Londoners sent to see the lions washed at the Tower
APR 01 1698
Dawks's News-Letter of 2 April 1698 reported that 'yesterday being the first of April, several persons were sent to the Tower Ditch to see the Lions washed.' The Tower genuinely housed a royal menagerie, which made the errand plausible to visitors. The prank persisted for more than 150 years: Gustave Louis M. Strauss recalled handing out tickets to the 'grand ceremony of washing the lions' around 1848, and surviving forged tickets from the 1850s direct holders to a non-existent 'White Gate'.
Source: hoaxes.org
Part of Pranks · Watch in the documentary
More from Pranks
- April Fools' Day - John Aubrey, 'Fooles holy day'
- « Poisson d'avril » au sens moderne (Jean de Labrune)
- 'Washing the lions' at the Tower of London
- Aprillipäivä - Finnish tradition and the herring rhyme
- George Psalmanazar invents Formosa
- « Donner un poisson d'avril » entre au Dictionnaire de l'Académie française