Hook, Line, and Sinker Trivia Quiz

Answer: Liberty Bell

A full page advertisement appeared in six newspapers, including the 'Washington Post' and 'New York Times', to announce the acquisition of the bell, which would be renamed the 'Taco Liberty Bell'. The purchase was Taco Bell's contribution towards reducing the national debt, according to the announcement, and the company encouraged other big corporations to follow suit.

The hoax led to large numbers of telephone calls to both Taco Bell and to Philadelphia's National Park Service, who were not in on the joke.

At noon a press release was issued, confessing to the hoax and announcing a donation of fifty thousand dollars towards the upkeep of the Bell.

Answer: Guardian

This was quite an elaborate hoax with seven pages devoted to the fictitious islands. The maps showed the two main islands to consist of one roughly shaped as a full stop (period) with the lower one in the shape of a comma. The islands were said to be in the Indian Ocean, but moving eastwards towards Sri Lanka due to erosion, which was being controlled by the transfer of sand from one side of the island to the other. Among other printing related expressions used in the various articles were the national bird being the kwote and its head of state's name, General Pica.

The cost was helped by numerous advertisers, who all joined in the joke, with Texaco offering a prize of a visit to the San Serriffe grand prix. The Guardian was renamed 'The Grauniad' by the satirical magazine 'Private Eye', due to the misprints which managed to elude the proofreaders, but computers have made the name less warranted nowadays.

Answer: Gravity would be reduced

The announcement stated that Pluto would pass behind Jupiter at 9.47 a.m., increasing the gravity pull from Jupiter. Listeners were told that jumping in the air at that time would allow them to float. Inevitably, many people reported having experienced the sensation, including one woman who had hit her head on the ceiling. Patrick Moore was the original presenter of the astronomy programme 'The Sky at Night' in 1957 and was still presenting it in 2011, at the age of 88 - no wonder everyone believed him.

Answer: Alaska

A local prankster by the name of Porky Bickar had managed to place hundreds of old tyres into the crater, and then lit them to create the smoke. He did also write 'APRIL FOOL' in large letters in the snow, but maybe they couldn't be seen from Sitka, the nearest town to the volcano. Apparently, Bickar received a letter in 1980 to say 'this time you've gone too far' when Mount St.Helens erupted. Volcanoes can be found in all of the states offered as options.

Answer: New Zealand

The hypothesis runs something like this: since most sheep are white, they reflect sunlight back into the atmosphere. Therefore, a reduction in sheep population means more sunlight reaching the ground, increasing temperatures. The increased temperatures means a lower demand for woollen clothing, leading to a further reduction in sheep numbers, and so on. Dr. Noh-Watt was assisted by Prof. Jean- Belliere Poisson d'Avril in his research at the New Zealand Institute of Veterinary Climatology.

Their findings were, of course, refuted by a spokesman for the Sheep Farmers Guild who retorted 'Baaah, humbug'. China had the largest sheep population in the world in 2011, with Australia and Wales also known for their flocks (all of which are much loved by player eburge).

Answer: Burger King

The ad promised that the new burger was designed specially for the 32 million left handed Americans. The ingredients remained unchanged from the standard burger, but the condiments were turned by 180 degrees to suit left handed customers. Apparently the advertisement was a success as they had received thousands of requests for the burger, as well as many other people demanding a right handed version.

The 'Whopper' is associated with Burger King, so I hope you didn't get fooled by the other options.

Answer: Penguins

The trailer was presented by Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame, which ought to have been the first warning. The second was that the film maker's name was given as Prof Alid Loyas, which can be rearranged as April Fool's Day. The footage shows the penguins taking off from their home in Antarctica to migrate to the rain forests of South America, a distance of several thousand miles.

The film is still available on the internet and is remarkably convincing.

Answer: Sydney

The 'iceberg' was actually made of white plastic sheeting covered with shaving cream and fire fighting foam. Unfortunately, rainfall washed away the covering and exposed the hoax. The scheme was the idea of a Dick Smith, who had promised that ice cubes, to be called 'Dickciles', would improve the quality of any drink. People who made their way to the iceberg by boat were given complimentary ice cubes which actually came from the towing boat's refrigerator.

Answer: Channel Tunnel

The story said that the two ends of the tunnel would miss each other in the middle since the French engineers insisted on using metric measurements while the British used imperial. The error would cost billions to put right. Since the project was already massively over budget, this was only too believable.

In 1988 the 'Daily Mail' had run its own April Fool's Day story about the discovery of a tunnel from France to England which had been built during the Napoleonic Wars and came out under Dover Castle.

It was reportedly just wide enough to take a mule carrying two barrels of brandy on either side.

Answer: Spaghetti

Would a reputable broadcaster like the BBC, a serious programme like 'Panorama' and a distinguished presenter called Richard Dimbleby really try to fool the British public in such a way? The answers are 'yes, yes and yes'. The film showed the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, near to the Italian border, with the strands of spaghetti being taken from the bushes.

The business was described as being 'family run' compared to the industrial scale farms found in Italy. At the time spaghetti usually came in tomato sauce in tins labelled 'Heinz' (other brands are available), and the BBC received many calls asking where spaghetti bushes could be bought.