The Greatest April Fools Hoaxs

1965 - BBC Smell-o-vision: In 1965, the BBC played an April Fool's Joke - the network aired an interview with a man who claimed that viewers at home could experience aromas produced in a TV studio. They went on to demonstrate by cutting onions and brewing coffee, then had "viewers" call in with claims they could smell these scents, thus convincing the viewers it was true 1860 Tower of London - Lion Washing A popular prank in London: In 1860, numerous people throughout London received an invitation "Tower of London -- Admit Bearer and Friend to view the annual ceremony of Whashing the White Lions on Sunday, April 1, 1860. Admittance only at the White Gate. It is particularly requested that no gratuties 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 as far back as 1698 1999 Y2k CD Bug In 1999, Warner Music and Universal Music Group along with a popular Canadian radio station informed it's listeners that the Y2K bug would affect all CD players making music discs created prior to 2000 unreadable. Fortunately, a Hologram sticker was available to enable the old-format discs to continue working. The stickers could be purchased for $2 and immediately the phones became jammed both at the record companies and radio station, and everyone was demanding these stickers for free! The calls continued even after the radio station announced it was a joke. 1981 Michigan Shark Study the Herald-News in Roscommon Michigan reported that 3 of the northern Michigan lakes had been selected for "an in-depth study into the breeding and habits of several species of fresh-water sharks" because 2,000 sharks were released into the lakes including hammerheads, blue and great whites sharks to see if they can survive the bitter cold climate of this region. A rep fro mthe National Biological Foundation was quoted to say "the sharks will eat about 20 pounds of fish each per day, more as they get older". The article also mentioned that County officials protested the experiment but the complaints were ignored by the federal government. They also claimed that fishermen were forbidden capturing or catching the sharks. the Herald-News recieved many letters... go figure.