Where does April Fool's Day come from

asks Will Smith:
A. There are about as many theories as there are jokes to play on that day. There have been tricksters throughout history, but it was the French who first got us addicted to pranks.

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Q. The French
A. Mais oui! It happened, supposedly after France adopted the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, which moved the new year from April 1 to January 1. Some people forgot the new dates and were treated as fools, mocked and invited to fictitious 'new year' parties. They were dubbed 'poissons d'avril' (April fish). To this day, French children stick paper fish on each other's backs.

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Q. As opposed to 'kick me' signs
A. Yes, that's more of a British thing. We took up April fooling in the 18th century, and pranks such as 'fools' errands' became very popular.

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Q. Fools errands
A. That's when you send someone (usually the office junior) to find something which doesn't exist, such as a bubble for a spirit level or some hen's teeth. This comes from the Roman festival of Cerealia, which commemorated a hopeless mission by the goddess Ceres. Her daughter Proserpine was kidnapped by Ceres, and Ceres searched for her, following what she thought was the echo of her daughter's screams, i.e. she went on a fool's errand.

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Q. Why do they have to be done by midday
A. This rule is usually followed by children, who have a lot more sense - and less patience - than adults. These days, TV and newspapers are the worst offenders for April tomfoolery, and have perpetrated some famous April Fool's day hoaxes.

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Q. Such as...
A. They started on TV in 1957 with Richard Dimbleby's famous 'spaghetti tree', and were taken up by newspapers in 1977, with The Guardian's supplement on the fictitious island of San Seriffe. Since then we've had the four-legged chicken (more drumsticks but difficult to catch), the world's first flying rabbit, the Loch Ness monster washed up on the shore (a walrus), a camera that can see through women's skirts, the abolition of Belgium, making the M25 one-way, gulls to deliver mail to Scottish islands...the list goes on.

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Q. Have any media April Fools ever gone wrong
A. Oh yes. For example, villagers from a very quiet area in Virginia, USA, were told to flee from a threatened methane explosion which was to shower them with rocket-propelled sewage. Not surprisingly, chaos ensued.

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By Sheena Miller

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