History's Best Practical Jokes

1400s: Thomas Betson, a monk at Syon Abbey, Middlesex, pulls off one of the earliest documented practical jokes when he hides a beetle inside an apple and convinces his fellow holy men that the rocking fruit is possessed.

1959: US prankstar Alan Abel dreams up a campaign calling for animals to wear clothing. The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals. Spokesperson G Clifford Prout appears on US news progamme "Today" to promote the group's slogan: "A nude horse is a rude horse". 50,000 citizens sign it's petition.

1962: A technician at Sweden's lone television station appears on the news to news that, thanks to a new technology, viewers can convert the existing black-and-white broadcasts into colour. All they have to do is pull a nylon stocking over their TV screen. Thousands try it.

1998:Burger King introduces a new menu item:the Left-Handed Whopper. The company claims it includes the same ingredients as the original version, but all condiments are rotated 180 degrees.

2008:Days before the US presidential election, a Canadian DJ reaches Sarah Palin by phone and convinces her that he's French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Palin fails to realize it's a joke, even when he says in an exaggerated Pepe` Le Pew accent, "From my 'ouse, I can see Belgium."

Source:Reader's Digest