April Fools’ Day on April 1 is a day where many of us unleash our most creative sides, all in a hilarious – sometimes over the top – attempt at bamboozling those around us.
- 1392 – Geoffrey Chaucer writes the line “March 32” in his book, potentially birthing April Fools’ Day.
- 1500s – The French adopt January 1 as the first day of the year.
- 1592 – Gregorian calendar is introduced to replace the Julian calendar, changing the first day of the new year from April 1 to January 1.
- 1776 – April Fools’ Day begins to sweep across the UK.
Some “famous” pranks
- 1864 – The Evening Star of Islington advertised in 1864 a display of donkeys at the Agricultural Hall the next day. Those who arrived early soon realized who the donkeys on display really were.
- 1950 – The Progress in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, published a picture of a UFO flying over the town. Claiming to have “scooped” larger publications of the first-ever published picture of a real flying saucer.
- 1957 – the BBC aired a segment on its news program showing footage of Swiss farmers harvesting spaghetti from trees. The segment was presented as a serious news story, and many people believed it was true.
- 1983 – Professor Joseph Boskin fabricated a story that Emperor Constantine let a jester, Kugel, rule for a day, leading to April Fools’ Day. The Associated Press published it before realizing it was a hoax.
- 1992 – Times of London reported in 1992 that Belgium was negotiating to join Holland.
- 1996 – Taco Bell announced that it had purchased the Liberty Bell and would be renaming it the “Taco Liberty Bell.”
- 1998 – Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper.” Both were hoaxes that fooled many.
- 2007 – Google announced that it was launching a new service called “Gmail Paper,” which would allow users to have physical copies of their emails printed and mailed to them.
- 2008 – the BBC presented a documentary on flying penguins.
- In France, April Fools’ Day is called “Poisson d’Avril” or “April Fish.” Children tape paper fish onto unsuspecting friends’ backs and shout “Poisson d’Avril!” when discovered.
- In Scotland, April 1st is “Hunt the Gowk Day.” “Gowk” means cuckoo or fool. People send others on fool’s errands with messages reading, “Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile.”
- In the UK, pranks are only until noon; after that, the prankster becomes the fool.
- In Brazil, this day is referred to as “Lie Day” or Dia da Mentira.
April Fools’ Day Survey
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