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April Fools’ Day: This year’s best jokes, from falafel ice-cream to left-handed plant pots

Giant rabbits, left-handed plant pots and falafel ice cream all feature in annual outpouring of misinformation

Zoe Tidman
Thursday 01 April 2021 16:02 BST
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One company ‘announced the launch’ of a new flavour of ice-cream: Chickpea praline and falafel dough
One company ‘announced the launch’ of a new flavour of ice-cream: Chickpea praline and falafel dough (Goodlife)
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IThe ice-cream - “announced” on 1 April - was vegan, the company said.

One company ‘announced the launch’ of a new flavour of ice-cream: Chickpea praline and falafel dough
One company ‘announced the launch’ of a new flavour of ice-cream: Chickpea praline and falafel dough (Goodlife)

University campus clock tower ‘turns digital’

The University of Birmingham also joined in on the fun, announcing their clock tower on campus would go digital.

They even shared an image on Twitter of what the 100-metre tall building on campus would look like with the changes.

“We’re delighted to announce that as part of a major upgrade of our clock tower we plan to modernise the clock face and make it digital,” the university said.

“The famous ‘bongs’ will remain but will instead be a recording.”

They invited students and staff to share their thoughts.

‘Left-handed plant pots’

An online house plant shop unveiled a new range of products, after saying they had heard left-handed people complain of difficulties handling pots.

“Finally! Left handed plant pots!!” an Instagram post on Thursday said.

The pot appeared to have no handle.

“No longer will left handed plant lovers be dropping their beloved plants and smashing plant pots,” Botanical Norwich wrote in a caption. “We’ve used innovative new technology to custom design this unique shape.”

“Warning, do not hold with your right hand,” the company wrote at the bottom of the post. “Using these pots with your right hand may result in you realising this is an April Fools.”

Giant rabbit statue in Plymouth

Luke Pollard, a Labour MP, took to Twitter on Thursday morning to call for a giant statue of a rabbit to “welcome sailors to Plymouth”.

The MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport suggested the city should erect a monument Gus Honeybun, a former mascot for local television.

“Gus Honeybun is a legend and what better way to welcome people to Plymouth than a 30ft statue of him,” Mr Pollard said.

He even shared an image of an “artist’s impression” of what the statue would look like:

Multi-floor ‘design-your-own-pastry’ restaurant

Also in Plymouth, a local news website reported on what was going to happen to an empty Debenhams in the city.

“One of Plymouth’s most iconic department stores is being reworked and transformed to become the city’s first ever six-level design-your-own pasty restaurant - but they only do pie rates,” Plymouth Live reported.

“Nothing gets past’ee at PlymouthLive, you see, and we’ve been told on good beefed information that the multi-level store will be completely transformed into a giant Cornish pasty shop where diners can choose their own fillings, shapes and sizes,” the joke continued.

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