Each passing year brings its own spate of pranks, gags and practical jokes on April 1.
Keep you eyes open for a Chronicle April Fool doing the rounds this time round.
But what about last year? A fair few readers were taken in by our tall tale of a new Metro line opening under the streets of Newcastle in the historic Victoria Tunnel.
Nobody seems quite sure when the tradition of playing practical jokes and pranks on this day began.
Some reckon April Fools’ Day is linked to historic spring festivals that celebrated jokes and mayhem.
Others trace it back to a 16th century decision to change the start of the calendar year from the end of March to January 1 - a move which brought chaos.
In modern times, the tradition has continued to thrive in television programmes, newspaper stories and, more recently, on social media.
To mark the day, we recall 20 memorable April Fools’ gags from our region - and beyond.
But beware, you can only play jokes on people until noon on April 1. After midday, the joker who plays the prank becomes the April fool!
- 1. Wannabe Geordies from across the globe were left disappointed in 2015 after the Chronicle’s new smartphone app - Geordify - turned out to be an April Fools Day hoax.
- 2. In the same year we reported how Virgin billionaire Richard Branson was hoping to add to his portfolio by buying one of the Farne Islands and renaming it Lafi Oprol - an anagram of April Fool.
- 3. Back In 1972, a lory carrying the Loch Ness Monster, en route through the North East, was reportedly stopped on its way to Yorkshire’s Flamingo Park. It’s not known whether the beast ever reached its destination.
- 4. In 2003, we told how Scotland was permanently putting its clocks forward one hour ahead of GMT - and drivers should adjust their watches at the Northumberland-Scotland border.
- 5. And, in 1992, Freddie the Dolphin - a popular attraction on the North East coast at the time - had disappeared. We revealed the reason - a killer whale!
- 6. Meanwhile, in 1987, a university academic with the doubtful name of Dr Angus W Bull was claiming that long before medieval monks made Durham their home, the city was inhabited by a race of “tiny people”.
- 7. Jurassic Park came to Tyneside in 1994 with our exciting report of a dinosaur skeleton being discovered under the ruins of Tynemouth Priory.
- 8. In 2009, North East revellers were excited when we revealed plans to build a nightclub at the top of Grey’s Monument in Newcastle. (Sounds great!)
- 9. Speaking of the iconic monument, in 1993 we reported how a lift would be built inside the structure, linking the top and the Metro station below.
- 10. In the same year, dog lovers were incensed by a new law from Eurocrats in Brussels which meant Bedlington Terriers could only be called as such if they were born in the Northumberland town.
- 11. Over in Gateshead, our mock-up of the Angel of the North sporting advertising for Emirates Airlines in 2009 raised a few eyebrows.
- 12. In 2004 we revealed how that famous Wallsend-born milkman’s son, Sting, would perform The Police’s classic hit Walking On The Moon live on the lunar surface on the 25th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s famous first moon walk.
- 13. Most of us are partial to jelly babies. However, if you popped over to Asda in Stanley, Co Durham, in 2002, you could buy just the male variety - complete with fig leaves!
- 14. Looking further afield, famously in 1957, BBC’s Panorama announced that, thanks to a very mild winter and the elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Millions were fooled.
- 15. In 1976, Patrick Moore, the late respected astronomer, announced on BBC radio that a rare planetary alignment would reduce earth’s gravity temporarily, causing people to feel a floating sensation.
- 16. And, in 1973, another prank by BBC radio had a university boffin warning of the dangers of Dutch Elm Disease spreading to redheaded people.
- 17. The Guardian newspaper, in 1977, ran a feature on San Serriffe, a semi-colon shaped island in the Indian Ocean. It consisted of two main islands, Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni and its ruler, General Pica. Most readers wouldn’t have known these were all terms from the world of newspaper printing.
- 18. In 1998, Burger King published a full-page advert in USA Today
announcing the introduction of a new item on its menu, a Left-Handed Whopper especially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. - 19. In 1999 the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 announced the British National anthem - God Save the Queen - was to be replaced by a Euro Anthem sung in German. Prince Charles’s office telephoned Radio 4 to ask them for a copy of the new anthem.
- 20. And finally, we head back in time to 1801 when the concept of humour was clearly different to today’s.
A London newspaper, the Courier, fell foul of an April Fool letter from Newcastle which stated how the town had been devastated by a storm on March 29.
The paper went on to fully report how the steeple of St Nicholas’ had collapsed on to a pub, crushing seven people to death!
And we thought fake news was a modern phenomenon.
