The recession failed to dampen traditional newsroom humour yesterday as a clutch of regional press April Fools hit the headlines.

Rival North-East dailies The Journal and The Northern Echo each chose Northern icons as the subjects of their seasonal spoofs – the Angel of the North, and the Flying Scotsman.

The Journal ‘revealed’ that the Angel was to be sponsored by airline Emirates and branded across its wingspan with its logo, which also adorns the shirts of Arsenal FC.

And the Echo disclosed that the legendary locomotive, pictured below, was to be painted Tartan as part of its ongoing restoration project.

Further south, the Liverpool Echo admitted that its tale about a bridge linking Merseyside to the Isle of Man was a “bridge too far.” You can see for yourself at the foot of the page.

And transport infrastructure also provided the inspiration for the Newbury Weekly News April 1 scoop suggesting that Greenham Common could be used as an alternative site for Heathrow’s controversial third runway if the current plans are blocked.

Still in Berkshire, the Bracknell Standard and Wokingham Times went one better with their April Fool stories, each paper producing a video to accompany their spoof reports.

The Standard entertained readers to a story about plans for a nine-mile water slide at a local leisure park, while the Times featured an interview with a local angler who landed a 200lb catfish in a shallow brook.

Meanwhile Blackburn with Darwen Council’s spoof press release about a special trip Down Under to celebrate the twinning of their new bridge with Sydney Harbour Bridge failed to fool hacks at the Lancashire Telegraph.

The paper returned the joke by sending a mock up of the story on its website.

As usual, there were some genuine news stories that got wrongly classed as April Fools by readers.

One national newspaper even suggested that the appointment of Alan Shearer as Newcastle United manager might have been an elaborate hoax, but a phonecall to The Journal newsdesk confirmed that the story was true.

The general consensus on the nationals’ April 1 spoofs was that they were not up to the standard of their previous efforts.

For instance, The Guardian’s revelation that it was abandoning its print edition and putting all its content on Twitter found itself unfavourably compared with its 1990 launch of the Guardian for Sunday which included an interview with quiz show host Bamber Gascoigne and his footballer son, Paul.

Comments

The Red Postman (02/04/2009 12:56:56)
If ‘Shearer to Newcastle’ wasn’t an April Fool, the bit about Iain Dowie joining him as a coach surely has to be.

HLS (03/04/2009 09:39:50)
With the current goings on within the Guardian group, perhaps this ‘twitter’ spoof was not so far-fetched – and a bit insensitive.