Witty & Wise
FOOLISH HISTORY
BY BILL HANGLEY JR. AND DAVID COLTON
April Fools’ Day dates back over 400 years; it’s even older than Thanksgiving (true! no joke!). Which means there have been lots of chances for good mischief. Here’s a history of the day.
1582
FOOL’S GOLD
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar, moving the start of the new year to January from April. Those who kept celebrating the old new year were ridiculed as “April fools,” which led to a new unofficial holiday, historians suggest.
1698
A WILD START
The first documented April fools’ prank took place in London. A clever Brit announced a special event at the Tower of London: “See the Lions washed.” No such public cleansing of jungle cats was planned, but the announcement drew a crowd of rubes.
1796
NEW JOKES IN THE NEW WORLD
The earliest recorded American April fools’ prank took place in Middletown, Connecticut, where a handbill promised a marketplace for “fool’s coats.” It said sellers should bring coats of various colors, yellow to “predominate,” with lots of tin bells and tassels.
1974
AN EXPLOSIVE PRANK
When residents of Sitka, Alaska, awoke to see smoke rising from Mount Edgecumbe, officials responded to a possible volcanic eruption. But really, a group of people had piled hundreds of tires and greasy rags in the crater and set them on fire—and spray-painted “APRIL FOOL” on the snow.
1980
A NEW MEANING OF HAT HAIR
The magazine of the British army reported that its guards’ fur helmets needed trimming because the bear pelts were so thick that the hair continued to grow. The London Daily Express reprinted the prank story as fact—perhaps because it suggested a bear hormone could be a baldness cure.
1983
SOME META MISCHIEF
When an Associated Press reporter asked Boston University history professor Joseph Boskin about the origins of April Fools’ Day, he jokingly cited a fictitious King Kugel—the name inspired by a noodle dish. He was shocked that the reporter had run the gag as fact.
1985
A FALSE PITCH
A pitcher who can hurl a baseball at 168 mph? That’s what writer George Plimpton claimed about supposed New York Mets prospect Sidd Finch in Sports Illustrated. Fans fell for the gag, which some called the greatest April fools’ prank in sports history.
2001
A GROUNDBREAKING HOAX
For earth-shattering impact, few pranksters can beat the British DJs who said a replica Titanic could be seen from the cliffs of Beachy Head, in East Sussex. Crowds flocked to view the made-up ship, and part of the fragile cliffs cracked—then later crumbled.
CORPORATE CUTUPS
How companies tease customers on April Fools’ Day:
1998 Burger King took out a full-page ad in USA Today explaining that southpaws could order a lefty Whopper, with condiments rotated 180 degrees, creating a left-handed taste.
2015 “America has spoken, and we at Cottonelle have listened,” read an announcement for toilet paper for lefties.
2019 Audi Australia announced B-tron, a vehicle that runs on honey, “a sustainable, naturally acquired fuel harvested from robina flowers in Bavaria.” The car was to include an onboard toaster for sweet morning treats.
2019 McDonald’s restaurants in Australia announced the McPickle Burger—“juicy, flavour-some pickles layered between melted cheese, ketchup sauce and toasted sesame seed buns.”
2023 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines unveiled a “Recline Alert System,” saying, “We’ve developed a sound effect that notifies passengers when the seat in front of them reclines.”
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