April Fool’s Day | The best April Fool’s jokes get the masses moving, but how do you recognize a scam?

1689

Londoners receive letters inviting them to watch the annual washing of lions in the Tower of London’s moat.

1748

In Italy, it is announced that the ruins of Pompeii have been found.

1846

A London newspaper says that a donkey exhibition is being organized in a market hall.

1906

Chicagoans are told that a herd of prehistoric animals has rushed into the city. The newspaper’s two-page article has eight photos that show e.g. tyrannosaurus.

1933

There is news from Germany that the Nazis have begun to boycott Jewish businesses.

1934

The American man Clyde Barrow is said to have killed two authorities. He is assisted by a woman named Bonnie Parker.

[1945

US troops are reported to have landed on the island of Okinawa.

1949

New Zealanders are being warned of a huge swarm of wasps approaching and are advised to pull socks over trouser legs when going outside.

1950

Norwegians line up at the door of Vinmonopolet with buckets of half-free alcohol.

1952

Science journal Physical Review tells about the Big Bang theory.

1957

A BBC television program shows how spaghetti growers harvest record crops from spaghetti trees in Switzerland.

196O

France announces that it has detonated two atomic bombs in the Sahara desert.

1962

An expert says on Swedish television that if you stretch nylon tights in front of a screen, the fibers refract light so that the broadcast appears in color.

1968

The water in the cholera pool in Helsinki starts to bubble strongly. The researchers of the State Petrochemical Research Institute who arrived at the site tell about the natural gas deposit discovered at the bottom.

1976

The British astronomer tells the BBC’s morning program that at 9:47 a.m. the positions of the planets affect the earth’s gravity for a moment so that if you jump into the air at that exact moment, you will feel like you are floating. The radio station’s phones start ringing as the listeners talk about their amazing experience.

1977

The Guardian newspaper publishes a seven-page special supplement on the island nation of San Serriffe. The state consists of two islands, Upper and Lower Caisse.

1980

The BBC reports that the clock in Big Ben’s clock tower is being digitized. Wise men will be given away to those who call the studio first.

1986

In France, it is reported that the Eiffel Tower will be demolished and moved to the new Euro Disney Park.

1993

In California, it is reported that the space shuttle is about to land at the airport in San Diego. More than a thousand people arrive.

1998

The fast food chain Burger King announces that it will launch a Left-handed hamburger, where all the ingredients have been turned 180 degrees.

2002

The British store chain Tesco publishes a newspaper advertisement for a new carrot variety. Through processing, carrots have been made to grow holes, thanks to which the carrots whistle when cooked when they are ripe.

2008

Hymy-lehti announces that it has obtained text messages from Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva to dancer Johanna Tukiainen. One of them is: “Have you kept your garden in order?”

2010

Newspaper The Independent says that a particle accelerator is planned for the Circle line of the London subway.

2014

King’s College, University of Cambridge, announces that the child sopranos in the boys’ choir will be replaced by men who breathe helium.

Conductor Jorma Panula tells Helsingin Sanomat that women are not suitable as conductors.

2016

National Geographic magazine announces that it will no longer publish photos of naked animals.

In Finland, the police say they are introducing even bigger body cameras. Because the policeman sits inside them on a piano stool, he can turn around and take a picture of the vehicle from behind as well.

2019

The Health and Welfare Institute THL says that it is concerned about the sale of kalsars to minors. According to it, long underpants can increase leg cramps.

Television comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyi is reported to have won the first round of the Ukrainian presidential election.

2020

In Finland, it is reported that the police and conscripts monitor the isolation of Uusimaa with 30 control points.

2021

Brittilehti says that the UN is investigating plans to build a new canal, Suez 2, alongside the Suez Canal. It is needed because the cargo ship Ever Given has blocked the old one.

The Japanese airline says it will start offering food in the first class of the Boeing 777 plane parked at Tokyo airport. Entrance tickets are sold out.

2022

Suomalainen Huonekaluiliike says it will launch its own collection for hamsters.

People from St. Petersburg are told that the two Prisma hypermarkets sell all the remaining products at an 80 percent discount.

April fools of 1689, 1846, 1906, 1949, 1950, 1957, 1962, 1968, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1986, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014a, 2016, 2019a, 2022a, and other April Fools news are real.

Correction 1.4. at 8:33 p.m.: Added to the list at the end about April fools, the previously missing section 2019a. Added a mention to the caption about the alcohol joke that the original year of the joke is 1950, even though the picture is from 1969.