Search The British Newspaper Archive for the words ‘April Fool’ and you’ll find hundreds of examples of ‘hilarious’ pranks that were staged on 1 April in the past. We’ve selected our favourites for you to enjoy. WW1 football ‘bomb’ A ‘bomb’ was dropped on German troops during the First World War. After scrambling to take cover, the men discovered it was actually a football with the words ‘April fool!’ written on it. View the whole newspaper page Coventry Evening …
Thomas Edison
On 13 May 1880, ‘the Wizard of Menlo Park’ (aka Thomas Edison) gave a demonstration of his electric railway to a few lucky passengers at Menlo Park. To mark the day, here is a newspaper report on the demo, which also contains some thoughts about what the future might hold for electric railways.