The day's origin is shrouded in a mist of obscurity. Some say it began with the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. Others trace the origin to Charles IX of France moving New Years from April 1 to January 1. In either case, those who were unmindful of the date change were April Fools. The tale of fools in Chaucer's Nun's Priest Tale occurs on March 32nd and is believed to be an allusion to April Fools' day.
Here are some of my favorite April Fool pranks:
1985 Sports Illustrated - on the newsstands April 1 - George Plimpton wrote an article about pitcher, Sidd(harta) Finch, picked up by the NY Mets. He could throw a 168MPH fastball after training in a Buddhist monastery. The first letters of the subhead spelled out "Happy April Fools' Day".
1996 Taco Bell took out a full page ad in the NY Times announcing the lease of the Liberty Bell from the US government to use as the new company logo. The White House phone lines were jammed with complaints. In a press conference spokesperson, Mike McCurry, added with tongue in cheek that the Lincoln Memorial would now be the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
1998 Burger King ran an ad in USA Today touting it's new left-handed Whopper, designed to drip only on the right-side. Stores reported many customers asking for the new sandwich, but many more specifying they wanted the old, right-handed Whopper.
Happy April Fools' day! Be on you toes - as ever BB
"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." - Japanese proverb
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