April Fools’ Day

April Fools’ Day is a custom observed in many countries. On this day people play tricks, practical jokes. In Britain all must end on the stroke of noon. If anyone attempts a trick after midday, the intended victim retorts:

April Fools gone past,

You are the biggest fool at last!

A variety of theories have been put forward to account for this lively and persistent custom, but its origin still remains obscure. Below there are two examples of how Englishmen enjoy themselves on April 1st. They may change the idea of this nation.

A Practical Joke.

About forty years ago a tradesman of the town Dover had a good laugh at the expense of his fellow citizens.

On March 31 of the year in question, a large number of persons who owned dogs received a very official-looking document. It was marked “Urgent”, and it bore the municipal coat of arms at the head of the page. The document was typewritten and signed by the Mayor of the town. It ran as follows:

“ Owing to a sudden outbreak of hydrophobia, it has become necessary

to take special measures of precaution against this terrible malady and

to have all the dogs of the town vaccinated.”

The notice went on to say that all persons owning dogs were therefore summoned to appear at the Town Tall at 10 o’clock sharp on the following morning, April 1st, accompanied by their pets.

By ten o’clock on the day appointed, hundreds of dogs, muzzled and unmuzzled, and of all breeds and sizes have assembled and were barking and wagging their tails in the courtyard of the Town Hall.

Aroused by the hubbub, the astonished officials came to the windows. None of them knew what to make of it. When the owners of the dogs showed their summonses and demanded admission, they were informed that there must be some mistake, as no such notices had been sent out.

Gradually, it dawned upon the victims that some wit or other had made April fools of them. Most of them took it in good part and after a hearty laugh dispersed to their homes.

An April Fool’s Day Hoax

On April 1st, 1957, BBC Television played an elaborate April Fool’s Day hoax on the viewers of a normally staid weekly current affairs programme. It showed a film about a bumper spaghetti crop being harvested in Southern Switzerland, near the Italian frontier. Included in the film were shots of agricultural workers picking long strands of spaghetti from bushes. The presenter of the film commented on the uniform length of the spaghetti; the result, he said, of many years of patient cultivation by plant breeders. After the programme was over, hundreds of viewers telephoned the BBC. Some of the calls were from viewers who had enjoyed the hoax, including one who complained that spaghetti didn’t grow vertically, but horizontally. Some of the calls were from viewers who wanted to know where they could buy spaghetti bushes. Mainly, though, the calls were from viewers who were no longer certain that spaghetti was made with flour and water and not grown. Such is the power of television.

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