{"id":2976,"date":"2022-04-01T09:55:18","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T09:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=2976"},"modified":"2022-04-01T09:55:18","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T09:55:18","slug":"a-fools-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2022\/04\/01\/a-fools-education\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fool’s Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is unknown how long the custom of April Fools has been popular. But it\u2019s safe to say this day of practical jokes ignites everyone\u2019s mischievous streak!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sherborne Mercury 2 April 1850<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Delving into the newspaper archive has revealed a Victorian perspective to the historical and cultural reasoning for the jokes and japes that occur on the 1st of April, as well as some local nineteen-century hoaxes that remain unexplained.<\/p>\n

A publication of the Dorset County Chronicle from the 7th of April, 1866 contains an article exploring the \u201cremarkable days [of April] according to ancient customs\u201d<\/em>. This exploration starts with April fool\u2019s day, or \u201cAll Fools Day\u201d. A day described as being \u201cset apart for the exercise of practical jokes\u201d<\/em>. Although whoever wrote this article doesn\u2019t sound too keen on this celebration, as they describe it as a \u201csort of travesty of All Saints day\u201d<\/em>. It is believed that when the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 16th century Europe, whoever failed to keep up with change was branded the fool.<\/p>\n

This article, however, recognises the cultural relevance to this consistently beloved day of pranks. Dorset and Somerset\u2019s readers were told how the French would declare the fool \u201cUn poisson d\u2019Avril (April Fish)\u201d, and how in Scotland, whoever was branded the fool would be called \u201ca Gowk\u201d a Scotch term for \u201cthat foolish bird the Cuckoo\u201d. Readers were even told of the similar Hindu holiday of the \u201cHali Festival\u201d now known as Holi Festival, the Festival of colours, a time for merry-making, where people would pull \u201csimilar tricks on the last day of March\u201d<\/em>. This article that goes on to list all of the important holidays in April gives a delightful and informative look into April Fool\u2019s day. Just like the rest of the world, Dorset and Somerset seemed to adore a good hoax, even in the 1800s!<\/p>\n

An article published in the Dorset County Chronicle on the 18th of August, 1864 titled \u201cA Hoax\u201d<\/em> shows how the spirit of April fools is carried throughout the year and reports of a\u00a0 locomotive based prank that took place in Taunton. Railway authorities were left stumped when a great number of people appeared at the station enquiring for the \u201cexcursion train [that] would run from Taunton to Torquay\u201d<\/em> at cheap rates. With a disappointed crowd forming at the station, the railway authorities \u201ccompensated\u201d the fooled crowd and offered them an ordinary train journey at the price stated in the hoax notice. A culprit isn\u2019t named in the article which adds to the bizarreness of the prank.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Another mysterious hoax is reported just two years after the Taunton train trickster struck. An article published in the Dorset County Chronicle on the 25th of October, 1866\u00a0 reports a \u201cpractical joke\u201d that was played on the \u201cgood people of Weymouth on Saturday evening past\u201d<\/em>. Residents of the seaside town were alerted to the town crier announcing a \u201cgrand display of fireworks from the Pile Pier\u201d<\/em>. The article describes this announcement as \u201ctoo enticing\u201d not to draw a crowd. This prank promptly snowballed to the point that \u201cmany hundreds\u201d of people congregated on the New Quay and Esplanade. This large crowd \u201cwaited patiently\u201d in the rain for half-an-hour before realising they had been duped. With dampened moods the residents of Weymouth left for home with \u201cmany maledictions on the heads of the parties who had perpetrated the hoax\u201d<\/em>, and who can blame them! This unknown firework fibber was never revealed.<\/p>\n

Reading about these historic hoaxes are as baffling as they are mischievous and are a fascinating insight into what was considered a prank in the 1800s!<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

This was a guest blog written for Dorset History Centre by Chloe Taylor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is unknown how long the custom of April Fools has been popular. But it\u2019s safe to say this day of practical jokes ignites everyone\u2019s mischievous streak! Delving into the newspaper archive has revealed a Victorian perspective to the historical and cultural reasoning for the jokes and japes that occur on the 1st of April,… Read more A Fool’s Education<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[429,430,82,254,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2981,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions\/2981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}