April Fools Day
Where did this one come from? Well having done a bit of research there appears to be a split between the changing of the Julian calendar to a Georgian one, or when the French King Charles IX changed new years day from April 1st to January 1st. No we have to say that our bets are on good old King Charlie as only a fool would be caught celebrating new years day 3 months after the event. Anyhow, which ever one you go with, you just have to love April Fools Day.
A slight oddity to be noted is that in some countries April Fools Day pranks can be performed for the full 24 hours, whilst others have a cunning ploy to reverse the tables at mid day where by anybody playing a joke after this time is deemed the fool. Unfortunately, here in Oz we participate in the stop at 12 version …. Oh well, you just have to make sure you either get up early or pack’em in while you can.
For those of you unaware of this crazy tradition / day, it basically provides you with license to play japes/gags/pranks and wind ups on your friends, family and loved ones without retort.
Some of the best / more well known gags that have been pulled of on April Fools Day include: -
On April 1st 1957 the BBC reported on their Panorama show that Swiss farmers where enjoying there best ever spaghetti harvest due to low numbers of spaghetti weevil present as the mild weather had inhibited their population growth. During the program they showed people picking spaghetti from trees and the BBC received a deluge of phone calls inquiring as to where they could purchase the said spaghetti trees.
On April 1st 1978 in Sydney Harbor a barge appeared towing a large iceberg. This was an expected event as Dick Smith a local millionaire businessman had been promoting the idea of bringing an iceberg to Australia all the way from Antarctica for a while and as plain as the nose on your face it looked like he had actually achieved it. In a live interview Dick Smith declared that his intention was to break the Iceberg up into millions of little ice cubes, that due to the purity of the waters in Antarctic, would improve the flavor of any drink that they where added to. The iceberg was immediately given the nick name DickenBerg and a local radio station ran a live commentary as the iceberg made its way into Sydney, whilst crowds of people gathered just to catch a glimpse of the amazing sight. Unfortunately, as it made its way into the harbor, it started to rain, washing away the various types of foam that covered white plastic sheets which made up the mega prank of the Sydney Harbor Iceberg.
On April 1st 1984 the Illinois based paper Eldorado Daily reported that it would be holding a Daylight Saving Contest whereby from the first day of daylight saving readers should collect as much daylight as possible and the collector of the largest quantity would receive a prize. The rules where fairly simple, daylight could be stored in any airtight container, only pure daylight would be accepted, you could not use dawn or dusk light and any entries containing moonlight would be disqualified. Unbelievably, they received a massive response.
Well we hope you have enjoyed the read as much as we did researching it and don't forget to check out whether you should stop the jokes at 12 or if you are lucky enough to live in one of the more progressive countries that allow the fun to flow for a full 24 Hours.
The Team @ Gifts2theDoor