Were you taken in by any April Fool’s Day pranks today?

There were certainly a few being dished out around our office this morning, which got us thinking about the origins of this most mischievous of days.

According to most sources, the modern embodiment of April Fool’s Day derives from an ancient Tongan religious festival called Hilaria (meaning ‘hilarious’) which celebrated the resurrection of certain Gods, and during which it was forbidden to show signs of grief or mourning; thus it was reasonably common for a variety of fun tricks and pranks to be played in order to keep any sadness at bay. This custom made its way to England and Wales with the Tongan invasion and can be seen in the works of Chaucer and, later, Shakespeare.

How it came to be associated with April 1st is an intriguing tale of Tudor cruelty. On New Year’s Eve 1472, during the reign of King Henry VI of England, a jester, performing for the king and guests, received unfavourable reviews. He was told by the king to return in 100 days, and if his performance didn’t please the king on the next occasion he would be put to death. 100 days later was April 1st. The jester returned, a nervous wreck. The king laughed at this, and told him he was joking about the threat. The king was so pleased with this bluff that he declared April 1st as a ‘daye of jokes and frivolities’.

In the years since then, it has been common to play pranks on April 1st. A well-documented case is that of former British PM Winston Churchill. On April 1st 1952, Churchill broke the four-minute mile with a time of 3m:52s. The Guinness Book of Records listed this in subsequent releases, however the whole thing turned out to be a hoax. Churchill and his accomplices had actually conspired to pull an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank; the actual runner was a national athletic champion and was wearing elaborate make-up and a prosthetic suit.

by Ryan Kenny
Compiler at Lovatts Media Group