In France, a mock feast used to be held on April 1, when friends sent each other spoof presents and practical jokes became the order of the day. This began in 1564, again due to the changed calendar. Instead of calling anyone caught by a trick "an April fool", the French say "Poisson d’Avril"—an April fish, meaning that they have been well and truly caught.

Though it would seem that April fooling was inherited from the French, it was not until the end of the 17th century that the custom really took hold in other countries. An old almanac describes the custom as follows:

The first of April, some do say/Is set apart for all Fools’ Day/But why the people call it so/Not I, nor they themselves do know.

That doubt still exists.

In 19th century Britain, April fooling was very popular and hoaxes were carried out on an extensive scale, often to private and public discomfort. One of the most regrettable ‘jokes’ of the 19th century All Fools Day was when swains, besides sending amorous gifts and notes to their loved ones, were also allowed to rain blows on the girls they disliked. As a result, very few maidens were to be seen out of doors on April Fools Day.

Germans have never liked being fooled, so April Fools Day has never been popular in the Fatherland. But on one April 1, a dummy was planted near Berlin’s town hall. It caused great consternation before the ‘joke was discovered. But April Fool types of jokes are not confined to the first of the month. They have long been perpetrated at all times of the year, and a typical one affected the late King Carol of Rumania. He saw a currency note on the floor of an art gallery and stopped to pick it up, only to find that it was a skilfully painted imitation.

Being made an April Fool at no financial cost is one thing, but to be hoaxed at considerable expense is another. Some shopkeepers have been known to prey upon the gullibility of the credulous person to good account. One shopkeeper once offered for sale spectacles which, he claimed, showed the buyer through virtually rose-coloured glasses. Those who wore his spectacles, the shopkeeper said, would not see themselves as others saw them, but as they actually were-and well pleased they would be at the sight. For this wonder gift, the price was exorbitant, but the only thing the wearers got were bloodshot eyes.

Some unbelievable hoaxes have been played on the innocent and unsuspecting. One poor American once ‘bought’ Nelson’s Column in London for 20,000 dollars from a cool confidence trickster. Before this age of space travel and moon probes, a roguish hoaxer once obtained a large sum of money from a victim who, believing his story that the moon had been found to be rich in gold and silver, actually ‘bought’ a plot of land there so that he could be rich for the rest of his life. It did not apparently occur to the buyer that he would have any difficulty in reaching the lunar surface.