April Fool’s day: can you spot the news fakes? Take our quiz

Taylor Swift performs during the first night of the Eras tour in Australia in February. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

In an age of global concern about AI-driven internet disinformation, the traditional humble newspaper April Fool story sometimes seems like an anachronism from a gentler time. But how good is your nose for the news truth? Below are 20 stories from the past year. Some are true, some are made up and some almost happened but have been twisted to be untrue. How will you fare spotting them?

The Guardian 2024 April fools news quiz

1. 

   Meghan Markle was criticised after it was revealed that when you put her lifestyle brand name – American Riviera Orchard – into the What3words location service, it points to a statue of Oliver Cromwell, who famously had a King Charles executed

   1. True

   2. False

2. Greg Wallace presented a "documentary" called the British Miracle Meat, which – unknown to the audience as it was being broadcast – was a spoof about eating lab-grown human meat?

   1. This is a true one

   2. That is totally made up

3. Laurence Fox called for a boycott of Nike products over the design of the latest England football shirt, while wearing Nike trainers

   1. Of course he did

   2. No way, he's not that much of a doofus

4. 

   Liz Truss said that her brief time in office as prime minister had been defeated by "the left-wing economic establishment"

   1. She did

   2. She did not

5. 

   The Victoria & Albert museum tried to end a controversy about listing Adolf Hitler and Margaret Thatcher together as villains who had been parodied by puppets by adding Nick Clegg and Simon Cowell to the list

   1. For real

   2. It never happened

6. Australian politician Bob Katter was filmed lying on his back on a Canberra footpath at night with his feet in a planter, while swearing into his phone

   1. This was really a thing that took place

   2. We’re trying to whistle one right past you

7. 

   Nigel Farage launched his own brand of Scotch whisky

   1. 100% guaranteed real

   2. Balderdash

8. 

   Some religious types have criticised Taylor Swift for repeatedly making a hand gesture that symbolises the horns of Satan during her concerts

   1. Emphatically yes

   2. Absolutely not

9. Australian punk band Private Function claimed to have released a limited edition version of their album on urine-filled vinyl

   1. Yes

   2. Not on your nelly

10. 

    Former prime minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern put her name forward to be the next head of Nato, even though New Zealand is not in the alliance?

    1. It happened

    2. Total fabrication

11. Tesco has come under fire on social media after it rebranded its Easter eggs as "springtime chocolate treats"

    1. It really did – Tesco stopped using the word Easter

    2. It is fiction – Tesco continues to use the word Easter

12. In the UK, the ruling Conservative party had to withdraw an attack advert about the mayor of London because it featured scenes of a crowd panic from New York

    1. Wow, that would be an embarrassment

    2. There's absolutely no way they would stoop so low

13. 

    After three Grand Slam singles and two Olympic gold medals, Andy Murray finally announced his retirement

    1. He finally has

    2. He never would

14. 

    Donald Trump recently proudly announced that he had won the club championship trophy and the senior club championship trophy at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach

    1. This is 100% true

    2. A professional writer was literally paid to make this up

15. The UK government has spent about £25bn on a high-speed train line from Birmingham to London, but due to rising costs, it is now expected to terminate at Hendon Parkway in north London, seven miles from central London.

    1. You can bet your bottom dollar it did

    2. Never in a million years

16. The Guardian once published an entire April fool supplement that was a travel guide to the entirely fictional island of Verdana Grande

    1. We really did

    2. No, we did not

17. 

    A zoo in China was forced to insist that its bears were real bears, and not just people in bear costumes, after photos of them standing up on their hind legs went viral

    1. That is the real deal

    2. No, that is too ridiculous for words

18. 

    Rudy Giuliani has ended up working as a legal adviser for the Four Seasons Total Landscaping store where he held a famous press conference in November 2020

    1. You'd better believe it

    2. We made that one up

19. A sea otter named 841 went viral after it was filmed harrassing swimmers and surfers and trying to steal surf boards

    1. It's fact

    2. It's hogwash

20. 

    Emmanuel Macron was filmed chugging a bottle of beer down in 17 seconds in a rugby dressing room

    1. That is the stone cold truth

    2. Serious chinny reckon

Solutions

1:B - No. It doesn't. Not even the Daily Express was able to make this sort of stretch, 2:A - He also claimed to eat a full English at his local Harvester every Saturday but that remains unproven, 3:A - Of course he did. Of course he did, 4:B - She really didn't. "Liz Truss: I was brought down by the left-wing economic establishment" was a headline in the Telegraph about her essay for the Telegraph. But Truss never used the phrase herself in her 4,000 word long whine about it all. The closest she got to saying it was "I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment", and at one point also said "Large parts of the media and the wider public sphere had become unfamiliar with key arguments about tax and economic policy and over time sentiment had shifted Left-wards.", 5:A - There you have it, 6:B - No. That was former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce who said he was 'not looking for sympathy' after it happened as the result of combining alcohol and prescription drugs. Bob Katter is the guy who went globally viral after pivoting from an interview answer about same-sex marriage into suddenly becoming furious about crocodile attacks in Far North Queensland, 7:B - He is far too English for that. He launched a gin brand, 8:A - They have. It is actually the American Sign Language symbol for "I love you" that Swift makes to her fans, but why let facts get in the way of a good Satanic religious conspiracy theory, 9:A - They claim the 50 people who ordered the 'gold' version of the album had purchased 'a liquid disc full of our piss', with the urine being the source of the colouring. They claimed it, anyway …, 10:B - In 2023 she was the first New Zealand prime minister to attend a Nato summit, but she's off writing a book since stepping down as PM, and you can't lead the alliance if your country doesn't belong to it anyway, 11:B - Not true, and the Tesco website has a special section for Easter chocolate, using the word Easter and everything, but the Easter egg culture war truthers seem to come round earlier every year, 12:A - Somewhere there's a political marketing wonk with a PowerPoint slide arguing that the row increased engagement with the video or something, 13:B - He is relentless. He will never stop, 14:A - "Congratulations, Donald. Quite the accomplishment" said US president Joe Biden in response, 15:B - Of course not. That would be stupid. It is going to terminate at Old Oak Common, five miles away from central London, 16:B - No, that would be preposterous, Verdana Grande isn't even a proper name for a typeface. It was in 1977 and the supplement was about the fictional island of San Serriffe. At one point when you registered on the Guardian website you could select San Serriffe as your country of residence, 17:A - They really did, because the particular breed has got quite floppy skin so when they stand up it hilariously looks like a person in an ill-fitting bear suit, 18:B - He hasn't been working for anyone much. New York state revoked his licence and he declared himself bankrupt last year, 19:A - 841's popularity soared even further after the cute aquatic menace gave birth to a pup later in the year, 20:A - Oooh la la, he did. He also got criticised for not getting the state to promote 'défi de janvier' or dry january and once said a meal without wine "is a bit sad"

Scores

1. 0 and above.

   We hope you had fun and that we fooled you some of the time – enjoy the rest of April fools day!

As a reward for your endeavours, here is two minutes of Jonathan Frakes repeatedly telling you “It’s fake news” in a supercut of his Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction show. Enjoy!

Jonathan Frakes telling you you’re wrong for two minutes