# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/21 "2025-04-14T15:16:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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! Yes, this was my thought as well. A time-based joke is perfect on a calendar-based joke day. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/22 "2025-04-14T15:18:01Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This is the first time in my life I’ve ever heard of this. Ditto. Maybe we need a poll. **April Fool’s Day pranks ending at noon:** _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/22))_ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/23 "2025-04-14T15:19:57Z")
Yeah, this was the rule when I was growing up (mum from north east of England, Dad from central south) - in particular, if you try to fool someone after noon, _you are the April fool._ However, institutions such as the BBC did not observe the noon cutoff and we didn’t expect that they should - and thus they were able to broadcast such documentaries as the [Spaghetti Harvest](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU) and the conversion to Decimal Time and such with impunity. \*I recall one about Alaskan Ice Cream Farms too (where ice cream was harvested by shovel from huge open-air trenches), but I can’t find any trace of it. ---
**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, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/24 "2025-04-14T16:09:40Z")
Have a mod turn this post into its own OP in a thread in IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/25 "2025-04-14T16:51:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > However, institutions such as the BBC did not observe the noon cutoff and we didn’t expect that they should - and thus they were able to broadcast such documentaries as the [Spaghetti Harvest](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU) and the conversion to Decimal Time and such with impunity. Back when National Public Radio still produced hoax news stories for April 1st, they’d routinely air them well into the evening. > **[NPR's April Fool's Day Hoaxes](https://hoaxes.org/af_database/display/category/npr)** > > A reference guide to hoaxes, pranks, practical jokes, frauds, tricks, and other forms of deception. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/26 "2025-04-14T21:48:36Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > That was in _Ghosts_, right? That bit confounded me too. Of relevance, most of the characters on Ghosts are rather out of touch with current customs, some of them by centuries. So it might be an old tradition, not a current one. ---
**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, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/27 "2025-04-14T23:11:32Z")
Also of relevance, one of the characters in the conversation was a living woman who I’m guessing is 35ish. Further, a character who died in the 80’s was also hip to the time limit. ---
**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, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/28 "2025-04-14T23:46:01Z")
Mostly of relevance is that none of the writers probably give a whole lot of thought about something like that. I don’t think they were unaware of the tradition until they stumbled upon it in their research of what an old ghost would know or wouldn’t know. The writers assumed (wrongly) that everybody knew April Fools ends at noon. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/29 "2025-04-15T00:09:40Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > So if someone fools you at 11:59 am, you have to wait a whole year to retaliate? Not necessarily. Ask the question of yourself but change am to pm. As an American who never heard of the “end at noon” rule, I’d also not consider a “just before midnight” prank to be something you couldn’t retaliate for. It would depend on what it was. If it was something harmless, silly, and funny, then a response a day later isn’t funny anymore. If it was just plain mean, revenge is coming no matter what day it is. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/30 "2025-04-15T03:48:30Z")
Our family had the song: _April Fools is past You’re the biggest fool at last. Up the ladder, up the tree, You’re the biggest fool I see!_ We only sang it on April 2nd (in Minnesota), and only after someone would play a joke on April 2nd, often just to hear someone sing that song. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2025, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/31 "2025-04-15T04:42:18Z")
Another vote for this was the rule where I grew up. I don’t know of this figures into it, but if your prank is particularly convincing and the victims haven’t figured it out yet, noon is a good time to own up, before they start calling the police, or forever believing something that’s fake. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019/32 "2025-04-17T19:46:55Z")
Not only did I never hear of this noon deadline, but also to us, the April Fool was the target of the prank. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fool-s-day-ends-at-noon-in-the-uk/1017019.md?page=1)