April Fool’s Day is an annual custom consisting of pranks and hoaxes. Its origins are subject to debate.
Some believe its etymology derives from ‘April Foals’, a reference to the disproportionate number of horses born on or around April 1.
Others think the term originated in the 13th century, from a dish known as an April Fool, consisting of fruit mixed with whipped cream. Towards the end of medieval banquets, these ‘April Fools’ were thrown in the faces of those judged the most stupid people around the table.
In St Petersburg, Russia, an April Fool is chosen by a secret committee appointed by the president. He or she is then tossed from the Palace Bridge into the River Neva. If they survive, they are pulled out, given a paper crown and a penny whistle, and then tossed in again.
In England, The roal family loves pranks. In his diary, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer narrates how, on ‘Avril Phules Day’ 1544, ‘our King doth play a merrie jeste on Queen Kateryn’ — Catherine Parr, the King’s sixth wife — ‘convincing her that he had growne tyred of her and she would therefore undergo a swift beheading afore noon.
‘To his credit, His Majesty donned a straight face throughout, ensuring my good ladye was overcome with distress, begging his mercy and pledging to make her conversation more lively in the years ahead.
‘After ten minutes of muche merriment, His Majesty could contain himself no longer and explayned that it was but a merry jest. So my good ladye collapsed on the floor, giving thanks.
‘The King was all a-chuckle for the rest of the day.’
But not all royal jokes are found funny. Last year, for instance, a leading member of the Royal Family invited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for dinner at Highgrove. Before their arrival, the unnamed royal hid a whoopee cushion beneath the Duchess’s seat.
‘I was profoundly upset,’ Meghan confessed to Oprah Winfrey in a section of their interview that has yet to be broadcast. ‘It was a cruel and thoughtless gesture. Where was the love? Where was the compassion?’
Again this year, Google will not be participating.
Past Google April fools pranks as it cancels 2021's over COVID https://t.co/pI55JnO0Eu
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) April 1, 2021
Here is Tom Brady’s 2021 April Fools Joke:
https://twitter.com/TomBrady/status/1377246426477031429