea for a man, for he will be permanently ruled by his wife. It is furthermore believed that children born on this day will experience good luck in most matters, but will only meet with disaster when it comes to gambling.

Origin

The origin of April Fool’s day is not entirely clear, but it is generally accepted to have stemmed from the changes in the calendar system. The New Year celebrations used to begin on 25 March and last for a week, hence ending on 1 April. In 1582, King Charles IX of France brought in the new Gregorian calendar, in which the new year began on 1 January. Unfortunately, some people did not hear of the change, and others simply refused to break the tradition. These people became the object of so-called “fool’s errands” and tests of gullibility.

Hoaxes

Many media organizations have either unwittingly or deliberately propagated hoaxes on April Fool’s Day. Even normally serious news media consider April Fool’s Day hoaxes fair game, and spotting them has become an annual pastime. The advent of the Internet as a worldwide communications medium has also assisted the pranksters in their work.

Well-known hoaxes

• Cleveland Dinosaur Attack: a joke saying that dinosaurs attacked all over Cleveland, including the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Gund Arena.

• Smell-o-vision: The BBC purported to conduct a trial of a new technology allowing the transmission of odor over the airwaves to all viewers. Despite the fact that no such capability existed, many viewers reportedly contacted the BBC to report the trial’s success.

• Spaghetti trees: The BBC television program Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing the Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. A lot of people wanted spaghetti trees of their own.

• Metric time: Repeated several times in various countries over the years, this hoax claims that the time system will be changed to some system where one subdivision is some power of 10 smaller than the next. The idea to metricate time was suggested in France after the French Revolution.

• Tower of Pisa: The Dutch television news once reported that the famous Tower of Pisa had fallen over. Many shocked and even mourning people contacted the television studio.

• Television licence: In another year the Dutch television news reported that the government had introduced a new way to detect hidden televisions (in many countries in Europe, one must pay a television licence to fund public broadcasting) by simply driving through the streets with a new detector, and that the only way to keep your television from being detected was to wrap it in aluminum foil. Within a few hours all aluminum foil was sold out throughout the country.

• Sidd Finch: George Plimpton wrote an article in Sports Illustrated about a New York Mets prospect who could throw a fastball at 176 mph (283 km/h) (the fastest pitchers in baseball barely reach 100 mph [161 km/h]).

This kid was known as “Barefoot” Sidd Finch. He reportedly learned to throw a ball that fast in a Buddhist monastery, and also threw a javelin a quarter of a mile at the British Olympic tryouts. Plimpton said the boy refused to go to the Olympics for fear of hurting someone. Barefoot Sidd was later the subject of a moderately successful book. • Shuttle landing: A Vancouver radio station successfully tricked many listeners in believing that a space shuttle had to do an emergency landing at the Vancouver International Airport.

• In 1995, the National Television Station TVM in Malta announced the discovery of a new underground prehistoric temple. The discovery of a mummy eventually led to the announcement that it was an April’s Fool joke. This was done during a TV programme conducted by John Demanuele.

• Another famous April Fool’s Joke was carried out by newscaster Anna Bonanno, which announced that Malta would follow the European continent in changing its motoring rules and motor vehicles would start driving on the right. At the end of the news, it was announced that this was nothing but an April Fool’s Joke.

• In 2002, the Canadian news site bourque.org announced that Finance Minister Paul Martin had resigned “in order to breed prize Charolais cattle and handsome Fawn Runner ducks.” The Canadian dollar dropped to its lowest level in a month before Martin’s office denied the story.

• In 2003, there was a rumor in Hong Kong that Hong Kong had become an infected area and would be quarantined because of SARS, all immigration ports would also be closed. The same rumor also mentions Tung Chee Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong at that time, had resigned. This caused a panic that Hong Kong people rushed into supermarkets to buy food. The Hong Kong government had to hold a press conference that officially denied the rumor. Later it was revealed that the rumor was spread by a student, by imitating the design of Ming Pao newspaper website, which was intended to be an April Fool’s Day hoax, and the student was arrested for spreading false news.

• BMW has published full page adverts every year in several countries, including:

— its MINI cars being used in upcoming space missions to Mars,

— special wipers for the BMW crest on the boot and bonnet coming as standard on all future models,

— using GPS links to domestic ovens so that your meal is cooked to perfection as you walk in the door.

By radio stations

• Radio Station “Power 106”: A Los Angeles radio station “announced” a change from pop to disco music at 7:00 am, April 1, (1993). After 12 hours they admitted it was a joke, and switched back to their standard playlist. Within minutes complaints rolled in of “where’s the disco?”, and the station actually changed formats the next day (and kept disco for a year or two).

• Radio Station KFOG (San Francisco, CA): Pretended to have been the victim of a corporate radio buyout, with a switch to a new format: just the best 15 seconds of every song! The entire morning show was formatted this way, with taped interruptions of various perky listeners gushing over the new format. (This hoax can also be considered a parody of several radio buyouts during the late 1990s media consolidations.)

• Australian Radio Station Triple J: On 1999-04-01, breakfast show co-host Adam Spencer said he had a journalist on the line from overseas where there had just been a secret 9 hour IOC meeting and that Sydney had lost the 2000 Olympic Games. New South Wales Premier Bob Carr was also in on the joke. The story was picked up by mainstream media (including Channel 9’s Today Show) before Adam revealed the truth.

Other prank days in the world

The French prank day is also April 1. The tradition of the poisson d’avril (literally “April fish”) is for people to attempt to attach a paper fish to their chosen victim’s back without them noticing.

In the Spanish speaking world, similar pranks are practiced on December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents. This custom also exists in certain areas of Belgium, including the province of Antwerp (which is situated in Flanders). The tradition is that children lock out their parents or teachers, only letting them in again if they promise to bring treats the same evening or the next day.

In Iran, people play jokes on each other on the 13th day of the new year (Norooz). This day is called “Sizdah bedar” (Out-door thirteen), and it is April 3 (13th of Farvardin in Persian calendar). It is believed that people should go out on this date in order to escape the bad luck of number 13. In Judaism, the traditional day of pranks, hoaxes and mockery is Purim. However, modern Jews prefer to play pranks on April Fool’s day.

Nuisance caused to third parties by April Fool's Day

• One type of April Fool’s Day hoax is to leave a message telling someone to telephone Mr C.Lion or Mr L.E.Fant (or various others) at a number that turns out to be a zoo. That prank, repeated across many people, causes serious problems for zoos’ telephone exchanges.

• There have been cases when a hoax in a newspaper caused many readers to send mail to a nonexistent address, causing problems to postal sorting offices.