"April Fool!"

Wednesday, 1^st April 2015 will mark ‘April Fool’s Day’ when you will, for one day in the year, be able to play a (harmless) practical joke on one of your friends without (hopefully!) getting into too much trouble! 

Whether it’s asking one of your friends to go on a pointless task or setting fire to a dormant volcano resulting in an evacuation of an entire town (my personal favourite - http://hoaxes.org/af_database/permalink/the_eruption_of_mount_edgecumbe/!) why not get in on the act?

If you are planning a practical joke or hoax, you better do it quickly as it must be done (traditionally anyway) before 12 noon on the 1^st April! And be sure to shout ‘April Fool’ after the prank so that your ‘victim’ knows it was a harmless prank!  

April Fool’s Day (also known as All Fools Day) is widely “celebrated” across Europe, Australia, Canada, the USA and Brazil, although the custom of setting aside one day of the year to play harmless pranks on neighbours or friends is recognised all over the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools'_Day)! It is known as April Fool’s Day because the victim of the prank is known as the ‘April Fool’ for believing the story or hoax.

There are stories and references to April Fools throughout history from Flemish poets sending servants on foolish errands to Londoners being tricked into visiting the Tower of London to ‘see the lions being washed’ (http://hoaxes.org/Hoaxipedia/Washing_The_Lions)!

The press also like to get involved with our very own BBC running a report on a respectable prime time BBC programme ‘Panorama’ running a report in 1957 on the bumper spaghetti crop enjoyed by Swiss farmers who were able to grow excess amounts of spaghetti on trees due to the elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil! They even had so-called footage of the spaghetti being pulled down from the tress by Swiss peasants (http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_swiss_spaghetti_harvest)!

Even famous celebrities have tried to get in on the act of the ‘April Fool’ too, although some have been more successful than others. In 1989, Richard Branson commissioned and floated a giant flying saucer or ‘UFO’ (actually a hot air balloon) over London with a view to landing it in Hyde Park on 1^st April 1989. Despite the months of planning and making a hot air balloon that looked like a flying saucer (it even had strobe lights fitted!) the weather got in the way and slightly spoiled his plan by blowing him off course meaning he was forced to land a day early in the wrong place (http://www.openminds.tv/virgins-ufo-prank-frightens-police-april-fools-day-1989/26742)! 

Even if you don’t plan on playing a prank on one of your friends or family have a read of these top 100 April fools pranks and hoaxes for some interesting bedtime reading - http://hoaxes.org/aprilfool/P90.

We’d like to hear about your stories/experiences of April Fool’s Day:

Have you ever played a practical joke or hoax on someone for April Fool’s Day? If so, did it work? Or have you been the ‘April Fool’ and lived to tell the tale?