April Fool's Day pranks by news outlets

By Emel Oz

ANKARA (AA) - On April Fool's Day, media outlets have for years pulled a joke on readers by publishing prank stories.

No one knows for sure how the day came to be celebrated on April 1, but there are lots of myths surrounding it.

Some say it started with the Roman festival of Hilaria, while others trace it to the Hindu festival of Holi.

According to the Julian calendar, March 25 is considered the beginning of the new year. King Charles IX of France took the new year from April 1 to January 1 in 1564.

Accordingly, jokes intended to mock those who continued to accept April 1 as the beginning of the year became a tradition.

- 'Spaghetti grows on trees'

BBC news program Panorama announced in 1957 that spaghetti was growing on trees due to a warmer than usual winter season.

The news was accompanied by footage of farmers picking spaghetti hanging from trees.

Numerous viewers called the channel asking where they could get the spaghetti tree.

- Gravity is decreasing

British astronomer Patrick Moore told BBC Radio 2 in 1976 that an unusual event would occur when Pluto passed Jupiter on April 1 at 9.47 a.m., and this sequence of planets would reduce the gravitational force of the earth.

At this exact moment, those who jump will sense the feeling of flying in the air, said the astronomer.

Thousands fell for his prank and jumped.

- Country called San Serriffe

Britain's Guardian newspaper published a seven-page supplement to promote a "made-up" country called San Serriffe, made up of semicolon-shaped islands lying in the Indian Ocean.

General Pica ruled the land of the islands, whose capital was Bodoni, said the newspaper.

The Guardian's phones were locked due to endless readers’ calls on the day the supplement was published.

Readers wanted more information so they could holiday on islands that looked like paradise.

- Vowel ban from Twitter

In a statement from Twitter's official company blog in 2013, it was announced that Twitter's new service would be "Twttr".

The new app will not allow the use of vowels, and those who use vowels will pay a fee such as $5 per month, said the company in a statement.

"We believe that by eliminating vowels, we can have a more efficient and intensive form of communication," the company said in an official statement in support of its joke.

“We also see it as a way to improve our sources of revenue,” added the statement.

- Flying penguins

Adelie penguins flying in Antarctica have been discovered, the BBC announced.

Penguins were migrating to South America, flying to escape the freezing Antarctic winter.

The BBC also released the video of the penguins.

- Eiffel Tower is being moved

In 1986, the Parisian newspaper wrote that an agreement had been reached to dismantle and move the Eiffel Tower.

According to the news, the Eiffel, considered a symbol of French culture, was to be reassembled at the new Euro Disney Park to be opened east of Paris.

Instead of the iconic tower, a stadium with a capacity of 35,000 seats would be built for the 1992 Olympic Games.

- London Clock Tower to be digital

The BBC reported in 2007 that the London Clock Tower would be fitted with a digital interface due to advances in technology.

Thousands of people opposed to the digital display kept phonelines of BBC busy.

- American Congressional Building collapsed

The Madison Capital-Times wrote that the Congressional Building collapsed in 1933 as a result of a series of mysterious explosions.

It said the explosions were caused by a large amount of gas created by weeks of unnecessary debate in the Senate.

In the news, there was also a photo showing the collapse of the building.

- April 1 jokes from Anadolu Agency

Anadolu Agency also pranked its subscribers with a joke on April 1 in the previous years.

The story "A planet very similar to Earth discovered" in 2009, "Pregnancy time goes down to five months" in 2012, and "Growable robot developed" in 2016 were published, and were widely echoed in the press.

In 2013, the story “Natural gas found in Taksim” became one of the most read news on some websites and social media.

"As a result of the excavations carried out within the scope of the pedestrianization project in Istanbul, 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves were identified," said the story.

Shortly after it was published, the news spread on social media.

Some publications also called the agency’s Istanbul News Center and said that they could not confirm the issue of "finding natural gas in Taksim" from the authorities.

*Writing by Merve Berker