No one really knows where April Fool’s Day came from. It has been celebrated in the UK since the 19th century, but some believe it originated much earlier here as it was mentioned by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century. Another theory is that it came from France and Holland in the 1500s.
Wherever it originated, we all enjoy a good April Fool’s gag, and here are some of the best
The Swiss spaghetti harvest
Richard Dimbleby was the arch prankster in this 1957 Panorama mockumentary about a particularly bountiful crop of spaghetti in Switzerland, which was due to a mild winter and the eradication of the spaghetti weevil!
Click here to remind yourself how the Swiss spaghetti farmers managed to grow their crop to the same length.
https://youtu.be/tVo_wkxH9dU
Other famous pranks include:
Marmite flavoured lip balm from Vaseline
Love it or loathe it, in 2011 Vaseline ‘launched’ a Marmite flavour lip balm.
Bearing in mind Lynx recently launched a Marmite scented body wash and spray collection, maybe the idea wasn’t so foolish after all.
Big Ben goes digital
In 1980 the BBC World Service announcement that Big Ben was to be updated to a digital face and electronic beeps, spectacularly backfired as irate listeners complained from across the globe. The BBC was still apologising weeks after.
Wheely silly ideas
Car manufacturers are famous for their April Fool’s jokes.
Last year Volkswagen announced it was changing its name to Voltswagen to signal its shift towards electric power.
Not to be (excuse the pun) outdone, Audi launched its new model b-tron, zero emissions honey-powered car, replete with on-board toaster.
BMW claimed their cars would soon be painted with ‘revolutionary photovoltaic technology’ lunar paint, allowing the all-electric and hybrid models to recharge at night under the moon’s glow.
Who knows how many of these wild inventions could one day become reality.
Speaking of which…
Pokémon prank becomes a world phenomenon
Did you know that the augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go was originally an April Fool’s joke. Google announced that they were publishing a game in which players could use Google maps to look for and catch Pikachus and Bulbasaurs who would pop-up on the map screen. The person with the biggest collection would win a job at Google as Pokémon Master.
It was such a great idea it soon became a reality and grossed over $1.92billion last year.
Keep your eyes out for todays crop of jokes and let us know which is your favourite.
