Exactly 20 years ago today Coffeetalk was about April Fools Day.  I said its history isn’t entirely clear.  You can’t pinpoint the first April Fools Day on a calendar. The beginning of the tradition may have been the year 1582 in France.  Prior to that year the New Year was celebrated for eight days ending on April 1.  But the Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1582 and moved New Year’s Day to January 1st.  However, communication wasn’t very swift in those days because news travelled by foot and many people didn’t receive the news for a very long time.  Also, some refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate New Years on April 1st.  These “backward” folks were labelled as “fools” by the general populace.  They were subject to some ridicule, made the butt of practical jokes, and sent on “fool’s errands” (you see where this is going).  This evolved over time into a tradition of prank-playing on the first day of April.   Radio stations have staged hoaxes on air that last the morning of April 1st (I was taught that April Fool’s jokes are supposed to end by mid-day).   My favourite April Fool spoof I played on-air in the 1980’s was to say that in order to raise money to fix our highways, our provincial government was going to make highway 11 a Toll Highway between Saskatoon and Regina and Saskatoon and Prince Albert.  The joke worked pretty well that morning as I recall.  I heard the government wasn’t too happy.   We don’t stage these elaborate hoaxes anymore…..unless we can think of a good one. 

That’s Coffeetalk.  I’m Vic Dubois.