See large image of The Guardian Book of April Fool's Day - NEW EDITION
  • About the book
  • Book reviews
  • Author profile
  • Podcast
  • Extract
  • The Guardian Book of April Fool's Day - NEW EDITION
  • Martin Wainwright
  • Our Price: £10.99
  • RRP: £12.99
  • Hardback
  • In stock
  • Product code: 1PFO
This book is part of this offer free postage and packing when you spend over £20

About the Book

There was the legendary 'Spaghetti Harvest', filmed by the BBC's Panorama in the late 50s, a sober and extensive report on this age-old Swiss ritual, narrated in sonorous tones by Richard Dimbleby. Twenty years later there was also the India Ocean island of San Serriffe, with its capital, Bodoni, and its unpredictable president, General Pica, explored in forensic detail by an entire Guardian supplement. And there was also the understandably furtive visit of Her Majesty the Queen to the bookies to put a few bob on one of her horses - as faithfully reported in the Daily Mail.

Except there wasn't. In every case the whole thing was a flagrant fabrication for April Fool's Day. These days the 1st of April is not complete without a spoof story in all the national newspapers, on the Today programme, or even perpetrated by some of our biggest companies - like Burger King's announcement of a 'left-handed Whopper' with all its contents rotated 180 degrees. There was Patrick Moore's revelation that a particular planetary alignment would induce a momentary sensation of weightlessness on earth, or the Independent's more esoteric revelation that the theme-tune to The Archers was to be spiced up by Brian Eno.

Now, for the first time, Martin Wainwright tells the history of how April Fool's Day first came about, when it developed into a media phenomenon, and collects all the best examples from across the world of April Fool spoofs over the years. He also looks at the effects of the best tall stories - how people were taken in - and finds the most laughably incredible stories published on April 1st that were actually perfectly true. And, in true April Fool's Day spirit, he has ensured that at least one story cited as an April Fool spoof from the past is actually his own brazen invention.