March 30, 2007

• April Fools Day

  April Fools Day Origin
  	When the western world employed the Julian calendar, years began on March 25. Festivals marking the start of the New Year were celebrated on the first day of April because March 25 fell during Holy Week. The adoption of the Gregorian calendar during the 1500s moved the New Year to January 1. According to the most widely believed origin postulated for April Fools’ Day, those who could be tricked into believing April 1 was still the proper day to celebrate the New Year earned the sobriquet of April fools. To this end, French peasants would unexpectedly drop in on neighbors on that day in an effort to confuse them into thinking they were receiving a New Year’s call. Out of that one jape supposedly grew the tradition of testing the patience of family and friends.

  Here are some famous April Fool’s day pranks. 
  Which one do you like the best? 1, 2 or 3?
  

  1. Nixon for President

  In 1992 National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.” Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners responded viscerally to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon’s voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little.
  

  2. Instant Color TV

  In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station’s technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, all viewers could now quickly and easily convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen, and they would begin to see their favorite shows in color. Stensson then proceeded to demonstrate the process. Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of people, out of the population of seven million, were taken in. Actual color tv transmission only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.
  

  3. Eiffel Tower Moves

  The Parisien stunned French citizens in 1986 when it reported that an agreement had been signed to dismantle the Eiffle Tower. The international symbol of French culture would then be reconstructed in the new Euro Disney theme park going up east of Paris. In the space where the Tower used to stand, a 35,000 seat stadium would be built for use during the 1992 Olympic Games.

  On a personal note the best April Fools joke was played on my Pastor.  A couple of mine was going to have a baby the middle of last April.  Well in talking with them we all decided the baby should be born on April 1st.  (Actually she was born the middle of April).  Well we alerted the hospital staff of the April Fools baby.  I informed my Pastors wife of our trickery.  The husband of the new born baby called the Pastor and told him that Allison  had the baby.   They went up to the hospital and was surprised that there was no room of the number that was given him, at which all the nurses started laughing.  It was so funny as the Pastor related the story the next Sunday. 
  Do you have a April Fool’s Day Story? 

  • 6:29 am
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