Did you know that in 1998, Burger King introduced a “Left-Handed Whopper” as an April Fool’s Day prank?
In celebration of one of the most lighthearted occasions of the year, here are some interesting facts about April Fool’s Day, which is celebrated every April 1:
1. While some historians speculate that April Fool’s Day dates back to 1582, the annual tradition was popularized by English pranksters in 1700 by playing practical jokes on each other.
2. In the 18th century, people in Scotland celebrated the occasion in two days. The first day involved sending phony errands, while the second one included pranks such as pinning “kick me” signs on people’s buttocks.
3. A number of movies revolve around the April Fool’s tradition, among them the 2008 horror flick “April Fool’s Day.”
4. Google has been consistent in its April Fool’s pranks. Some examples: “officially” changing its name to “Topeka” in 2010, and releasing a new product in 2011 called “Gmail Motion” that supposedly lets users send and receive e-mails using gestures. This year, the company announced the shutdown of its popular video-sharing site YouTube.
5. Last year, US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney fell for an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank, where his aides told him “We didn’t get much of a turnout this morning.” The prank also involved Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan and Senator Ron Johnson, both of whom have endorsed Romney.
6. In 1998, fast food giant Burger King introduced a “Left-Handed Whopper” as an April Fool’s Day prank. The burger supposedly included the usual condiments in Burger King’s original Whopper sandwich, but these were “rotated 180 degrees” to suit left-handed customers.
7. Two years before Burger King’s prank, another fast food chain, Taco Bell, pulled a huge prank on Americans on April Fool’s Day. In full-page ads in major newspapers in the US, Taco Bell claimed it had purchased the Liberty Bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell.
8. In 1976, BBC radio astronomer Patrick Moore said that at 9:47 a.m., Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, causing a gravitational alignment that would temporarily reduce Earth’s gravity. He told his listeners to jump at exactly that time to experience a strange floating sensation – which did not happen.
9. In 1957, some decades before the planetary alignment prank, BBC pulled another April Fool’s joke by reporting about "spaghetti crops." Millions were duped by the report, with many of them asking how they can grow their own spaghetti trees.
