April 1: General Interest
1700 : April Fools tradition popularized
On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual
tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each
other.
Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for
several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a
mystery. Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to
1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian
calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who
were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the
new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during
the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and
hoaxes. These included having paper fish placed on their backs and
being referred to as "poisson d'avril" (April fish), said to symbolize
a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.
Historians have also linked April Fools' Day to ancient festivals such
as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and
involved people dressing up in disguises. There's also speculation
that April Fools' Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of
spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people
with changing, unpredictable weather.
April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In
Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with "hunting
the gowk," in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word
for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which
involved pranks played on people's derrieres, such as pinning fake
tails or "kick me" signs on them.
In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate
April Fools' Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web
sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting
outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957,
the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record
spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from
trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In 1985, Sports Illustrated
tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a
rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168
miles per hour. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain,
duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase
Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty
Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a "Left-Handed Whopper,"
scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.
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General Interest
1700 : April Fools tradition popularized
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=52584
1621 : The Pilgrim-Wampanoag peace treaty
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4880
1918 : RAF founded
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6854
1924 : Hitler sent to Landsberg jail
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4881
American Revolution
1789 : First U.S. House of Representatives elects speaker
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=449
Automotive
1970 : Gremlin is introduced
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7346
1993 : Winston Cup champion dies
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7347
Civil War
1865 : Battle of Five Forks
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=2153
1865 : Florida Governor commits suicide
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=2154
Cold War
1948 : Soviets stop U.S. and British military trains
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=2624
Crime
1800 : Weeks' trial sheds light on early procedure
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=960
1924 : Beer Hall Putsch secures Hitler's rise to power
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=959
Disaster
1946 : Alaskan earthquake triggers massive tsunami
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=390
Entertainment
1916 : Lewis Selznick Pictures founded
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=3129
1935 : First metal radio tube
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=3130
1949 : First African-American variety show debuts
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=3131
1988 : Jim Jordan dies
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=3132
Literary
1816 : Jane Austen declines royal writing advice
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=3925
Old West
1877 : Discoverer of Tombstone begins prospecting
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4476
Presidential
1970 : Nixon signs legislation banning cigarette ads on TV and radio
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=481
Sports
1985 : Villanova beats Georgetown for NCAA basketball championship
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=57521
Vietnam War
1972 : North Vietnamese launch Nguyen Hue Offensive
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=1764
Wall Street
1864 : First travel insurance policy sold
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5805
1992 : House bank abusers listed
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5804
World War I
1918 : British Royal Air Force is founded
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=420
World War II
1945 : U.S. troops land on Okinawa
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6366
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