Слайд 2April begins with a day of fun and jokes - April
Fool's Day. No one really knows when this custom began but it has been kept for hundreds of years.
Слайд 3April fooling became popular in England and Scotland during the 1700s.
April
Fool jokes usually involve persuading someone to do something silly, like looking for hen's teeth, striped paint, a long weight, a left-handed screwdriver or some other non-existent thing.
However, you can only play April Fools on people before midday –at midday the fun must stop or the trickster is told:
'April Fool's Day is past and gone,
Your 're the fool and I am none.'
Слайд 4A popular prank in London: In 1860 numerous people throughout London
received an invitation saying "Tower of London - Admit Bearer and Friend to view the annual ceremony of Washing the White Lions on Sunday, April 1, Admittance only at the White Gate. It is particularly requested that no gratuities be given to the wardens or attendants." By noon, crowds began to gather but of course, lions hadn't been kept in the tower for quite some time, specifically white ones. Apparently, this prank had been pulled numerous times starting as far back as 1698.
Слайд 5One of the great April Fool jokes took place on April
1st, 1957. The BBC TV programme Panorama did a documentary on 'spaghetti farmers' growing 'spaghetti trees.' The hoax Panorama programme featured a family from Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.
Слайд 6The joke was an enormous success. Hundreds of people believed there
was such things as spaghetti trees. Soon after the broadcast ended, the BBC began to receive hundreds of calls from puzzled viewers. Did spaghetti really grow on trees, they wanted to know. Others were eager to learn how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC reportedly replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best." :)
Слайд 7Jump, You'll Float
British astronomer Patrick Moore pulled a hoaxe on his
audience back in 1976 when he explained to his audience that there would be some movement between two planets that affects the upward gravitational pull and makes people lighter. He invited his listenters to jump up at 9:47 a.m. to feel the effects of a "strange floating sensation" for a moment. Amazingly, he received quite a few calls stating the experiment worked!
Слайд 81980: The BBC reported that Big Ben, in order to keep up
with the time, was going to be given a digital readout. The announcement received a huge response from listeners shocked and angered by the proposed change.
The BBC Japanese service also announced that the clock would be sold to the first four listeners to contact them. One Japanese seaman in the mid-Atlantic immediately radioed in a bid.
Слайд 92002: The British supermarket chain Tesco published an advertisement announcing the successful
development of a genetically modified 'whistling carrot.' The ad explained that the carrots had been specially engineered to grow with tapered airholes in their side. When fully cooked, these airholes caused the vegetable to whistle.
Слайд 10On 1 April 2008, the BBC announced that camera crews filming
near the Antarctic for its natural history series Miracles of Evolution had captured footage of Adélie penguins taking to the air. It even offered a video clip of these flying penguins, which became one of the most viewed videos on the internet. Presenter Terry Jones explained that, instead of huddling together to endure the Antarctic winter, these penguins took to the air and flew thousands of miles to the rainforests of South America where they "spend the winter basking in the tropical sun.”