10 Things You Might Not Know About April Fools Day

As we reach the yearly milestone of April Fools Day, here are 10 things you might not know:

1. In countries such as the UK, Austrailia, New Zealand and Canada, April fools only lasts until noon. Anyone playing a prank after noon is then considered the April fool.
2. April 1st was counted as the first day of the year in France, until King CharlesIX changed it to January 1st. Those who stayed with April 1st were then ‘April fools’.
3. In calendars published by ‘Mad magazine’, April 1st is the birthday of its fictional mascot.
4. Allegedly April Fool is the codename of a spy that played a pivotal role in bringing down Saddam Hussein.
5. Every year Google perpetrates its own April fools pranks on unsuspecting web users.
6. In 1986 a film was realeased named ‘April Fools Day’. The film was based around a group of teenagers being picked off one at a time by a murderer over April fools weekend.
7. April fools day is sometimes referred to as ‘All Fools Day’.
8. In France April fools day is called Poisson D’avril(April Fish). Children will pin pictures of fish to a friends back in jest. This can be seen in the opening scenes of ‘The French Connection’ movie starring Gene Hackman.
9. One of the greatest April fools hoaxes of all-time was perpetrated by the BBC show ‘Panorama’. The show announced that farmers had been enjoying fine spaghetti crops, brought on by a calm winter. After the piece, the BBC were inundated with calls from duped viewers enquiring as to how spaghetti could be grown.
10. It is widely regarded that April Fools origins relate to the change in seasons from Spring to Summer, thus bringing joviality and celebrations.