# April Fool’s Day ends at noon in the UK? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019 "2025-04-14T02:25:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/1 "2025-04-14T02:25:12Z")
In a show I’m watching, which takes place in the UK, two characters plan April Fool’s Day shenanigans. One reminds the other, “until mid-day, anything goes.” I’m not aware of any time limit on April Fool’s Day shenanigans here in the States. Is this a thing in Old Blighty? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/2 "2025-04-14T02:29:14Z")
> **[April Fools Day 1st April](https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/April-Fools-Day-1st-April/)** > > April Fool's Day is celebrated on April 1st each year with pranks, tricks and cries of 'April Fool'! > For example, traditionally on April Fool’s Day all pranks are supposed to stop at 12 noon sharp, with anyone playing a joke after midday then considered the ‘April Fool’. Ya learn something new every day. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/3 "2025-04-14T03:17:04Z")
That was in _Ghosts_, right? That bit confounded me too. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/4 "2025-04-14T04:09:38Z")
Yes, Ghosts! ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/5 "2025-04-14T04:16:43Z")
I recall hearing of the deadline from my grandparents. This was in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/6 "2025-04-14T05:16:43Z")
This was “common knowledge” where I grew up in the U.S., both at home and at school (so it wasn’t just a weird thing in our family.) ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/7 "2025-04-14T06:38:25Z")
I was a kid in Germany in the eighties. I also remember a rule that April’s Fools pranks had to take place before noon. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/8 "2025-04-14T06:41:24Z")
I never heard this rule growing up (1960 -70s, California SF Bay Area). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/9 "2025-04-14T07:04:40Z")
Same here in Canada: April Fools’ pranks were to end at noon. Apparently, nobody told my mother, who would play pranks on her co-workers all day long. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/10 "2025-04-14T07:17:45Z")
TBF, I suspect most British people aren’t aware of this rule. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/11 "2025-04-14T07:48:56Z")
Ditto in Oz ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/12 "2025-04-14T08:07:12Z")
Yes, i remember hearing this. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/13 "2025-04-14T08:12:37Z")
I’m British (Scottish) and it was the rule when I was a kid, and AFAIK now. At the time, I pegged it as joyless adults choking off kids’ one day of fun and frolic, cruelly guillotining what could be a day of delight and frivolity in order to maintain their positions of authority as the makers and arbiters of rules. Nowadays, bracing myself for kids’ (and adults’) witless, aggravating and occasionally dangerous attempts at practical jokes which are about as funny as stepping in dog shit. I realise that I was completely right. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/14 "2025-04-14T08:33:43Z")
As an Australian schoolkid in the 60s I remember that was some sort of principle, because once I tried to plot revenge on a fooler and was told that if I left it until lunchtime I’d pass the time limit and be in trouble. I thought that was just a school rule so kids wouldn’t spend the entire day tormenting each other. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/15 "2025-04-14T09:43:00Z")
The time limit is a thing here in South Africa, but not everyone know it, especially younger people. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/16 "2025-04-14T10:02:56Z")
It traditionally ends at midday in Zimbabwe and South Africa, after which one makes unashamed fun of those who were fooled. Both countries have a history of British colonialism ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/17 "2025-04-14T11:26:10Z")
This is the first time in my life I’ve ever heard of this. My first thought was that this was _itself_ an April Fool’s gag, in two parts: 1.) Tell the “mark” that April Fools gags had to end at noon 2.) Hit your unsuspecting mark with a gag at 1PM APRIL FOOLS! (and not on you, for doing something after noon) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/18 "2025-04-14T14:27:26Z")
So if someone fools you at 11:59 am, you have to wait a whole year to retaliate? We don’t have that kind of patience in California. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/19 "2025-04-14T14:56:50Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Same here in Canada: April Fools’ pranks were to end at noon. I’m also Canadian, and I think I was an adult (in the '90s or later) before I heard of the idea that pranks have to be done before noon. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/20 "2025-04-14T14:59:22Z")
Canadian here. Yes, always heard pranks ended at noon. I always suspectedd that this rule was an invention of teachers who may have had enough by the time lunch hour came around. Full disclosure - my mom was a teacher! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019.md?page=2)