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April 1,
2006 is an April Fool's Day falling on a Saturday. This is a definitive list
of hoaxes performed for April Fool's Day 2006. See the
April 1,
2006 article for the more notable hoaxes and pranks.
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On television
BBC One's soccer show
Football
Focus reported on a FIFA
directive that would see persistent divers made to wear a bright
yellow armband in order to make them more identifiable to fans and
referees. If one of these players is caught diving again, they
would receive a straight red card.
The music channel
Magic TV held a
"Christmas Magic"
morning, showing seasonal music videos.
Arsenal FC defender
Ashley Cole,
appearing on Channel
4's 'T4' show pretended that
he was set to release a duet with his fiancee Cheryl Tweedy, which
would involve him rapping on it.
TG2 news at Italian Public TV Broadcast RAI's announced a new miracolous diet pill
called SlimmiXL. The pill should be accompanied with a diet rich of
fish.
ORT news has reported
that from now on they are going to transmit stereoscopic (Anaglyph) picture only
along with the with the methods of making 3d glasses from a
DIY-type program's presenter.
VRT news in Belgium announced that the government
would be distributing free coupons for a sun tanning session, in an effort to help
people with spring fatigue caused by the long winter. Candidates
were asked to call a particular phone number.
NRK news in Norwayreported
(Norwegian) on a new bylaw requiring all dogs to be tied up and
kept out of urban areas to combat bird flu. The news report
featured interviews with some of the politicans in charge of the
changes.
ZDF reported that
the United
Nations wants to build a cabled line around the equator of the world. Even through
oceans, amazon forests and Kenyan wildlife.
The UK version of
Deal or No Deal revealed in their
ending credits The Banker's name was Richard Oldman, which can be
shortened to "Rich Old Man".
Veronica announced to all TV
guides that it would air Mission Impossible III on
saturday night. The movie has yet to hit the theaters.
On the
radio
The Adam Carolla Show played a prank
on their producer, making him think a bunch of F-bombs let loose on
the air, when instead they played a pre-recorded message.[360]
On March 31, 2006, 96.7 KDOG
radio in Mankato, MN switched to "Kung-Pao FM" and has continuosly
played top Chinese hits all day April 1st.
On Free Talk Live a caller
reported that the United States military is going to add armored combat deep
fryers to their inventory in an effort to increase troop morale
and recruiting numbers.
On March 29th, 2006 95.5
WBRU, an alternative rock
station in Providence, RI announced that they were being
bought out, and would cease operations by 5 PM on Friday, March
31st. Soon after WBRU went off the air, Buddy FM, a parody of the Jack FM radio format, began
broadcasting random pop and techno music along with occasional
pre-recorded station bumps until a mock takeover was staged by WBRU
DJs at 12:16 PM on April 1st.
The prank continued in some form until roughly 4:09 PM, April
1st.
On Weekend Edition, the Saturday news program
of National Public Radio, host Scott
Simon tried out a medical device known as the "iBod" with the help
of its "inventors." The iBod was supposedly capable of arbitrarily
altering a person's biological functions, and Simon experienced a
heart rate of over 250 bpm with the turn of a dial. [361]
On All Things
Considered, the evening news program of National
Public Radio, Alice Furlaud reports on an initiative by an
opera impresario, under the influence of the writings of optimist
Norman Vincent Peale, to rewrite the
endings of famous operas, making them all "happy instead of sad."
Don Giovanni,
instead of being dragged unrepentent to Hell by a marble statue, is born again and goes with angels to
Heaven; Tristan und
Isolde, instead of ending with the Liebestod (love-death), ends with the
"love-life", as it turns out Tristan had merely a flesh wound in
the preceding battle. [362]
On 702 ABC Sydney in
Australia, weekend presenter Simon Marnie conducted the last hour
of the show from a Collins class submarine in Sydney
Harbour that departed from the Australian National Maritime
Museum. The submarine docked to pick up passengers including
fellow presenter Tony Eastley and a lucky 702 Sydney listener. The
program ended when the submarine was submerged and attacked by a
sea monster.
On Triple JRadio in Australia, morning hosts were
claiming that, to celebrate 'Urban month' the station was going to
be changing for the entire months play list to only feature
hip hop,
much to the complaint of many listeners calling in. Triple J played
non-stop hip hop til 12 noon and had many promotions already set up
to play for the up coming month, enhancing the joke's
credibility.
On 2-Ten
FM in the United Kingdom, the station claims that an elephant
is causing traffic problems on the M4.
On BBC
Three Counties Radio, presenter Justin Dealey told listeners
that from the end of this month, there would be a new car radio
license of £200 a year. If you didn’t want to pay it, you would
have to take your radio out of the vehicle.
Oldies station
Capital Gold
in London promoted a new classical breakfast show, featuring
Classic FM
presenter Simon
Bates. "No more Beatles - just a new relaxing breakfast
show."
On 102.2 Smooth FM in London, listeners were
told women of a certain 'size' would be refused entry onto various
attractions at Thorpe Park in Surrey.
On RTE Radio 1, The Derek Mooney
Show announced the construction of a dual carriage way and a ten
foot high wall through Phoenix Park
Capital FM announced that they had
installed a smellophone and encouraged digital listeners to sniff
their radios, reported that Tony and Cherie Blair had painted the
door of 10 Downing Street red.
103.4 Sun FM Weekend Breakfast
Show team reported that Niall Quinn, if he bought SAFC he would, as
a deal, have part of the River Wear re-named The River Niall
Red FM Reports that the UK and
Ireland , in an effort to comply with the rest of the EU member
countries, are to start driving on the right hand side of the road.
Trials are to begin in the two capitals, Dublin and London.
nonstopdvr rebranded
itself to another station name for 12 hours.
In Kansas City,
Missouri, USA, radio station KUDL has gone to an all Christmas
Music Format.
In Chicago WXRT faked cancelling their weekly
Saturday Morning Flashback.
In Albuquerque, radio commercials say the
New Mexico
government has approved pushing daylight
savings time ahead two hours instead of one. The commercial
urges listeners to look at the calendar and 'note the date'. It
also says if you have questions to go to www.daylightsavings.us
On
Radio Sport in
New Zealand, show host Phil Gifford and Doug Golightly claimed that
rugby league
star Stacey
Jones was going to play rugby union for Northland upon the expiry of his French rugby
league contract. They added that he had also recieved a special
dispensation from Les Catalans to join the Auckland Blues squad
for the last six matches of the Super 14 season. This was perpetuated by Jones'
close friend Peter Leitch appearing on the show 'furious'
about his personal conversation with the hosts being put on air.
On Louisville, Ky's 99.7 FM DJX,
Peter B. and Kelly K. informed listeners of a "Non-Smoker's Tax" A
website was mentioned and the Dj's sounded pretty informed and
serrious about the situation. One outraged listener called in only
to be informed on air (and later re-aired via commercial) to search
for more info on Google by searching "April Fools"
On
Radio London a news item referred to a
new European directive to introduce a new 'Digital Metric Clock'. A
French spokesperson was heard to announce the changes.
Life in
Alaska [363] changed it's
name to "Life in Los Angeles."relating to 100 seconds in a minute
100 minutes in an hour and 10 hours in a day.
In newspapers
and magazines
New Zealand's Otago Daily
Times claimed that a sponsorship and advertising deal had
been done between the Mitre 10 chain of hardware stores and the
New Zealand Department of
Conservation over the Otago Royal Albatross colony [364]. The DoC would get funds to
protect the birds, and in return the adult birds would be dyed in
the chain's corporate colour, orange.
The Independent
explored Sylvia Plath's forgotten affair with Chuck Berry, along
with various other unlikely celebrity pairings. [365]
Electronic Gaming Monthly claimed
that the new iGame, an Apple portable gaming device, is being
released on page 32. It also claimed that iTunes was to have an
iGame section for buying games for new device.
Game Informer published
its annual parody of its own magazine called "Game
Infarcer".
The Taipei Times in Taiwan claims to have blown the cover off of a
secret weapons program utilizing betel nut extract, employing "an aerosol-dispersal
device to shower enemy positions with red betel-nut juice, leaving
enemy personnel feeling slightly ill, while possessing them with an
uncontrollable desire to sing at a KTV." [367]
The Straits
Times in Singapore published an article with the headline
"Visitors going ape over Zoo's new primate exhibit", claiming that
Singapore
Zoo is set to extend its primate family with "a pair of the
highly intelligent apes Simia mina - close relatives of gorillas
and chimpanzees which have been documented communicating vocally,
using tools and even walking upright". However, this is "stirring
up a controversy" as the "Simia mina are in an enclosure not much
bigger than the bedroom of an HDB flat, and will be kept there till April
31".
The
Economist claims that a company called GeneDupe plans to
genetically engineer pet dragons. [368]
The Daily Express reports
that biscuits are good and strong and are been used to build our
roads!
The Daily Mail announces that Cherie
Blair has insisted that the door to 10 Downing Street be painted
red, and that apples will be grown with barcodes already on
them.
The
Guardian runs with the headline - "Their wives met at
yoga. Now Chris plans to rock the vote for Cameron's Tories." The
story claims that Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin has written a new anthem for
the British Conservative Party called "Talk to David". The song
expresses his disillusionment with Tony Blair, his admiration for David Cameron[369], and is available for download. Their money
section also alledges that an alternative to the Chip and PIN card
verification system - Kiss and PIN - is being
trialled.
"Mikrobitti" Net.Nyt reporters
have come up with Knome, two widely used Open Source Desktop
Environments KDE and Gnome have merged into Knome. KDE ja Gnome
lyövät hynttyyt yhteen .[370]
The Sun reports that a penguin had been
spotted in the Thames.
The Times tells us about the new Chip and
Sing[371]
whilst also running full page ads for a BMW that is pixel-coated
and that Rugby
Union referees are to wear glasses from now on. An advert for
computer mice that can read credit cards was also in there. An
article relating to a more accurate placing of the source of the
Nile may or may not be a hoax, although certain names and events
look somewhat suspicious.
De Telegraaf, biggest newspaper in The
Netherlands, opens with a shocking headline: Loads of the
Queen
Beatrix's private correspondence got lost and has been
published on Limewire, a popular file sharing
programme.
The Calgary Herald reviews "Brokeback Mountain: The
Game" and gives it a perfect score.
The Vancouver Sun
of Vancouver,
British
Columbia, Canada,
contains an article announcing a leaked (no pun) description of the
Vancouver
2010 Olympic Winter Games' Opening Ceremony at BC Place Stadium,
in which the floor of the domed stadium would be flooded to hold
ceremonies on a marine theme and the Games' mascot would be Howdy
Dew, a stylized raindrop and humourous poke at Vancouver's climate.
Elsewhere an editorial opines on supposed scientific advances that
would allow direct transmission of newspaper content to subsribers'
memory.
The Daily Record announced that the 10 pence
coin would be withdrawn from circulation in Scotland since "you
can't buy anything with it except a downmarket English tabloid"
(The Sun) [372], [373]
Bob Ross Inc. announces
a Bob Ross video game on March 31st and details can be viewed here:
[374][375]
F-Secure announced the release of the
Moomin-character themed
F-Secure Internet Security product on their blog [376], but this was followed-up with a
blog post 3 days later [377] confirming that the product is in
fact genuine.
Ogrish
reports a bizarre baby born in
Nepal (note: these links contain images of the child's body)
[378] The baby, who appeared to have
anencephaly,
died shortly after birth. This was reported on a major
Nepal news site on March 29th.
Radio 538 awarded a select
group of listeners who would come with their bags packed to a train
station in Rotterdam, a major city in the Netherlands, with a
weekend trip to a yet-to-be-revealed destination. Only three people
showed up at the event.
Several UK newspapers, including The
Telegraph [379], reported on the Dorset Naga, a
chilli
pepper grown in Dorset, England and claimed to be the world's hottest
at 876,000 Scoville
units.
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