Some of the best April Fools' Day pranks in history

Authored by bbc.co.uk and submitted by thebelsnickle1991

If you think typefaces can’t be funny, think again.

In 1977, the Guardian published a travel guide to the mysterious island grouping of San Serriffe. The two islands, Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse, formed the shape of a semicolon.

If that wasn’t enough to raise your suspicions, the part detailing education on the island read: “in addition to the mainstream subjects a San Serriffe teenager may well be offered pearl-diving as an A level choice”.

You wouldn’t be alone in wondering: “how do we sign up to go to school there?”!

InsanityLaughs694 on June 13rd, 2021 at 13:50 UTC »

Reminds me of an article I see shared on Facebook occasionally about Big Ben being renamed to "Massive Mohammed." People actually believe it.

CashAppMeADollar on June 13rd, 2021 at 13:03 UTC »

Full paragraph about the prank (from the article):

Due to ongoing renovations, it’s been a while since we’ve heard the bongs of Big Ben. However, it’s been even longer since the BBC Overseas Service (now called the World Service) tried to convince the world that it would change to electronic beeps.

In 1980, they announced to listeners that not only was the iconic clock face going digital, but that the first people to get in touch could win the hands of the clock.

Unfortunately, this did not go down as well as they’d hoped and the BBC was apologising for weeks after the joke was made. Some people just clearly didn’t see the funny side!

ZimbabweHeist on June 13rd, 2021 at 12:48 UTC »

That’s so British. “Some people were so offended they called to lodge a complaint.”