April fools

Newspapers and TV companies have a long history of trying to fool their readers/viewers with stories published on 1st April (All Fools' Day) that sound plausible but - on closer inspection - turn out to be spoofs! Here are a few examples:

Low-flying penguins

In 2008 a BBC Natural History unit, which had been filming in the Antarctic, announced that they had seen penguins flying – which was clearly a world first given that penguins are well known to be flightless.

Of course, being a film unit, they had to produce the evidence, which they duly did. It was a brilliant piece of creativity by the special effects department, but it still managed to fool an awful lot of people!

We’re moving the Tower

In 1986 “Le Parisien” announced that the Eiffel Tower, which was originally designed to be a temporary structure, was at last going to be dismantled. It would, however, be re-assembled elsewhere – as the main attraction at the new Euro Disney theme park!

Marathon man

In 1981 the Daily Mail called on its readers to look out for a Japanese entrant in the London Marathon, the first of which had been run three days previously. They reported that he had misunderstood the instructions and thought that he had to run for 26 days, not 26 miles, and was still out there somewhere.

It was quite a clever prank on the part of the Mail, given the true stories about Japanese soldiers who did not believe that World War II had ended and hid out in the jungles of south-east Asia for years after 1945. Could a lone runner still be plodding the streets of London long after everyone else had stopped? History does not relate how many Asian-looking joggers were accosted by Daily Mail readers in the days following this story!

Ring that (sponsored) bell!

In 1996 the Taco Bell fast-food company announced that they had bought the Liberty Bell, which would henceforth be known as the Taco Liberty Bell. Not unnaturally, many irate Americans contacted the White House to complain at this commercialisation of a national symbol. The Press Secretary then told them that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold, and would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

© John Welford