Happy April Fool's Day!
In honour of this day, we've compiled a list of 10 of the world's best April Fool's Day pranks, courtesy of museumofhoaxes.com. Read on and gather some ideas for tricking your friends and family.
1. Swiss spaghetti trees
United Kingdom, 1957 - BBC news show Panorama announced that Swiss farmers enjoying a plentiful spaghetti-growing season. BBC also released footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees.
2. Instant colour TV
Sweden, 1962 - Back in the 60s, Sweden only had one TV channel, which was black-and-white. But on 1 April 1962, the station announces that new technology allowed households to convert their existing TV to a colour one, simply by pulling a nylon stocking over their TV screen.
3. The "Taco Liberty Bell"
United States, 1996 - The Taco Bell Corporation took out a full-page ad that appeared in six major newspapers, announcing it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell.
4. Flying Penguins
United Kingdom, 2008 - The BBC announced that camera crews had caught the first-ever shot of penguins flying, and subsequently aired a video of the traditionally grounded birds taking flight. The video quickly went viral.
5. Nessie is real!
Scotland, 1972 - A team of zoologists discovered the body of a large seas creature in Loch Ness, and later determined that it was the Loch Ness Monster. The zoologists tried to bring it back to their zoo, but the local police stopped them, citing a lay forbidding the removal of "unidentified creatures" from Loch Ness. In reality, "Nessie" was actually a bull elephant seal. Turns out that someone from the zoo had been playing a joke on his coworkers. When he discovered the seal had died, he shaved off its whiskers, padded its cheeks with stones and dumped it in the Loch.
6. Australia adopts "metric time"
Australia, 1975 - Australia's This Day Tonight news show aired a story about how the country would soon be converting to "metric time," which would consist of 100 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes to the hour, and 20-hour days. Seconds would become millidays, minutes become centidays, and hours become decidays.
7. The mummy fairy
United Kingdom, 2007 - A mummified creature resembling a fairy was posted online, alongside a blurb mentioning how it was found by a man walking his dog along an old roman road in rural Derbyshire. People started speculating online that the man had actually proved the existence of fairies, but eventually the person who owned the website that originally published the photo said that he was a prop-maker, and that the mummified fairy was a hoax. He had used his skills as a magician's prop-maker to create the creature.
8. Big Ben goes digital
United Kingdom, 1980 - BBC reported that Big Ben was going to convert to digital, in order to keep up with new technology.
9. Telepathic email
United States, 1999 - Red Herring Magazine published a story about a new technology that allowed users to send emails with their minds.
10. Eiffel Tower moves
France, 1986 - The Parisien newspaper announced an agreement to move the Eiffle Tower to the new Euro Disney theme park just east of Paris.
In honour of this day, we've compiled a list of 10 of the world's best April Fool's Day pranks, courtesy of museumofhoaxes.com. Read on and gather some ideas for tricking your friends and family.
1. Swiss spaghetti trees
United Kingdom, 1957 - BBC news show Panorama announced that Swiss farmers enjoying a plentiful spaghetti-growing season. BBC also released footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees.
2. Instant colour TV
Sweden, 1962 - Back in the 60s, Sweden only had one TV channel, which was black-and-white. But on 1 April 1962, the station announces that new technology allowed households to convert their existing TV to a colour one, simply by pulling a nylon stocking over their TV screen.
3. The "Taco Liberty Bell"
United States, 1996 - The Taco Bell Corporation took out a full-page ad that appeared in six major newspapers, announcing it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell.
4. Flying Penguins
United Kingdom, 2008 - The BBC announced that camera crews had caught the first-ever shot of penguins flying, and subsequently aired a video of the traditionally grounded birds taking flight. The video quickly went viral.
5. Nessie is real!
Scotland, 1972 - A team of zoologists discovered the body of a large seas creature in Loch Ness, and later determined that it was the Loch Ness Monster. The zoologists tried to bring it back to their zoo, but the local police stopped them, citing a lay forbidding the removal of "unidentified creatures" from Loch Ness. In reality, "Nessie" was actually a bull elephant seal. Turns out that someone from the zoo had been playing a joke on his coworkers. When he discovered the seal had died, he shaved off its whiskers, padded its cheeks with stones and dumped it in the Loch.
6. Australia adopts "metric time"
Australia, 1975 - Australia's This Day Tonight news show aired a story about how the country would soon be converting to "metric time," which would consist of 100 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes to the hour, and 20-hour days. Seconds would become millidays, minutes become centidays, and hours become decidays.
7. The mummy fairy
United Kingdom, 2007 - A mummified creature resembling a fairy was posted online, alongside a blurb mentioning how it was found by a man walking his dog along an old roman road in rural Derbyshire. People started speculating online that the man had actually proved the existence of fairies, but eventually the person who owned the website that originally published the photo said that he was a prop-maker, and that the mummified fairy was a hoax. He had used his skills as a magician's prop-maker to create the creature.
8. Big Ben goes digital
United Kingdom, 1980 - BBC reported that Big Ben was going to convert to digital, in order to keep up with new technology.
9. Telepathic email
United States, 1999 - Red Herring Magazine published a story about a new technology that allowed users to send emails with their minds.
10. Eiffel Tower moves
France, 1986 - The Parisien newspaper announced an agreement to move the Eiffle Tower to the new Euro Disney theme park just east of Paris.
