April Fools' Day
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6correct to beat the crowd
This April Fools trivia quiz has 206 free questions with answers and covers the day's murky origins (Chaucer, the calendar change, a 1561 Flemish poem, the 1698 'washing of the lions'), how it is celebrated around the world (poisson d'avril in France, Hunt the Gowk in Scotland, Sizdah Be-dar in Iran, Humorina in Odesa, and the December prank day in Spain and Latin America), and the hoaxes that fooled millions: the BBC's spaghetti harvest, Sidd Finch, the Taco Liberty Bell, San Serriffe, Patrick Moore's floating listeners and two decades of Google jokes. About a third of the questions are easy enough for a classroom or office quiz on 1 April, a third are medium, and the rest will catch out people who think they know all the famous pranks. Nothing here is mean-spirited. Every answer has been checked against a primary or encyclopaedic source, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 206 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which English poet's 1392 tale of the cock Chauntecleer is a disputed early reference to April Fools' Day?
Geoffrey Chaucer
Modern scholars think a copying error is to blame and that Chaucer meant 2 May.
Q 02The earliest clear reference to April Fools' Day is a 1561 poem by Eduard de Dene, writing in which language?
Flemish
Eduard de Dene wrote in Flemish; his 1561 poem tells of a nobleman who sent his servant on foolish errands on 1 April.
Q 03What does 'poisson d'avril', first mentioned by a French poet in 1508, literally mean?
April's fish
Poisson d'avril means 'April's fish'; the phrase was recorded by the French poet Eloy d'Amerval in 1508.
Q 04In France, Italy and Belgium, what do pranksters try to attach to a victim's back on 1 April?
A paper fish
The poisson d'avril prank is to tape a paper fish to a victim's back unnoticed, then shout 'poisson d'avril!' when it is found.
Q 05One April Fools' theory cites France's move of New Year's Day to 1 January, made official in which year?
1564
Charles IX's 1564 edict fixed 1 January as the French New Year; the tale that those still marking it around 1 April became 'fools' is doubted by historians.
Q 06On 1 April 1698, several Londoners were tricked into going to the Tower of London to see what?
The lions being washed
The 'washing of the lions' hoax was repeated for well over a century, complete with printed tickets.
Q 07In the United Kingdom, tradition holds that April Fools' pranks must stop at what time of day?
Noon
In the UK, April Fools' pranks traditionally stop at noon; anyone who plays a joke after midday is said to become the fool.
Q 08What is Scotland's April Fools' prank of sending someone off with a sealed 'Dinna laugh, dinna smile...' note called?
Hunt the Gowk
A gowk is a cuckoo, and the message tells each recipient to send the victim on another mile.
Q 09In Scotland, what was traditionally pinned to people's backs on the day after April Fools' Day?
Paper tails
Paper tails were pinned to backs on Scotland's 'Tailie Day', 2 April, making the pranks a two-day affair.
Q 10Iran's 'Lie of the Thirteenth' prank day, Sizdah Be-dar, falls in which Iranian month?
Farvardin
Sizdah Be-dar falls on the 13th of Farvardin, the first month of the Iranian calendar, which lands on 1 or 2 April.
Q 11In Spain, Hispanic America and the Philippines, the day for pranks ('inocentadas') falls on which date?
28 December
Día de los Santos Inocentes falls on 28 December, the feast commemorating the biblical Massacre of the Innocents.
Q 12Humorina, an annual humour festival with a 1 April parade, is held in which Ukrainian city?
Odesa
Humorina is Odesa's 1 April festival, begun by the city's KVN comedy team after the Soviet Union cancelled the KVN TV competition.
Q 13Poland's April 1 prank belief is so strong that a 1683 alliance signed that day was officially dated to when?
31 March
The 1683 Polish–Austrian alliance with Leopold I was backdated to 31 March so nobody would take it for an April Fools' joke.
Q 21In 1962, Swedish television told viewers they could get colour TV by stretching what over the screen?
A nylon stocking
Technician Kjell Stensson told SVT viewers a nylon stocking stretched over the screen would bend the light into colour; Sweden's real colour broadcasts began in 1970.
Q 22The Guardian's 1977 April Fools' island San Serriffe had place names that were all puns on what?
Typography
Every San Serriffe place name punned on typography, from the islands Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse to its leader, General Pica.
Q 23The map of The Guardian's fictional San Serriffe was drawn in the shape of which punctuation mark?
A semicolon
Q 14What is the Danish word for an April Fools' prank or its victim?
Aprilsnar
Aprilsnar is the Danish term for an April Fools' prank and for the person fooled; the Swedish equivalent is aprilskämt.
Q 15On 1 April 1957, the BBC current-affairs programme Panorama aired a three-minute report showing Swiss farmers harvesting what from trees?
Spaghetti
Spaghetti was shown being picked from trees by Swiss farmers; hundreds of viewers phoned the BBC the next day asking how to grow their own.
Q 16Which respected broadcaster's voice-over made the BBC's 1957 pasta-harvest hoax so believable?
Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby, Panorama's authoritative anchor, narrated the pasta report, and hundreds of viewers phoned the BBC the next day.
Q 17The BBC's 1957 pasta harvest was supposedly taking place in which Swiss canton?
Ticino
The harvest was set in Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton around Lake Lugano, where a pasta crop sounded just plausible.
Q 18Roughly how many people watched the BBC's Panorama pasta-harvest report on 1 April 1957?
Eight million
An estimated eight million people watched; Panorama was one of Britain's most trusted programmes, which is why the joke landed.
Q 19In 1980 the BBC announced that which London landmark's clock face was going digital?
Big Ben
The BBC World Service reported that Big Ben's clock face would go digital, offering the old hands to the first listeners who called in.
Q 20Which astronomer told BBC Radio 2 listeners in 1976 that a planetary alignment would let them float if they jumped?
Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore told Radio 2 listeners that a rare planetary alignment would briefly weaken Earth's gravity, and callers duly reported a floating sensation.
Designer Geoffrey Taylor drew San Serriffe's two islands, Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse, in the shape of a semicolon.
Q 24Sports Illustrated's 1985 hoax pitcher Sidd Finch played for which team and threw how fast?
Mets, 168 mph
Sidd Finch was presented as a New York Mets prospect who threw 168 mph, far beyond any fastball ever recorded.
Q 25Which author, known for participatory journalism, wrote the Sidd Finch hoax for Sports Illustrated?
George Plimpton
Plimpton later expanded the joke into a novel.
Q 26Which social network announced in 2013 that it would charge $5 a month to use vowels?
Twitter's 2013 April Fools' post unveiled 'Twttr', a free tier with no vowels, and said the full alphabet would cost $5 a month.
Q 27The $300,000 'Taco Liberty Bell' prank of 1996 is estimated to have generated roughly how much free publicity?
$25 million
The stunt cost about $300,000 and earned an estimated $25 million in free publicity; sales rose by more than $1 million over the first two days of April.
Q 28In 1992, National Public Radio reported that which former president would run for the White House again?
Richard Nixon
NPR's Talk of the Nation announced Richard Nixon's surprise 1992 candidacy, complete with an impersonator's voice; outraged listeners flooded the switchboard.
Q 29What was Google's first April Fools' hoax in 2000, asking users to project a mental image of their search?
MentalPlex
MentalPlex (2000) asked users to stare at a spinning spiral and project a mental image of what they wanted, then returned joke error messages.
Q 30Which real Google product, announced on 1 April 2004 with a one-gigabyte inbox, was dismissed as an April Fools' joke?
Gmail
Gmail really launched on 1 April 2004; its one-gigabyte inbox was hundreds of times Hotmail's, so many assumed the announcement was a prank.