Fake Olympic Torch
This is one prank that doesn’t have anything to do with April Fools but plenty to do with people who just make assumptions. In 1956 runners were making their way across Australia carrying the Olympic torch. The relay was not going well. Summer rains had extinguished the flame, scorching heat threatened the runners and the torch was even dropped and broken.
But all of that strife was forgotten when it came time for the torch to be passed to Mayor Pat Hills in Sydney. Runner Harry Dillon was slated to pass the torch to the mayor who would then make a short speech and pass the torch to the next runner.
As time passed and it became clear the runner was late, the crowd became restless. When a runner appeared around the corner they cheered and let loose their camera flashes. Few noticed that the runner was not dressed like a runner and there was something odd about the torch. The Mayor took no notice either and took the torch and was about to begin his speech when someone whispered in his ear. “That’s not the torch.” What the Mayor held in his hand was a chair leg painted silver (the paint was still wet) topped with a plum pudding can. Inside the can was a flaming pair of underwear.
The Mayor took it in stride but the crowd grew unruly. When the real runner appeared ten minutes later, he needed a police escort to get through the crowd. The next runner also needed an escort to get through the crowd. The epic prank was pulled off by University student Barry Larkin who was part of a group of several students who plotted the prank. When he returned to campus he was given a hero’s welcome and goes down in history as one of the greatest college pranksters of all time.