The Mai's April Fool

[andy-hughes]

Really poor this year - the idea that the Queen had a Zoom interview with Oprah Winfrey - no-one can have put much thought into that.

[zebo]

I worked one once on my Year 10 form, it was back when we were just going over to electronic registers etc, I'd shown them the device the day before and talked about mail merge letters from the office etc. Because of the letters the office needed a supply of address labels, showed them a sheet of printer labels, but the office didn't have time to input all the addresses so we were going to handwrite them and they would be scanned and printed. I had sheets of A4 printed like a 7 x 3 label sheet, they needed to address each space to their parents and they did it! Some even rewrote them because their handwriting wasn't good enough. It took them half an hour to become suspicious, especially when told to file them under B-1N.

[vulcan42]

it was first shown as barry said in 1957, I watched it. I think being shown on Panorama, which in those days was a very serious programme carrying great gravitas, is why a lot of people believed it. The fact that the 'harvest' took place in Switzerland should have made people realise it was a hoax.

[Jackdaw33]

Definitely 1957. Richard Dimbleby died in 1965.

[emmie]

i was only 3 in 1957 so don't remember it,.

[DTCwordfan]

This one was a good one too

http://hoaxes.org/af_database/permalink/the_26-day_marathon

[jourdain2]

In 1957 I was 7 and I watched the programme - we all believed it. Why not? Who knew about spaghetti? In the 1960s a boyfriend had been on a school trip to Italy and returned with a packet of spaghetti which he gave to his mum. He enthused about it and I was invited to dinner. She had cooked the spaghetti according to instructions and dished it out ..... he never mentioned that it had to have a sauce with it!
Never mind. A few years later I progressed to 'Vesta' curries. :)

[DTCwordfan]

And Jourdain never looked back.....

[chrissa1]

I used to love Vesta Paella and Chicken Chow Mein. Yum.

[Cloverjo]

I also liked one in New Scientist some years ago. It said you could send half an essay on any subject and this amazing bot would finish it off for you.
Yes, I did fall for it. They (my friends) don’t call me gullible Gerty for nothing!

[ichkeria]

My favourite is the one I’ve mentioned before so apologies to people who remember me doing so.
Some years ago the Belfast Newsletter ran a story following Ireland’s victory over England in the Five Nations on the previous Saturday.
A last minute drop goal had been scored by Michael Kiernan, where the ball seemed to hover for ages before dropping over the posts to win Ireland the Triple Crown.
The story was that England were complaining that a homing device had been found in the ball, which was being controlled by an Irish fan in the crowd. The clever bit was that the April Fool was based on the rumour and not that the ball really had been “bugged”
Their switchboard was jammed by irate Irish rugby fans ...

[andy-hughes]

anne - // Tut tut tut Andy. Idiots , really ? //

That's mil compared with what I say to my paper over breakfast some mornings.

Their stories are always going to 'Make my heart soar / make me weep with rage / drop my jaw / amaze me / anger me / make my blood boil / run cold ... and so on and so on ad nauseum.

Of course, they never actually have that affect - I cant remember the last time I was ever more than interested in anything I read in any daily paper.

[sivam]

I thought it was the roundabout. Unbelievable.