Five famous April Fools' pranks played on the French public

These days maybe nothing would surprise us and it can be hard to tell fact from fiction.

But on one day of the year you should be particularly aware of having your leg pulled: April 1 is Poisson d’Avril (April Fish) in France, the equivalent of April’s Fools' Day.

The normal prank is to stick a paper fish on someone’s back and laugh at them but the media often takes things one stage further.

Here are five of the best public April Fish jokes.

1. The Eiffel Tower sold to Disney

Le Parisien’s edition of April 1, 1986 told readers that the Eiffel Tower had been sold to Walt Disney Productions.

It was to be dismantled and re-erected on the site of the future Disneyland Paris at Marne-la-Vallée.

The move was to make way for a new sports stadium.

This is not the first time that the tower has featured in a Poisson d'Avril joke. 

Last year, on March 31 (the day before April Fools') Lego France posted a video showing the Eiffel Tower covered in Lego bricks, to celebrate the 136th anniversary of the iconic Paris monument.

2. Astérix’s village unearthed

On April 1, 1993, the British newspaper The Independent announced “archaeologists have discovered what they think is the 3,000-year-old home of the French cartoon hero, Astérix.

“The buried remains of a large and heavily defended Iron Age settlement at the precise Breton spot where Astérix’s creator, René Goscinny, located his hero’s well-fortified home village, have been found by an Anglo-French team.”

Oxford and Brest University professors testified that they had found coins depicting wild boar (Obélix’s favourite meal) and a collection of menhirs.

3. The Earth slowed down by wind turbines

The newsreader David Pujadas is one of the best known and most trusted faces on French television.

On April 1, 2009, during the 20:00 news on France 2 he explained that scientists had discovered that there were so many wind turbines on the Earth that they were slowing down its normal rotation.

As a result, days would lengthen from 24 to 25 hours.

4. Homer Simpson announces the trains

Also on April 1, 2009, the French railway company SNCF replaced its usual announcer with Philippe Peythieu, who voices Homer Simpson in French.

He advised passengers that “The train from Alaska is expected to arrive on the Milky Way” and “ Beware of bears on the edge of the platform”.

5. Merry Metro stations

The Paris transport people often have fun the night before April Fool’s Day by changing station names on platforms.

The jokes work better in French but, for example, Opéra, was turned into its anagram, Apéro – the French tradition of the aperitif that thirsty commuters were looking forward to at the end of the day - and “Anvers” was turned upside down because it sounds like “envers” (reversed).