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How did April Fools’ Day start and what are some famous pranks?

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Historians aren’t pulling your leg when they say no one is quite sure about the origins of April Fools’ Day. 

April 1, the annual day of shenanigans, pranks, tricks and hoaxes, falls on Monday this year. While historians are unsure of the exact source of the tradition, they do know the custom goes back centuries, at least back to Renaissance Europe and possibly back to Roman times. Here’s a look at what the experts say.

Theories, both real and false, tie April Fools’ Day to Roman times 

Some believe April Fools’ Day dates back to Hilaria festivals celebrated during classical Roman times. The festival was held on March 25 which, in Roman terms, was called the “eighth of the Calends of April,” according to the Library of Congress. 

One theory tying the source of April Fools’ Day to Roman times is a hoax. In 1983, an Associated Press reporter reached out to Joseph Boskin, a historian at Boston University, to discuss the origins of April Fools’ Day. Boskin spun a tall tale to the reporter, assuming it would be fact-checked and revealed as fake. 

It wasn’t. 

According to the story Boskin made up, a group of jesters convinced Emperor Constantine to make one of them king for a day. The appointed jester, named Kugel, declared it would be a day of levity. 

“I got an immediate phone call from an editor there, who was furious, saying that I had ruined the career of a young reporter,” Boskin said in a Boston University post. “He said I told a lie. ‘A lie?’ I asked, ‘I was telling an April Fools’ Day story.'”

Middle Ages 

Some historians believe France is responsible for the humorous tradition, tying it to a calendar change in 1582, according to the History Channel. That year, France implemented the Gregorian calendar, shifting the start of the New Year from the spring equinox, which usually falls around April 1, to January 1. 

After the change, people who wrongly celebrated the new year in late March and early April were called “April fools.”

The first clear reference to April Fools’ Day is a 1561 Flemish poem by Eduard De Dene, which tells the story of a servant being sent on “fool’s errands” because it’s April 1, according to the Library of Congress. 

What are some famous April Fools’ Day pranks?

In 1957, the BBC ran a broadcast on the Italian spaghetti harvest that pretended the pasta was being harvested from trees. 

The BBC also ran an April Fools’ report on flying penguins in 2008.

In Los Angeles, airline passengers were greeted with a banner saying “Welcome to Chicago” after landing on April 1, 1992, CBS Sunday Morning previously reported.

Taco Bell in 1996 advertised that it had bought the Liberty Bell and renamed it the “Taco Liberty Bell,” according to the company.

As part of a 1997 April Fools’ Day joke, Alex Trebek, host of “Jeopardy,” swapped places with “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak, according to jeopardy.com.

On April 1, 2015, streaming giant Netflix shared faux public service announcements to remind viewers to “Binge Responsibly.”



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Former Bolivian President Evo Morales claims his car was fired upon in attempted assassination

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Former President Evo Morales of Bolivia claimed he survived an assassination attempt on Sunday after unidentified men opened fire on his car. He was not injured and there was no immediate confirmation of the attack from authorities.

Morales alleged the shots were fired while he was being driven in Bolivia’s coca leaf-growing region of Chapare, the ex-president’s rural stronghold whose residents have blockaded the country’s main east-west highway for the past two weeks.

The roadblocks — protesting what Morales’ supporters decry as President Luis Arce’s attempts to sabotage his former mentor and bitter political rival — have isolated cities and disrupted food and fuel supplies.

Morales, who led Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, emerged unscathed from the alleged attack Sunday, appearing on his weekly radio show in his usual calm manner to recount what happened.

He told the radio host that as he was leaving home for the radio station, hooded men fired at least 14 shots at his car, wounding his driver.

Morales was quick to blame his successor, President Arce, with whom he is fighting to be the candidate of governing socialist party in next year’s presidential election. He claimed that Arce’s government resorted to physical force having been unable to defeat him politically.

Bolivia Morales
Former President Evo Morales speaks to supporters after marching to La Paz, Bolivia, to protest current President Luis Arce, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.

Juan Karita / AP


“Arce is going to go down as the worst president in history,” Morales said. “Shooting a former president is the last straw.”

Officials in Arce’s government did not respond to requests for comment on the incident.

Cellphone video circulating online shows Morales’ driver bleeding from the back of his head. Morales can be seen in the passenger’s seat holding a phone to his ear as the vehicle swerves and a woman’s voice shrieks “Duck!”

The footage shows the car’s front windshield cracked by at least three bullets and its rear windshield shattered. Morales can be heard saying, “Papacho has been shot in the head,” apparently referring to his driver.

“They are shooting at us,” Morales continues on the phone. “They shot the tire of the car and it stopped on the road.”

Morales’ claim deepens political tensions in Bolivia at a volatile moment for the cash-strapped Andean nation of 12 million.

In June, there was an apparent attempted coup by a rogue military general leading a rebellion, where armored vehicles and troops marched to the presidential palace and tried to force their way into the building. The rebellion retreated after Arce confronted the general, bringing the alleged coup attempt to a head, and ordered him to stand down. The general and other senior officers were later arrested.


Apparent military coup fails in Bolivia

04:28

Then, last month, Morales led a massive march against the government’s mismanagement of the economy that quickly devolved into street clashes with pro-government mobs. Imported goods are scarce and prices are rising. Drivers wait for hours to fill up at gas stations. The gap between the official and black-market exchange rates is widening.

Earlier this month, the feud between Morales and Arce moved to the courts as Bolivian prosecutors launched an investigation into accusations that Morales fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2016, classifying their relationship as statutory rape.

Morales has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated and refused to testify in the case. Since reports surfaced of a possible arrest warrant against him, the ex-president has been holed up in the Chapare region, in central Bolivia, where supportive coca growers have kept vigilant watch to protect him from arrest.

President Arce accuses Morales of trying to undermine his administration to advance his own ambitions.



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Open: This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 27, 2024

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Open: This is “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Oct. 27, 2024 – CBS News


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This week on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance discusses Russian disinformation campaigns and the Trump-Vance ticket’s “women problem.” Plus, former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney joins.

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Full interview: GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance

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Full interview: GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance – CBS News


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Watch Margaret Brennan’s full interview with Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a portion of which aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Oct. 27, 2024.

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