In previous years, I’ve indulged in April Fools’ gags on this blog. I wrote about getting hired by the New York Times, for instance, or how my first book reached one million pre-orders on Amazon ahead of its official release. Those were fun to write, but I’m not going to indulge this year.
Instead, I thought it might be interesting to explore why we have April Fools’ Day (or April Fool’s Day, if you prefer) in the first place.
Looking around on Wikipedia, I learned that the day actually has many precursors and it’s exact history is a little unclear. It might have to do with a misreading of the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. It might have to do with the Medieval Feast of Fools. Or it might have to do with the switching of the calendar. There are many theories.
I also happened upon a video on YouTube that explores some of this history and I’ve embedded it below. Given this, what has been your favorite or most memorable prank to date? This could be something from your own personal life or it could be one of your favorites from mass media, like the left-handed BK Whopper or BBC’s flying penguins.
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