April Fools' Day is celebrated in the Western world on the 1st of April of every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a legal holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day which tolerates practical jokes and general foolishness. Traditionally, in some countries such as New Zealand, the UK, Australia, and South Africa, the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".[1]The earliest recorded association between 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). In 1509, a French poet referred to a poison d’avril (April fool, literally "April fish"), a possible reference to the holiday.[4][4] On 1st April, 1698, several people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to "see the Lions washed".[4][7] In some areas of France, New Year's was a week-long holiday ending on the 1st of April.[6]
• Decimal time: Repeated several times in various countries, this hoax involves claiming that the time system will be changed to one in which units of time are based on powers of 10.[11]
• Apple buys the Beatles: Bob Lefsetz released an April Fools' Day letter which had rumours circulating around the music industry.[15]
By radio stations
National Public Radio: Every year National Public Radio in the United States does an extensive news story on April 1. Soylent Green is People".[25]
In 2009, midday host Bob Rogers announced he was changing his show to heavy metal. The prank was organised by Cork radio station RedFM. [edit] By television stations
Many shocked people contacted the station.[29]
Spaghetti trees: The BBC television programme Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. [32] In 2007, the BBC website repeated an online version of the hoax.[33]
[38] The incident was parodied in the Season 13 episode "Eat, Pray, Queef", the first episode to broadcast on April Fool's Day since the incident.
The same story was also reported in the British newspaper, The Daily Mail which credited the new design to April Fewell. In 2010, The One Show did a part on "Cloned Unicorns" and then revealed that it was an April Fool's Day joke.[citation needed]
The hosts then debated the advantages and disadvantages before revealing that the story was a joke.[citation needed]
By newspapers
In The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom on April Fool's Day 1977, a fictional mid-ocean state of San Serriffe was created in a seven-page supplement.[citation needed]
By game shows
As part of an April Fools' joke on April 1, 1997, Alex Trebek and Pat Sajak switched hosting duties. Sajak hosted Jeopardy! that day (which featured several Wheel-inspired categories) and Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune where Sajak and Vanna White played as contestants. On April 1, 2008, Alex Trebek appeared on Jeopardy! On April 1, 2010, Sajak appeared during Trebek's introduction during the opening of Jeopardy!. On April 2, the site posted a photo gallery showing all 10 mistakes, as well as the end of that day's episode in which Pat & Vanna went over each change. In most cases, once the contestant learned that it was an April Fools' joke, the real Showcase would consist of extravagant prizes, such as luxury and sports cars. The 2009 episode featured Match Game's think music for games using think music, Bobeck stripping tires from one car prize, placing a wheel lock on another, unusual sound effects on the Showcase Showdown wheel, incorrect photographs for trip videos, and one Showcase where all prizes were facing the wrong way.
Hollywood Squares featured April Fools' gags on three occasions:
In 1988, center square Joan Rivers swapped places with Davidson to be the show's host that day (Davidson called out "April Fools!", after being introduced in his square during the opening).
Other game shows:
On April 1, 2003, the hosts of Game Show Network original programs guest hosted on other hosts' shows similar to 1997 when Pat Sajak hosted Jeopardy! and Alex Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune:
- Graham Elwood from Cram guest hosted Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, regularly hosted by Kennedy.
guest hosted Russian Roulette, regularly hosted by Walberg .
guest hosted WinTuition, regularly hosted by Marc Summers.
- Summers from WinTuition guest hosted Cram, regularly hosted by Elwood.
The rumour, which was intended as an April Fools' prank, was started by a student imitating the design of the Ming Pao newspaper website. NationStates runs an annual hoax on April 1. Water on Mars: In 2005 a news story was posted on the official NASA website purporting to have pictures of water on Mars. RISKS Digest often publishes a special April 1 issue.[57]
The hoax played off the fact that when rival role-playing game developers Square and Enix merged on April 1, 2003, many believed the news to be an April Fools' joke.[59]
IGN, a video game website, released a realistic-looking Legend of Zelda movie trailer on April Fool's Day 2007. Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki has pulled numerous April Fools pranks. Microsoft Research Reclaims Value of Pi: In 2008, an executive with the Microsoft Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments posted on his personal blog an updated spoof of the 1998 April Fools' hoax claiming Alabama's state legislature had rounded the value of pi to the "Biblical value of 3". YouTube:
Click here to go back to regular YouTube and happy April Fools Day!"[69]
deviantART deviantART's most infamous April Fool's joke was in 2008, when all members' icons were changed to "So I herd u liek mudkipz". President Barack Obama pulls fundings for NASCAR - On April 1, 2009, on the heels of the auto industry bailout, Car and Driver claimed on their website that President Barack Obama had ordered Chevrolet and Dodge to pull NASCAR funding. Expedia ran a prank on 1 April 2009, offering flights to Mars. gonullyourself.org appeared to be "infected" by Conficker on 1st April 2009.[73]
The hidden message on the main page was "There is no Drew only Zuul, Happy April Fool's Day from Fark".[74]
A hidden message on the site read, "...April Fools', Ghostwatchers!"[75]
April Fools' Day RFC
Google's hoaxes
Neopets: The popular site Neopets runs regular hoaxes, year after year. The April 1, 1946 Aleutian Island earthquake tsunami that killed 165 people in Hawaii and Alaska resulted in the creation of a tsunami warning system, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, established in 1949 for Pacific Ocean countries. The tsunami in question is known in Hawaii as the "April Fools' Day Tsunami" due to people drowning because of the assumptions that the warnings were an April Fools' prank.
The death of King George II of Greece on April 1, 1947.
The AMC Gremlin was first introduced on April 1, 1970.[77]
In 1979, Iran declared April 1 its national Republic Day. On April 1, 1984, singer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father. The suicide death of Deathrock legend Rozz Williams was on April 1, 1998.
On April 1, 1999 The Canadian Northwest Territories was split, and the territory now known as Nunavut came to be.
On April 1, 2002, WWE Raw changed logos.
The merger of Square and its rival company, Enix, took place on April 1, 2003, and was originally thought to be a joke.
Gmail's April 1, 2004 launch was widely believed to be a prank, as Google traditionally perpetrates April Fools' Day hoaxes each April 1, and the announced 1GB online storage was at the time vastly more than existing online email services (see Google's hoaxes.) The 2005 death of comedian Mitch Hedberg was originally dismissed as an April Fools' joke. The comedian's March 29, 2005 death was announced on March 31, but many newspapers did not carry the story until April 1, 2005.
On April 1, 2007, the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book came out.
British sprinter Dwain Chambers joined English rugby league team Castleford Tigers shortly before April 1, 2008. The athlete was attempting a return to top flight athletics at the time following a high profile drugs ban, and his apparent unfamiliarity with rugby led many people to assume this was an April Fools' Day prank.
On 1 April 2009, Alan Shearer became caretaker manager of Newcastle United.
On April 1, 2009, CBS announced the cancellation of the daytime drama Guiding Light after 72 years, with the final episode airing September 18, 2009.
Also on April 1, 2009, a Virus/Worm called Conficker was released and spread to millions of computers, releasing personal info and deleting files. On April 1st 2010, Sony Computer Entertainment released Firmware 3.21 for the Sony PlayStation 3. Because the "upgrade" occurred on April 1, many people thought that it was a joke.[82]
On April 1st 2010, Charlie Sheen announced he was considering leaving Two and a Half Men.
• Not surprisingly, many people took the reports as an April Fool.
Other prank days in the world
Iranians play jokes on each other on the 13th day of the Persian new year (Norouz), which falls on April 1 or April 2. The April 1 tradition in France and French-speaking Canada includes poison d'avril (literally "April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed. In Poland, prima aprilis ("April 1" in Latin) is a day full of jokes; various hoaxes are prepared by people, media (which sometimes cooperate to make the "information" more credible) and even public institutions. In Scotland, April Fools' Day is traditionally called Hunt-the-Gowk Day ("gowk" is Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person), although this name has fallen into disuse. (Innocent!).
• Decimal time: Repeated several times in various countries, this hoax involves claiming that the time system will be changed to one in which units of time are based on powers of 10.[11]
• Apple buys the Beatles: Bob Lefsetz released an April Fools' Day letter which had rumours circulating around the music industry.[15]
By radio stations
National Public Radio: Every year National Public Radio in the United States does an extensive news story on April 1. Soylent Green is People".[25]
In 2009, midday host Bob Rogers announced he was changing his show to heavy metal. The prank was organised by Cork radio station RedFM. [edit] By television stations
Many shocked people contacted the station.[29]
Spaghetti trees: The BBC television programme Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. [32] In 2007, the BBC website repeated an online version of the hoax.[33]
[38] The incident was parodied in the Season 13 episode "Eat, Pray, Queef", the first episode to broadcast on April Fool's Day since the incident.
The same story was also reported in the British newspaper, The Daily Mail which credited the new design to April Fewell. In 2010, The One Show did a part on "Cloned Unicorns" and then revealed that it was an April Fool's Day joke.[citation needed]
The hosts then debated the advantages and disadvantages before revealing that the story was a joke.[citation needed]
By newspapers
In The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom on April Fool's Day 1977, a fictional mid-ocean state of San Serriffe was created in a seven-page supplement.[citation needed]
By game shows
As part of an April Fools' joke on April 1, 1997, Alex Trebek and Pat Sajak switched hosting duties. Sajak hosted Jeopardy! that day (which featured several Wheel-inspired categories) and Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune where Sajak and Vanna White played as contestants. On April 1, 2008, Alex Trebek appeared on Jeopardy! On April 1, 2010, Sajak appeared during Trebek's introduction during the opening of Jeopardy!. On April 2, the site posted a photo gallery showing all 10 mistakes, as well as the end of that day's episode in which Pat & Vanna went over each change. In most cases, once the contestant learned that it was an April Fools' joke, the real Showcase would consist of extravagant prizes, such as luxury and sports cars. The 2009 episode featured Match Game's think music for games using think music, Bobeck stripping tires from one car prize, placing a wheel lock on another, unusual sound effects on the Showcase Showdown wheel, incorrect photographs for trip videos, and one Showcase where all prizes were facing the wrong way.
Hollywood Squares featured April Fools' gags on three occasions:
In 1988, center square Joan Rivers swapped places with Davidson to be the show's host that day (Davidson called out "April Fools!", after being introduced in his square during the opening).
Other game shows:
On April 1, 2003, the hosts of Game Show Network original programs guest hosted on other hosts' shows similar to 1997 when Pat Sajak hosted Jeopardy! and Alex Trebek hosted Wheel of Fortune:
- Graham Elwood from Cram guest hosted Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, regularly hosted by Kennedy.
guest hosted Russian Roulette, regularly hosted by Walberg .
guest hosted WinTuition, regularly hosted by Marc Summers.
- Summers from WinTuition guest hosted Cram, regularly hosted by Elwood.
The rumour, which was intended as an April Fools' prank, was started by a student imitating the design of the Ming Pao newspaper website. NationStates runs an annual hoax on April 1. Water on Mars: In 2005 a news story was posted on the official NASA website purporting to have pictures of water on Mars. RISKS Digest often publishes a special April 1 issue.[57]
The hoax played off the fact that when rival role-playing game developers Square and Enix merged on April 1, 2003, many believed the news to be an April Fools' joke.[59]
IGN, a video game website, released a realistic-looking Legend of Zelda movie trailer on April Fool's Day 2007. Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki has pulled numerous April Fools pranks. Microsoft Research Reclaims Value of Pi: In 2008, an executive with the Microsoft Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments posted on his personal blog an updated spoof of the 1998 April Fools' hoax claiming Alabama's state legislature had rounded the value of pi to the "Biblical value of 3". YouTube:
Click here to go back to regular YouTube and happy April Fools Day!"[69]
deviantART deviantART's most infamous April Fool's joke was in 2008, when all members' icons were changed to "So I herd u liek mudkipz". President Barack Obama pulls fundings for NASCAR - On April 1, 2009, on the heels of the auto industry bailout, Car and Driver claimed on their website that President Barack Obama had ordered Chevrolet and Dodge to pull NASCAR funding. Expedia ran a prank on 1 April 2009, offering flights to Mars. gonullyourself.org appeared to be "infected" by Conficker on 1st April 2009.[73]
The hidden message on the main page was "There is no Drew only Zuul, Happy April Fool's Day from Fark".[74]
A hidden message on the site read, "...April Fools', Ghostwatchers!"[75]
April Fools' Day RFC
Google's hoaxes
Neopets: The popular site Neopets runs regular hoaxes, year after year. The April 1, 1946 Aleutian Island earthquake tsunami that killed 165 people in Hawaii and Alaska resulted in the creation of a tsunami warning system, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, established in 1949 for Pacific Ocean countries. The tsunami in question is known in Hawaii as the "April Fools' Day Tsunami" due to people drowning because of the assumptions that the warnings were an April Fools' prank.
The death of King George II of Greece on April 1, 1947.
The AMC Gremlin was first introduced on April 1, 1970.[77]
In 1979, Iran declared April 1 its national Republic Day. On April 1, 1984, singer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father. The suicide death of Deathrock legend Rozz Williams was on April 1, 1998.
On April 1, 1999 The Canadian Northwest Territories was split, and the territory now known as Nunavut came to be.
On April 1, 2002, WWE Raw changed logos.
The merger of Square and its rival company, Enix, took place on April 1, 2003, and was originally thought to be a joke.
Gmail's April 1, 2004 launch was widely believed to be a prank, as Google traditionally perpetrates April Fools' Day hoaxes each April 1, and the announced 1GB online storage was at the time vastly more than existing online email services (see Google's hoaxes.) The 2005 death of comedian Mitch Hedberg was originally dismissed as an April Fools' joke. The comedian's March 29, 2005 death was announced on March 31, but many newspapers did not carry the story until April 1, 2005.
On April 1, 2007, the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book came out.
British sprinter Dwain Chambers joined English rugby league team Castleford Tigers shortly before April 1, 2008. The athlete was attempting a return to top flight athletics at the time following a high profile drugs ban, and his apparent unfamiliarity with rugby led many people to assume this was an April Fools' Day prank.
On 1 April 2009, Alan Shearer became caretaker manager of Newcastle United.
On April 1, 2009, CBS announced the cancellation of the daytime drama Guiding Light after 72 years, with the final episode airing September 18, 2009.
Also on April 1, 2009, a Virus/Worm called Conficker was released and spread to millions of computers, releasing personal info and deleting files. On April 1st 2010, Sony Computer Entertainment released Firmware 3.21 for the Sony PlayStation 3. Because the "upgrade" occurred on April 1, many people thought that it was a joke.[82]
On April 1st 2010, Charlie Sheen announced he was considering leaving Two and a Half Men.
• Not surprisingly, many people took the reports as an April Fool.
Other prank days in the world
Iranians play jokes on each other on the 13th day of the Persian new year (Norouz), which falls on April 1 or April 2. The April 1 tradition in France and French-speaking Canada includes poison d'avril (literally "April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fish to the victim's back without being noticed. In Poland, prima aprilis ("April 1" in Latin) is a day full of jokes; various hoaxes are prepared by people, media (which sometimes cooperate to make the "information" more credible) and even public institutions. In Scotland, April Fools' Day is traditionally called Hunt-the-Gowk Day ("gowk" is Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person), although this name has fallen into disuse. (Innocent!).
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