It's traditional, on April 1, for the media to join in the April Fool's Day fun. Some April Fools are very clever and elaborate and lovingly executed. Others are clumsy and rather embarrassing. In the former category is the Guardian devoting an entire travel supplement to the island of San Serriffe (ruled by President Pica) a good few years ago. In the latter..well, anything produced by the Star and the Express, really. You'd think you'd need a really good sense of humour to work for those papers, but apparently not. The Telegraph has published a handy roundup of today's action here, and also a handy Top Ten of previous April Fools, including the granddaddy of them all, Panorama's report on the Spaghetti Trees of Switzerland.
But the BBC has scooped them all with this. I think it may be a legitimate advert for the iPlayer service, but someone with an evil mind down there in Shepherd's Bush decided to release it via the News today. If you haven't already seen this, settle back, take off your shoes, wiggle your toes, and enjoy.
