Thursday 1st April 2011
Pranks, Jokes and Hoaxes
April Fools' Day in London and the rest of the UK has a history of some pretty impressive and funny pranks. Some of the best April Fools' jokes of all time have occurred on our clouded isles and while we can't predict what this 'wind-up' day has in store for London, there's certainly quite a history preceding these 1st April shenanigans. A number of prankster Londoners have their own tricks in mind for their office, school or even a simple phone call, but we're willing to take a more retrospective approach to April Fools Day 2010.
In honour of this day of trickery, we've compiled a list of the top ten April Fools' pranks in the UK which might hopefully give you some ideas for your own April Fools Day hoax.
10. Zero Gravity for a Day
British astronomer, Patrick Moore, announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9.47am on 1st April 1967, the planetary realignment of Pluto would momentarily counteract and lessen the Earth’s own gravity. Moore advised listeners to jump in the air at precisely this time to experience a strange floating sensation. One woman called in afterwards to say that she and bunch of her friends had done this and floated around her living room.
9. The Great British Postal Switch
In a hoax that seemed to confuse everyone, including the BBC presenter interviewing him, Tom Jackson, General Secretary of the British Union of Post Office Workers, went on air in 1977 to rant about a planned change in the postal system. Letter-writers, he said angrily, would be required to put the house number after the street, not before, as it was done in Germany. Confused viewers and BBC employees later learned this was all Jackson's version of a happy April Fools' prank.
8. Chunnel Blunder
In 1990 the News of the World reported that the already costly Chunnel (Channel Tunnel) Project in was experiencing further delays and expense due to a colossal engineering error. The two halves of the tunnel being built from both France and England would simultaneously miss each other by 14 feet. It was going to cost another $14 billion to put right.
7. British Weather Machine
In a bout of April wishful thinking, Manchester Guardian reported in 1981 that British scientists had created a weather machine that would control the skies above Britain, creating rain only at night and perpetual sunshine throughout the year, as well as ensuring annual white Christmases. A picture accompanying the article was captioned, "Dr. Chisholm-Downright expresses quiet satisfaction as a computer printout announced sunshine in Pershore and a forthcoming blizzard over Marseilles."
6. Big Ben Goes Digital
In a drastic proposed change to the London skyline, in 1980 the BBC shocked everyone with their report that the clock in the Big Ben tower would go digital. The BBC Japanese service continued the joke by saying that the famous clock hands would be sold to the first four listeners to contact them.
5. Operation Parallax
London's Capital Radio announced in 1971 that a government plan to re-sync the British calendar with the rest of the world, called Operation Parallax, would require the removal of two days that year, April 5 and April 12. Numerous callers wondered whether they would receive their salary for that day, or what to do if their birthday landed on one of the “lost” days.
4. The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
Another hoax from those pranksters at the BBC – did they ever do any work? – was the 1957 Panorama prank about Swiss farmers harvesting their spaghetti crop. Thanks to a particularly mild winter, the dreaded spaghetti tree weevil had all but been wiped out, leaving a bumper pasta harvest. Hundreds of gullible Britons phoned in after the show to ask how they could grow their own, and were told to plant a strand of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.
3. Guinness Mean Time
In perhaps one of the most convincing April Fools' hoaxes to date, in 1998 Guinness announced through a press release that they had reached an agreement to become the official beer sponsor of the Old Royal Observatory Millennium celebration and as such, Greenwich Mean Time would be renamed Guinness Mean Time until the celebrations were over. Additionally, seconds that were traditionally counted in ‘pips' would be referred to as ‘pint drips.' They were so convincing that the Financial Times picked up the story only to later realise they had fallen for the joke.
2. One Way M25
The traffic on the M25 has become stuff of legend but also of April Fools' pranks. In 1991, it was announced by the Times that the Department of Transport had created a plan to ease traffic on the motorway. The plan involved making the whole road one way and the direction would alternate each day of the week. As the road was circular, they claimed, everyone would eventually reach their destination no matter which way the flow of traffic was directed. The plan was decried as lunatic by Times readers who didn't realise it was entirely fictional.
1. UFO in London
While most UFO sightings can be written off as the ravings of misguided viewers, when thousands of people see the same thing on the same date, it's cause for note. Unless, of course, the date happens to be March 31 1989, when Virgin chairman Richard Branson built a custom hot air balloon designed to look like a UFO and flew it over London. While his plan had been to land in Hyde Park, the wind blew him off course and forced him to land a day early and in the wrong location. Despite the mishap, it was still one of the most popular April Fools' jokes to date.
We're waiting with baited breath to see what else 2010 will bring! If you're interested in some more conventional ways to mark this day, check out all of the upcoming things to do in London.
April Fools is also the beginning of the Easter weekend, so click here for how to carry on the fun through the weekend.
Click here for Lowri's Financial Fools Day 2009, an outstanding account of the G20 protests and where we were last year on April Fools Day.
Here are some of the 2010 April Fools hoaxes spilling out today....
Apparently President Sarkozy will be following in the footsteps of Mike TV.
And, 007 gets the girls but also wants the boys.
If you have any good April Fools pranks, Spoonfed would love to hear them so please post them up!
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