April Fool's Day
HOLIDAY IN
HADES?
Copyright by Theolonius McTavish 2004. All rights reserved.
HOLIDAY IN HADES'
-- Or, more about life in the nether world .....
April Fool's Day originates from Germany. It is believed to be the
brain child of Gabriel Hoffman who lived in Damstadt during the
1860's. The day is celebrated in many countries with the execution
of elaborate practical jokes on unsuspecting victims. April 1st is
the accepted date for April Fool's Day when both simple and very
sophisticated jokes are known to catch out the unwary or the
gullible.
There is evidence of a similar day in the Gregorian calendar of
1582 and even as far back as ancient Rome when the practice would
have been observed on New Years Day. Originally April Fool's Day
jokes typically would have involved sending a person on a
ridiculous errand. A builders merchant might send an apprentice to
obtain some sky hooks or a long wait ( weight ) and embarrass them
after a period of time with the utterance of the words April
Fool.
A
SHORTAGE OF PUCKS N' PRANKS...
Copyright The Quipping Queen 2005.
A SHORTAGE OF PUCKS N' PRANKS...
Or, where have all the April Fools' Day greeting cards .....
It is tradition for the jokes or pranks to end by noon. Carrying
out an April Fool's Day joke on someone after this time is said to
bring bad luck. Over the years there have been some very elaborate
hoaxes even by large TV corporations. The BBC managed to convince
its audience in 1957 that Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper
spaghetti crop. They showed footage of spaghetti growing on trees
and were inundated with calls from the general public asking for
advice on growing spaghetti. The BBC even had the audacity to
suggest placing a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce to
assist its growth.
April 1st is not an officially recognised holiday or event but it
is practised regularly in the UK. Prince Charles has been reported
to have enjoyed April 1st when until as recently as 2003 he would
cause havoc at Buckingham Palace where his favourite trick was to
place a whoopee cushion under the bottoms of Royalty, including his
mothers ' Queen Elizabeth!
BY
JOVE IT'S JOLLY JUNE!
Copyright The Quipping Queen 2005
CALENDAR OF ODD EVENTS
-- Eccentric events and odd occasions to .....
There have been many hoaxes and some famous mistakes by media
corporations in reporting stories in error. There are also several
April Fool's Day spoofs on the internet. Sometimes these seemingly
innocent pranks can cause financial damage or panic when things are
taken too far.
In Birmingham on April 1st 1986, a group of students became
convinced that the Black plague had returned to the city. Such was
the level of confusion and clever manipulation of a drama class and
its students, that hospitals in the city were put on full alert and
900 students were sent home by the governor. The full scale of the
hoax was not revealed until the following day when embarrassed
school committee members faced the media and issued an apology to
parents.
In 2001 Birmingham Council became embroiled in an April Fool's Day
conspiracy involving Pebble Mill on the Bristol Road. They received
what they thought was official notification from the BBC of severe
structural damage to the BBC building, caused they were informed by
a severe earth tremor. The council acted swiftly and informed the
BBC that it had secured space in the Mailbox for all of the BBC
staff and studio teams. This particular hoax was only discovered on
the day of the move when Birmingham County Council received a fax
message which simply read ' April Fools' and was accompanied by a
fax message of the original notification. Michael Johnson,
Assistant Director was questioned by Channel 4 in an embarrassing
fiasco where Johnson looked bewildered and confused and clearly had
no knowledge of events leading to the change of location of the BBC
headquarters in Birmingham.
April Fool's Day is illegal in the Peoples Republic of China,
Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Alaska, Cuba and Bolivia.
http://www.birminghamuk.com
About the Author
From Birmingham UK Com. Everyone welcome. Drop by sometime
soon.
|