Monday Milestone: Fooling

“You couldn’t fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life
 if you had an electrified fooling machine”
– Homer Simpson, in “So It’s Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show” (Episode 9F17)

 This Week in History:
1698, April 1,
The first true evidence of April Fool’s Day in Britain occurs with the Washing of the Lions at the Tower of London.

What’s not to love about the first of April?

Who hasn’t been subjected to the tomfoolery of an April Fool’s Day prank? Or perhaps played a harmless hoax or two on unsuspecting friends?  It’s a fun day on the calendar. So in honour of the mischievous holiday, the Milestone has jumped into the Delorean to explore what the day is all about and to find some very odd occurrences.

We stop first in the Middle Ages, where one of the theories behind the origin of the prankish festivities, comes from Geoffrey Chaucer’s book, “The Canterbury Tales” where scholars reading about the vain cock Chauntecleer being tricked by a fox, misunderstood the translation, reading the date this occurred as the 32^ndof March, (i.e. April first).

Centuries later, it was written that in 1539 that a French nobleman sent his servants on foolish errands on April 1, referring to the fooled persons as poisson d’avril or ‘April fish’ referring to someone that is easily caught. But the favourite here at the Milestone, and probably the first distinct evidence of deliberate mischief being undertaken was when on April 1, 1698 English folk were invited to the Tower of London to see the ‘Annual Ceremony of the Washing of the Lions’. Amusingly it is said that apparently plenty of people went along.

As this entertaining practice of jokes and hoaxes on April 1 has grown through the centuries, modern sport has grown with it, which inspired the Milestone to dig a little deeper to discover, only to discover just how curious it was about the number of different sporting events that have occurred on this day in history. 

April 1^st, it turns out, was the day, that the lowest ever round ever recorded Augusta National during the 1986 US Masters when Zimbabwean Nick Price shot the lights out with 63 only to lose the tournament the next day by a fast finishing Jack Nicklaus.

Apparently it was also the same day in 1990 when former Australian captain Mal Meninga scored five tries and kicked nine goals for the Raiders in a single match for a personal tally of 38 points as Canberra went on to thump Eastern Suburbs 66-4.

Then Kobe Bryant in 2006 went as close to matching Wilt Chamberlain’s one hundred point game as anyone ever has, when he piled in 81 points as the Los Angeles Lakers came from behind against the Toronto Raptors at the Staples Center.

And finally in 2001, after North Melbourne had led the Essendon Bombers at the ten minute mark of the second quarter by a remarkable 69 points, Kevin Sheedy’s men would rally, in what would turn into an extraordinary shoot out, defeating the Kangaroos by two goals, 27.9.171 to 25.9.159.

Amazing isn’t it? It’s such a coincidence that all these events fall on the same day. Undoubtedly those readers at Making the Nut could quite happily find all of these quirkish occurrences all falling on the first of April remarkable.

But then again, they wouldn’t want to be April fools, now would they?

 

Milestone Five: Great April Fools Pranks (these are real, honest)

5.  On April 1, 1990 the hallowed course of the US Masters, Augusta National announced they would begin allowing public access. After being inundated with requests to play, they were forced to admit their April foolery.

4. In 1988 it was announced Argentinian football star Diego Maradona was joining local Russian club Spartak Moscow. The Associated Press ran wild with this story as they were not used to the new open Soviet Union having a sense of humour.

3. In 2000 animal liberation group PETA announced they were sabotaging East Texas’s bass fishing tournament by                 releasing tranquilisers into the lake beforehand. It required rangers being sent to patrol the lake before PETA admitted they were joking.

2. On April 1, 1981 England’s The Daily Mirror reported a Japanese runner Kimo Nakajimi had entered the  London Marathon, but misinterpreted the rules to mean he was required to run for 26 days, rather than 26 miles.

1. Sidd Finch was a rookie pitcher depicted on the cover of Sports Illustrated on April 1, 1985. Able to pitch at 168mph (270kph) with pinpoint accuracy, he’d never played the game, just learned his art in a Tibetan monastery. Long suffering Mets fans were reportedly ecstatic with such a coup.