Only Joe King

From Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast to Richard Dimbleby's Panorama TV programme about spaghetti trees, we British have always been suckers for a good April Fool prank! In this article, Joe King lists a selection of famous pranks that have hoodwinked the people over the years.

April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is a holiday celebrated in a number of countries on April 1st, although not in Spain, where the equivalent is el Día de los Inocentes, celebrated on  December 28th, the date which somewhat bizarrely commemorates the slaughter of new-born male babies by King Herod following the birth of Christ.

April 1st is marked by the perpetration of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbours, or sending them on a fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible.

The earliest recorded association between April 1st and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392).

Other well-known pranks include:         

•            Alabama Changes the Value of Pi: The April 1998 newsletter of New Mexicans for Science and Reason contained an article written by physicist Mark Boslough claiming that the Alabama Legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi.

•            Left-Handed Whoppers: In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side.  Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old", right-handed burger.

•            Smell-o-vision: In 1965, the BBC purported to conduct a trial of a new technology allowing the transmission of odour over the airwaves to all viewers. Many viewers reportedly contacted the BBC to report the trial's success.  In 2007, the BBC website repeated an online version of the hoax.

•            Tower of Pisa: The Dutch television news reported in the 1950s that the Tower of Pisa had fallen over. Many shocked people contacted the station.

•            BBC Radio 4 (2005): The Today programme announced in the news that the long-running serial The Archers had changed its theme tune to an upbeat disco style.

•            Death of a mayor: In 1998, local WAAF shock jocks Opie and Anthony reported that Boston mayor Thomas Menino had been killed in a car accident. Menino happened to be on a flight at the time, lending credence to the prank as he could not be reached. The rumour spread quickly across the city, eventually causing news stations to issue alerts denying the hoax. The pair were fired shortly afterwards.

•            Phone call: In 1998, UK presenter Nic Tuff of West Midlands radio station Kix 96 pretended to be the British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he called the then South African President Nelson Mandela for a chat. It was only at the end of the call when Nic asked Nelson what he was doing for April Fools' Day that the line went dead.

•            Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect: In 1976, British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told listeners of BBC Radio 2 that unique alignment of two planets would result in an upward gravitational pull making people lighter at precisely 9:47 am that day. He invited his audience to jump in the air and experience "a strange floating sensation." Dozens of listeners phoned in to say the experiment had worked.

•            U2 Live on Rooftop in Cork: In 2009 hundreds of U2 fans were duped in an elaborate prank when they rushed to a shopping centre in Blackpool in Cork believing that the band were playing a surprise rooftop concert. The prank was organised by Cork radio station RedFM. The band were in fact just a tribute band called U2opia.

•            Cellphone Ban : In New Zealand the radio station the Edge's Morning Madhouse enlisted the help of the Prime Minister on April 1st to inform the entire country that cellphones were to be banned in New Zealand. Hundreds of callers rang in disgruntled at the new law.

•            In 1962 the Swedish national television did a 5-minute special on how one could get colour TV by placing a nylon stocking in front of the TV. A rather in-depth description on the physics behind the phenomena was included.

•            In 2004, British breakfast show GMTV presented a story claiming that Yorkshire Water were trialling a new 'diet tap water' that had already helped one customer lose a stone and a half in four months. After heralding the trial as successful, it was claimed that a third tap would be added to kitchen sinks, allowing customers easy access to the water. Following the story, Yorkshire Water received 10,000 enquiries from viewers.

•            In 2006, the BBC reported that the door to No. 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the UK, had been painted red. They showed footage of workmen carrying a red door. Red was the official colour of the political party which formed the government at the time. The same story was also reported in the British newspaper, The Daily Mail which credited the new design to someone called “April Fewell”. The door is in fact black.

•            In 2008, the BBC reported on a newly-discovered colony of flying penguins. An elaborate video segment was even produced, featuring Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) walking with the penguins in Antarctica, and following their flight to the Amazon rainforest.

•            Coldplay to back the Tories - On April 1st, 2006 the Guardian journalist "Olaf Priol" claimed that Chris Martin of rock band Coldplay had decided to publicly support the Conservative Party leader David Cameron due to his disillusionment with previous Labour Party prime minister Tony Blair, even going so far as to produce a fake song, "Talk to David", that could be downloaded via the Guardian website. Despite being an obvious hoax, the Labour Party's Media Monitoring Unit were concerned enough to circulate the story throughout "most of the government".

•            Google announces a joint project with the Virgin Group to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars - http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html. This operation has been named Project Virgle. The announcement includes videos of Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Group) as well as Larry Page and Sergey Brin (the founders of Google) on YouTube, talking about Virgle.

•            Assassination of Bill Gates: In 2003, many Chinese and South Korean websites claimed that CNN reported Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, was assassinated, resulting in a 1.5% drop in the South Korean stock market.

•            www.howstuffworks.com does an annual bogus article. In 2006, it was "How Animated Tattoos Work"; in 2007 "How Phone Cell Implants Work"; in 2008 "How the Air Force One Hybrid Works"; in 2009 "How Rechargeable Gum Works".

But, my favourite of the lot was San Serriffe.  The Guardian printed a supplement in 1977 praising this fictional resort, its two main islands, Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse, its capital, Bodoni, and its leader, General Pica. Intrigued readers were later disappointed to learn that San Serriffe (sans serif) did not exist except as references to typeface terminology.

Have a nice day!  But watch out!  Pranksters are all over the place! 

Serendipity not only happens to Joe King in Spain. When he spent a fortnight in England recently, several serendipities happened to him in no time at all.

Russian Rita

When I picked up my hire car at Gatwick Airport on a recent visit to the UK to visit family, I was intrigued to discover that it was a Ford Puma, not a model I was familiar with.

I was sort of ‘tickled pink’ since puma is the Cyrillic representation of the name Rita. It´s true! Honestly! Ask a Russian on the Costa del Sol (if there are any left after (Ras)Putin’s malicious invasion of Ukraine!)

When my young family visited the former Soviet Union in 1990 our hosts were Sergei and Rita, spelt puma.

Coincidentally, my wife´s name is Rita, so our hire car was actually a Ford Rita. I wonder if they sell that model in Russia, and what it’s called…..?

Safety gates

For the first part of my visit I was helping my son Tom and his wife Su get their Victorian terraced do-er up-er ready for them to move into with their 2-year-old son, Wilbur. My grandson.

The house has three floors and needs four safety gates for the stairs. I bought them one as a present, my brother donated two that he no longer needed and Su found one on Facebook Marketplace for a tenner.

“We also need a gate in the garden to stop Wilbur falling down the concrete steps from the lawn to the yard. Could you make one? We’ve plenty of recycled timber. Or you could use a pallet.”

I looked at the recycled timber. It wasn’t really suitable. Wonder where I can get a pallet, I thought.

The next day, as I headed into town, there was an almighty traffic jam, so I dived up a side street ….. and guess what was there discarded near a building site?

A pile of pallets in good nick. I picked the best two, loaded them in the boot and off I went.

By that evening I’d converted them into a pretty damn good garden gate. The following morning I stained them with outdoor paint and bob was your uncle!

Good old serendipity!

Sculpture park

After my stint of DIY and a few days in Bow, East London, with daughter Amy, son-in-law Carlo and grandsons Felix and Jude and it was off to deepest Cornwall with Rita, who flew in to join me. We had been invited to spend a week with my brother Simon and his wife Marilyn in their luxury lodge in the quaintly named village of Praze-an-Beeble, near Camborne. We drove their in my hired Ford Rita, naturally.

During our stay we visited St Ives, where we did the Tate Gallery and dined on fish and chips; walked across the causeway at low tide to St Michael’s Mount, in Marazion, and feasted afterwards on a traditional Cornish pasty; and visited the National Trust Gardens at Trelissick.

But the highlight had to be the Sculpture Park at Coverack, which we stumbled on by chance – serendipity. The three meadows of open-air sculptures by Terence Coventry (1938 – 2017) are really impressive.

Although he trained as an artist in London, Coventry moved to South Cornwall to be a farmer and not until he’d spent 25 years farming did he return to his first love, sculpture. 

Carrilladas

After a super week with fantastic Mediterranean-type weather, we packed up the Ford Rita and set off on the long journey back to Gatwick for our flight to Málaga. Passing through Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and the two Sussexes, we had to fill the Rita’s tank twice with fuel heading towards 2€ a litre.

We stopped for lunch at the Red Lion pub in Babcory, near Yeovil, and guess what was on the menu? Crispy pig cheek (carrillada to you and me).

I just had to try it! I was not disappointed. Different but delicious. A truly serendipitous meal!

On to Gatwick where we were very early for our flight, so we went in search of the JD Wetherspoons pub.

It was also called the Red Lion.

No big coincidence really. It´s the most common pub name in the UK. At the last count there were 384 Red Lions.

Further reading:

Joe King has written seven previous articles about serendipitous events in his life. You can read them on this blog.

Serendipity I - straw bales, double doors and a house for sale

Serendipity II - Ana Belén, a car service and sushi

Serendipity III - Two Hungarians, Joan Manuel Serrat and Pasos Largos

Serendipity IV - A Cancellation, 2 TVs, Chateaubriand and the Palacio de Mondragón

Serendipity V - Molletes antequeranos, Karst rocks and buñuelos

Serendipity on a Sunday -  Rilke, Winter Seedlings and a Pasta Treat

Serendipity on a Wednesday - a Thermomix, an Eco-Village and Moron Art

The saint who has given his name to the products sold by an British chain store, a Spanish beer, an island in Cornwall, UK, another island in Normandy, France, as well as umpteen English churches and place names in the English-speaking world.

Companies

Marks & Spencer have used the name St Michael to brand their products since the company was founded in 1884. The company recently axed the brand and saw a drop in clothing sales and an increase in food sales.

San Miguel beer originated in the Philippines in 1890 when the island group was still a Spanish colony. Established in Spain in 1953, it now forms part of a major beer group which includes San Miguel, Mahou (Madrid) and Alhambra (Granada). San Miguel is now a major beer brand throughout Spain and the world. There are breweries in Barcelona, Burgos, Madrid and Málaga.

Islands

St Michael´s Mount is an island off the coast of southern Cornwall at Marazion. It can only be reached by walking across a causeway at low tide, or by boat. It is managed by the National Trust, and the castle and chapel have been the home of the St Aubyn family since approximately 1650.

Mont St Michel in Normandy, France, is uncannily similar in appearance to St Michael´s Mount. 1 kilometre offshore, it too is reached by a causeway. It is much smaller than its Cornish sister.

Churches

Cathedral Church of St Michael, Coventry, UK

The Church of St. Michael is a parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, USA

Church of St Michael, Crewe, UK

St Michael, Cornhill, is a medieval parish church in the City of London, UK

St Michael and All Angels' Church, Whittington, Lancashire, UK

St. Michael's Church, Mumbai, India

Church of St. Michael, Štip, Republic of Macedonia

And last, but by no means least, St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, Kiev, Ukraine

Place names in the UK

Barford St Michael, Oxfordshire

Creech St Michael, Somerset

Gussage St Michael, Dorset

Kington St Michael, Chippenham, Wiltshire

Ormesby St Michael, Norfolk

Seavington St Michael, Somerset

St Michael Caerhays, Cornwall

St Michael Penkevil, Cornwall

St Michael's Hamlet, Merseyside

St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire

St Michaels, Kent

Stoke St Michael, Somerset

St. Michael Urban is a municipal borough of St Alban‘s, Hertfordshire, UK

Place names throughout the world

St. Michael is a hamlet in central Alberta, Canada

The parish of St. Michael is one of eleven parishes of Barbados

Saint Michael's Basilica, Bordeaux, France

St. Michael´s Church, Slagelse, Denmark

Saint Michael, Austria, a village in lower Austria

St. Michael's Cave, Gibraltar

St. Michaels, in County Cork, County Kildare and County Wexford, civil parishes of Ireland

St. Michael, in Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Pennsylvania

St. Michaels in Arizona, Maryland, Wisconsin and the US Virgin Islands
 

Oh, and who was St Michael?

St Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel or Saint Michael the Taxiarch in Orthodoxy and Archangel Michael is an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in 3rd- and 2nd-century BCE Jewish works, often but not always apocalyptic, where he is the chief of the angels and archangels and responsible for the care of Israel. 

Christianity adopted nearly all the Jewish traditions concerning him, and he is mentioned explicitly in Revelation 12:7–12, where he does battle with Satan, and in the Epistle of Jude, where the author denounces heretics by contrasting them with Michael. He is also mentioned in surah 2:98 of the Quran, where the Jews of Medina challenge Muhammed to tell them the name of the angel from whom he received revelation, and when told that it was Gabriel they reply that revelations came from Michael.

Christianity

Catholics often refer to Michael as "Holy Michael, the Archangel" or "Saint Michael", a title that does not indicate canonisation. He is generally referred to in Christian litanies as "Saint Michael", as in the Litany of the Saints. In the shortened version of this litany used in the Easter Vigil, he alone of the angels and archangels is mentioned by name, omitting saints Gabriel and Raphael.

In Roman Catholic teachings, Saint Michael has four main roles or offices. His first role is the leader of the Army of God and the leader of heaven's forces in their triumph over the powers of hell. In his second role, Michael is the angel of death, carrying the souls of all the deceased to heaven. In his third role, he weighs souls on his perfectly balanced scales. For this reason, Michael is often depicted holding scales. In his fourth role, Saint Michael, the special patron of the Chosen People in the Old Testament, is also the guardian of the Church. Saint Michael was revered by the military orders of knights during the Middle Ages.

Protestant denominations recognize Michael as an archangel. Within Protestantism, the Anglican and Methodist tradition recognizes four angels as archangels: Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel.

The Eastern Orthodox Church accord Michael the title Archistrategos, or "Supreme Commander of the Heavenly Hosts". The Eastern Orthodox pray to their guardian angels and above all to Michael and Gabriel.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known informally as Latter-day Saints or Mormons) believe that Michael is Adam, the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7), a prince, and the patriarch of the human family. They also hold that Michael assisted Jehovah (the pre-mortal form of Jesus) in the creation of the world under the direction of God the Father (Elohim); under the direction of the Father, Michael also cast Satan out of heaven.

Seventh-day Adventists believe that "Michael" is but one of the many titles applied to Jesus. 

Jehovah's Witnesses believe Michael to be another name for Jesus in heaven, in his pre-human and post-resurrection existence. They say the definite article at Jude 9—referring to "Michael the archangel"—identifies Michael as the only archangel. 

Islam

In Islam, Michael, or Mīkāʾīl, is the angel said to effectuate God's providence as well as natural phenomena, such as rain. He is one of the four archangels along with Jebreel (Gabriel, whom he is often paired with), ʾIsrāfīl (trumpeter angel) and ʿAzrāʾīl (angel of death).

Michael in Islam is tasked with providing nourishment for bodies and souls and is also responsible for universal or environmental events and is often depicted as the archangel of mercy. He is said to be friendly, asking God for mercy toward humans and is, according to Muslim legends, one of the first to obey God's orders to bow before Adam. He is also responsible for the rewards doled out to good persons in this life. From the tears of Michael, angels are created as his helpers.

Judaism

According to rabbinic tradition, Michael acted as the advocate of Israel, and sometimes had to fight with the princes of the other nations (Daniel 10:13) and particularly with the angel Samael, Israel's accuser. Michael's enmity against Samael dates from the time when the latter was thrown down from heaven. Samael took hold of the wings of Michael, whom he wished to bring down with him in his fall; but Michael was saved by God. Michael said, "May The Lord rebuke you" to Satan for attempting to claim the body of Moses.

***

So, there you have it. The history and tradition of St Michael and the uses of his name throughout the world.

However, I think the clothing, beer and island stories are much more entertaining! But I’m only Joe King.

With acknowledgements to Wikipedia

About Joe King

Joe, not his real name, is a bit of an enigma. He has lived in the Serranía de Ronda for many years, but sometimes prefers to fly under the radar. He doesn’t take life too seriously, except in the case of Covid-19, but even there he can see the funny side.

Spain has drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic, which are unique to the country. World-famous are sherry, sangría and cava. San Miguel beer is recognised the world over, yet it originated in the Philippines, when the island group was a Spanish colony.

Joe King likes a drink. Here’s his run-down of the drinks that are truly Spanish. We think he’s probably tried most of them in the last 50 years!

Spain has its world-famous drinks, as well as others that you never see in other countries, except in a specialist wine merchant.

The most famous is probably jerez (sherry), a fortified wine that has to be produced in the Sherry Triangle, an area formed by the towns of Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlucar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María in the province of Cádiz, Andalucía. The name sherry is a corruption of the Spanish word for this drink, jerez. Sherry became popular with the British to the extent that British wine merchants invested in the bodegas which produce the sherry. Names like Osborne and Sandeman are two examples of British sherry producers based in Jerez de la Frontera.

There are several different types of sherry, ranging from the dry fino of Jerez and its cousin manzanilla from Sanlúcar, through medium amontillado to the sweet oloroso. Pedro Ximénez is another style based on the Pedro Ximénez grape. The most famous fino is , of course, Tío Pepe from the house of González Byass. Tío Pepe (in English, “Uncle Joe”) was named after one of the founders’ uncles.

Almost as famous is sangría, particularly popular with British tourists on the costas and/or in the island resorts of the Balearics and the Canaries. This is a potentially lethal cocktail of red wine, brandy and citrus fruits topped up with lemonade and lots of ice cubes. Very thirst-quenching but with a high alcohol content.

Cava, the Spanish equivalent of champagne, and in my opinion much nicer to drink than the over-priced French vino espumante, is also famous. One brand in particular, Freixenet, is sold throughout Europe, if not the world.

San Miguel beer is probably the most famous of the Spanish lagers. Originating in the former Spanish colony of the Philippines, it is now manufactured in a number of places in Spain, as well as under licence in other countries.

The cuba libre, brandy and coke, is also famous, but arguably originated in Cuba, hence its name.

Remaining with alcoholic drinks, a couple are numbers-based. Cuarenta y tres (43) is a licor, much loved by the ladies, and Ciento tres (103) is a brand of Spanish coñac.

Amongst wines, the name immediately recognised and associated with Spain is rioja, named after the tiny region in northern Spain where it originates. Rioja, tinto or blanco is still very popular, especially abroad, but in Spain it is being marginalised more and more by wines from Ribera del Duero in the area around the Duero River in northern Spain close to Portugal.

Here in the Serranía de Ronda, there are more than 20 small bodegas which produce high quality wines, many of which have been awarded the coveted Sierras de Málaga denominación de origen (appellation, as we say in English and French). Where we live is right in the middle of this wine zone.

A slightly sparkling white wine unique to the Basque Country is chacolí. It is delicious, so you need to watch out you don’t overindulge. Also from the north of Spain, but further west in Asturias, there is sidra (cider). I’m from cider country in Devon and scrumpy was the tipple of my youth, but I can honestly say that sidra natural de Asturias is better.

Some Spaniards who want to show off like to order an expensive single malt whisky, like Glenfiddich 18 years or Cardhu 12 años and drown it in coke. Excuse me! What’s that all about? If that were my kind of drink it’d be a large dash of whisky DYC with coke for me. You’d save a fortune and I bet you couldn’t tell the difference.

Coffee is the dominant hot beverage, although you can get infusiones (teas) too. One is manzanilla (the same name as the dry sherry from Sanlúcar). I kid you not, but a few years ago in the local hotel I ordered “una manzanilla, porfa” (I prefer it to fino). Imagine my surprise when I was served a cup of hot water with a teabag in it!

Un café con leche, un café solo, un cafelito, un cortado, un sol y sombra, un manchado, even sin cafeína are some of the different styles of coffee available. And so cheap, between 1€ and 1.50€ round these parts. More expensive on the coast, of course. You can read more about coffee here.

Many a Spaniard likes a shot of alcohol with his coffee, even in the mornings! Anything is available, but the most popular are anís, coñac, pacharán, miura or orujo. At breakfast time most opt for a small version, un chupito, which costs the same as the coffee.

Have you come across horchata and granizado? Horchata de chufa (tigernut) looks like milk but isn’t. You drink it cold and it’s rather delicious. La chufa is a superfood containing a huge quantity of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphorous and zinc. La horchata contains neither phosphates nor glucose. It is rich in vitamins C and E. And it’s vegan!

Granizado is a drink of crushed ice flavoured with concentrated fruit syrup. We discovered it after we’d toured the film studios in the Almería desert many years ago and got a bit of sunstroke. It was the only drink that got anywhere near quenching our raging thirsts and re-hydrating us.

And cacalao? It’s a chocolate drink much loved by kids. You can drink it cold or hot.

The ladies who lunch and don’t want to get sozzled on gin tónica have discovered a non-alcoholic gin called Gin Sin.

What’s the correct way of ordering una cerveza? Depending on how much you want, draught beer is ordered, in rising order of size: una caña, un tubo, una copa, un tanque, una pinta. Bottled beers come as un botellín (25cl) or un tercio (33cl).

Wine is ordered by the copa, or una botella, if you want that much.

Coñacs y licores are ordered by the copa, or if you want a shot, it’s un chupito.

So, that’s my journey through the drinks unique to Spain that I’ve come across in my life. I’m sure to have missed some. Sorry!