April 1st: April Fool's Day

April Fools' Day is celebrated all around the world on the April 1 of every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day where everyone plays all kinds of jokes and foolishness. The day is marked by the commission of good humoured or funny jokes, hoaxes, and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, work associates, etc.

Traditionally, in some countries such as New Zealand, Ireland, the  UK, Australia, and South Africa, the jokes only last until noon, and  someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".

Elsewhere, such as in France, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Russia, The  Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S., the jokes last all  day. The earliest recorded association between April 1 and foolishness  can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). Many writers suggest that the restoration of the January 1 as New Year's Day in the 16th century was responsible for the creation of the holiday.

The top April Fool's Day hoaxes of all the time.-

• The Swiss spaghetti harvest. On April 1, 1957 the British news show Panorama broadcast a  three-minute segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern  Switzerland. The success of the crop was attributed both to an unusually  mild winter and to the "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil."  The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the show's highly respected  anchor, discussing the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched  video footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and  placing it into baskets. The segment concluded with the assurance that,  "For those who love this dish, there's nothing like real, home-grown  spaghetti."The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax generated an enormous response.  Hundreds of people phoned the BBC wanting to know how they could grow  their own spaghetti tree. To this query the BBC diplomatically replied,  "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the  best."

• The Left-Handed Whopper (1998): Burger King published a full page
  
  advertisement in USA Today  announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed  Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans.  According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same  ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty,  etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit  of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a  follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a  hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the  new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many  others requested their own 'right handed' version."

Big Ben Goes Digital (1980):  The BBC reported that Big Ben, in order to keep up with the times, was  going to be given a digital readout. The announcement received a huge  response from listeners shocked and angered by the proposed change. The  BBC Japanese service also announced that the clock hands would be sold  to the first four listeners to contact them. One Japanese seaman in the  mid-Atlantic immediately radioed in a bid.

  

If you are curious about more top April Fool's Day hoaxes, click here and read more.