April Fool's Day
Wednesday 1 April 2009
It's April Fool's Day! Have you played a prank on anybody? Read up on the history of the day and funny pranks that have made headlines.
Have you been fooled?
April Fool's Day is celebrated on April 1st and is a day where people around the world can play jokes on their friends, family and even workmates.
Anyone who falls for a trick is called an April Fool. However, in some countries including the UK, April Fool’s Day only lasts until midday and anyone who plays a prank any later are called April Fool's themselves!
The fool’s history
The history of April Fool's Day has never been confirmed, but most people believe that it started in France in 1564. During this time, France officially changed its calendar to the modern Gregorian calendar, which stated that New Year’s should be celebrated on January 1st instead of March 25th to April 1st.
The people who chose not to follow suit were called 'fools' and others would play practical jokes on them and send them on ‘fools errands’ like fake parties.
In the news
Even big companies like to play April Fool's tricks. The most well known included:-
Newsround
In 2004, the Newsround website claimed that the planets in our solar system would be renamed after characters from The Lord Of The Rings – with Earth being named Gandalf.
BBC iPlayer
In 2008 the BBC showed video footage of newly discovered flying penguins on iPlayer. The footage even included presenter Terry Jones who followed their flight.
The Guardian
The Guardian newspaper once reported that Chris Martin had decided to support David Cameron's government campaign, and said that he had recorded a new song called ‘Talk To David’ which could be downloaded on its website.
Google is known for playing loads of pranks on April Fool’s Day. Today it tricked YouTube users by turning entire web pages, including videos, upside down. It happened automatically for some users, but anyone can see what it looks like by adding ‘&flip=2’ to the end of a video's URL.
Beware!
Not everything on April Fools Day is a joke. For instance, a computer virus known as Confiker C a.k.a 'The April Fool’s Virus', was launched today and is currently making rounds in the cyber world. It reportedly steals personal information and wipes hard drives.
