The Spaghetti Harvest: In 1957, a British news show announced that, thanks to a very mild winter and the elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bountiful spaghetti crop season.
Foolery! In 1957, the respected BBC television program ran this famous hoax.
Chicken Manure-Powered Electrical Plant: The Mitsubishi Bank contacted venture capitalists about an exciting new investment opportunity: Fibropower, a 14-megawatt-generating plant fueled entirely by chicken poop.
Fact. In 1991, Mitsubishi Bank in London sought investors to back a 22-million-pound loan to fund Fibropower.
Prehistoric Penguin Murals: In 1991, prehistoric murals were discovered on the walls of an underwater cave in eastern France. The murals revealed that penguins and man once lived side by side in that region.
Fact. The penguin murals were found in 1991 by deep-sea divers exploring a cave 7.5 miles southeast of Marseilles.
A Whopper of a Whopper: Burger King published a full-page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a “Left-Handed Whopper” specially designed for the 32 million lefthanded Americans.
Foolery! This joke was perpetrated in 1998 by Jim Watkins, senior vice president for marketing at Burger King.
Vodka Bars: A Russian beverage company announced a new product designed to appeal more specifically to Russian tastes: chewy vodka bars. The vodka bars will be available in lemon, coconut, and salted cucumber flavors.
Foolery!
Karate Experts Collect Bus Fares: Faced with a growing number of unruly passengers, one town in Ukraine adopted a unique solution: Karate-trained fare collectors.
Fact. This strategy was implemented in 1993 by a city in western Ukraine, following a number of attacks on bus inspectors.
Whistling Carrots: Tired of overcooking the carrots? Now there’s a solution. British scientists announced the development of a genetically modified “whistling carrot.” Air holes inside the carrot cause it to whistle when properly cooked.
Foolery! It was advertised by Tesco, a British supermarket chain, in a half-page advertisement in The Sun in 2002.
Carrots Reclassified as a Fruit: In 1979, officials in the European Union confirmed what many have long suspected: that carrots are not, in fact, a vegetable but are actually a fruit.
Fact. Bureaucrats in the European Union did classify carrots as a fruit in a 1979 directive.
Purple Carrots: A British supermarket announced it would soon be selling purple carrots to appeal to picky children..
Fact. In 2002, Sainsbury began marketing purple carrots. But carrots have actually come in purple varieties for thousands of years.
Nixon for President: In 1992, NPR’s Talk of the Nation broadcast the surprising run of Richard Nixon for president again.
Foolery! With various sound clips to back up the story of a comedian impersonating Nixon, NPR did run this April Fools’ gag, and many did call in quite unhappy.
