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April as well as being the first full month of spring is a month peppered with events. April opens its doors with April Fool’s Day on the 1st, a day which marks a time when we followed France and changed our calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian. Read more about that below. Then on the 21st it is Queen Elizabeth II birthday when she celebrates her 90th birthday. On the 23rd it is St George’s Day, England’s Patron Saint, famous so legend goes for slaying a dragon. The month also plays host to the London Marathon. Now in its 34 year, the 26.2 mile course attracts almost 38,000 people many of whom run for charity.
We have developed some fun activities for you to try during April so we hope you will give them a go and enjoy the month ahead.
April Fool’s Day – 1st April
April Fools’ Day, sometimes called All Fools’ Day, is one of the most light-hearted days of the year. Although the day has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery. Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar where the year started on 1st April to the Gregorian calendar with the year starting on the 1st January . People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the New Year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.
One of the most famous hoaxes was made by the BBC. On April 1, 1957 the British news show Panorama broadcast a three-minute segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the show’s highly respected anchor, discussing the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched video footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets.
The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax generated an enormous response with hundreds of people phoning the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. The reply from the BBC was to “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”
We are not suggesting you try to grow a spaghetti tree but we do think you will thoroughly enjoy making and then eating our Cup O’Worms. Try out our recipe for yourself.
Queen Elizabeth II Birthday – 21st April
This year Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her 90th birthday. The Queen celebrates two birthdays each year: her actual birthday on 21 April and her official birthday on a Saturday in June. Official celebrations to mark a Sovereigns’ birthday have often been held on a day other than the actual birthday, particularly when the actual birthday has not been in the summer. King Edward VII, for example, was born on 9 November, but his official birthday was marked throughout his reign in May or June when there was a greater likelihood of good weather for the Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping the Colour.
The Queen usually spends her actual birthday privately although this year there is to be a “party” for 7,000 guests held at Home Park, Windsor Castle. Each birthday is also marked publicly by gun salutes in central London at midday: a 41 gun salute in Hyde Park, a 21 gun salute in Windsor Great Park and a 62 gun salute at the Tower of London. On her official birthday, Her Majesty is joined by other members of the Royal Family at the spectacular Trooping the Colour parade which moves between Buckingham Palace, The Mall and Horse Guards’ Parade.
To mark the occasion we have created a step by step guide to creating your own coat of arms to include the shapes on the shield, the colours and the motto. The Queens coat of arms has evolved over many years and reflects the history of the Monarchy and of the country. We hope you enjoy thinking about and creating your very own coat of arms.
St George’s Day – 23rd April
St George’s Day in England remembers St George, England’s patron saint. The anniversary of his death, which is on April 23, is seen as England’s national day.
Very little is known about St. George’s life, but it is thought he was a high ranking officer in the Roman army who was killed in around AD 303. It seems that the Emperor Diocletian had St. George tortured to make him deny his faith in Christ. However despite some of the most terrible torture even for that time, St George showed incredible courage and faith and was finally beheaded near Lydda in Palestine. He is buried in the town of Lod in Israel.
King Edward III made him the Patron Saint of England when he formed the Order of the Garter in 1350.
The most widely recognized symbol of St George’s Day is St George’s cross. This is a red cross on a white background, which is often displayed as a flag. It is used as England’s national flag, forming part of the Union Flag, the national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
In honour of St George, we have created a word search for you to enjoy.
London Marathon – 24th April
The London Marathon has very humble roots, starting from a conversation which took place in a London pub between two runners called John Disley and Chris Brasher.
The Dysart Arms next to Richmond Park is the home of the Ranelagh Harriers running club, and on Wednesday night’s runners drift in and talk over pints of bitter. One night, the talk was of the New York Marathon – a marathon with a buzzing atmosphere and spectators who don’t let you give up.
Several club members had competed in the 1978 New York City Marathon and never tired of talking about it. After several weeks of listening to these stories, Brasher and Disley decided to see the New York Marathon for themselves. They did some training and entered the 1979 race. On returning home from completing the New York marathon, Brasher wrote an article for The Observer called ‘The World’s Most Human Race’, in which he said “You must believe that the human race can be one joyous family, working together, laughing together, and achieving the impossible”.
Disley and Brasher set about gathering support for a marathon to take place in Britain’s capital city, London. After years of discussion, arbitration and negotiation the first London Marathon was held on 29 March 1981. 20,000 people submitted applications, 7,747 were accepted and there were 6,255 finishers. Since then the race has grown in size, stature and popularity with over 38,000 entrants in 2015. Now established among the major events in the sporting calendar, the London Marathon is shown on television in nearly 200 countries around the world with almost 700,000 spectators lining the streets. Since the first race in 1981, a total of 964,333 runners have completed the London Marathon.
Whether you are going down to London, or intend watching the race on TV, we hope you enjoy watching this amazing spectacle. You never know, you may even be inspired to get a little fitter yourself.
Originally written 1 April 2016