5 of 55

Write now Article Tools

There have been several I think that would qualify for being memorable, the first that comes to mind would be the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) Panorama program prank. The presenter of this program was Richard Dimbleby, who is a very well respected member of the broadcasting community, so therefore reinforcing the fact that the story is most likely to be true. It was broadcast on the 1st April in 1957.

This was showing the spaghetti harvest from the trees in Switzerland. Many people fell for this being the genuine place that spaghetti came from but as we all know it is made from flour and water and doesn't grow on trees after all. About 250 viewers phoned the switchboard to find out if it was true. Some people also phoned in to find out where they could buy there own spaghetti tree.

Back in 1962 Sweden only had one television station and that was broadcast in black and white. The technical expert on the station appeared on the news to announce that due to a new technology the viewers existing sets could be converted to colour. To achieve this the viewer had to pull a nylon stocking over their television screen. This was demonstrated by the expert, thousands were conned by this. Sweden finally commenced colour broadcasts on another April fools day, this time in 1970. This time it was no joke.

1973 saw the village of Spiggot in England refusing to accept decimalisation where as the rest of the United Kingdon had accepted it. They wanted to stick with the previous denominations they had grown up with. This was pounds, shillings and pence. This documentary about the small town of Spiggot was shown on national television in the United Kingdom and as soon as the programme finished, the studio received hundreds of phone calls supporting the stand the villagers had took.
In fact many voiced their intention to join the anti decimal crusade. After all this it was discovered that the village of Spiggot does not even exist. So yet another April Fools Day prank was successful.

1974 saw the residents of an Alaskan town called Sitka becoming alarmed by the nearby long exstinct volcano of Mount Edgecumbe belching black smoke. People spilled out onto the streets to see it and becoming terrified that their lives were at risk if the volcano erupted. Luckily it turned out to be man and not nature being responsible for the smoke. What was occuring was an old joker by the name of Porky Bickar had airlifted hundreds of tyres into the crater of the volcano. Once there he proceeded

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Memorable pranks for April Fools Day?
We want to hear your view. Write now!