April Fool’s Day: the best of 2013
To celebrate April Fool’s day, traditional and new media alike have pulled plenty of pranks on the general public – but how many of them did you spot? Here we round up some of this year’s best.
Channel 4 News reported that London Mayor Boris Johnson is planning a sensational return to parliament (now removed) by standing as Conservative candidate in South Shields, David Miliband’s soon-to-be vacant constituency.
The Telegraph had a story on Sir Cameron Mackintosh agreeing to stage The Coalition – the Musical, which he believes has the potential to be his biggest hit since Les Misérables.
The Coalition – the Musical had originally been conceived by the German composer and lyricist Olaf Dyliparos as a “modest chamber piece” for this summer’s Edinburgh Festival, but Sir Cameron has persuaded him to re-work it as a major West End musical.
“It focuses very much on the relationship between David Cameron and Nick Clegg and it has a big, operatic feel to it – I mean, it’s a sort of love story that’s gone wrong,” said Dyliparos.
Stones camp out
The Sun reported that the Rolling Stones spent the chilly Easter weekend camping out in preparation for their stint at Glastonbury this year.
Sir Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood braved biting winds to slum it in a £70 Blacks tent.
Sir Mick immediately tweeted: “Can’t wait to play Glastonbury. I have my wellies and my yurt.”
BBC Radio 4’s Today programme reported that from April 1, Northern Rail is replacing train numbers with barcodes that trainspotters can photograph and then upload to the web via their smartphones.
The barcodes are specially elongated so that trainspotters can snap them as the train speeds past, and also means they can help inform commuters about whether the trains are running on time.
However, pop impresario and keen trainspotter Pete Waterman is leading the charge against the barcodes, saying: “It’s not the same thing. It’s like email – you can’t beat meeting people.”
Royal rip off
The Daily Mail carries the news that experts at an animal sanctuary have trained their owls to deliver the internal mail – just like the birds do at the fictional Hogwarts School in Harry Potter.
Kirkleatham Owl Centre in North Yorkshire introduced the feathered posties after budget cuts forced it to reduce staff numbers, leaving a backlog of mail.
Eight of the centre’s 45 owls have been specially trained since the ‘Roy-owl Mail’ project began last week.
Hotels.com has announced that from April 1, its customers will be able to book the Belgian Suite in Buckingham Palace.
Costing upwards of £10,000, the suite has previously welcomed guest including former President Ronald Regan and most recently, President Obama.
Butler service is available on request at an additional cost, while dogs – especially Corgis – are welcome.
Death of YouTube
YouTube announced on Saturday that it will shut down the site on April 1, saying “It’s finally time to pick the winner.”
In keeping with the April Fools’ Day fun, YouTube said it would “no longer be accepting entries.” The website said that after eight years, it was time to review all the videos uploaded to the site and select a winner.
“We are all storytellers. That’s what pulled me into this contest: stories of how to photoshop and stories about The Hobbit trailer HD.” YouTube judge Antoine Dodson said. “I encourage everybody to watch as many videos as possible before YouTube deletes everything.”