Sloof Lirpa.

On Sunday, the unassuming semi-palindrome made its annual appearance.

April 1, renowned internationally as April Fools’ Day, is the kind of day when you should question everything, especially that which you see on the news.

However, Easter did will in blindsiding most of us, and I am sure I wasn’t the only one to fall for a prank or two.

As usual, many companies got involved by sharing with their loyal followers news of something both spectacularly out of the ordinary, yet pretty believable, and below are five of our favourites, as reported by The Guardian:

Release the Kraken!

BBC’s newscaster Michael Buerk broke the news that the Kraken had been spotted in the river Thames:

Representatives for Kraken Black Spiced Rum, named after the celebrated sea-monster, have urged the authorities to treat the spotting with great care.

Buerk said: “Experts have been searching for years for the beast from the deep, and it has popped up here in central London, it is an extraordinary sighting and I had to come down and be first to bank the story. We’ve already seen our news feed picked up by other networks around the world.”

Watch the breaking news segment below:

The passport equivalent of rocking up in the same outfit

If you’re laughing at the UK’s mission to divorce from the European Union, you’ll love this one. The European parliament poked fun at Britain’s new blue post-Brexit passports in a tweet that claimed “all EU passports [are] to become dark blue”:

Hardy har har.

In-flight spinning classes

Virgin Australia, in partnership with Virgin Active, thought some in-flight spinning classes would do the trick this year. So, Richard Branson’s airline released an advert for the world’s first in-flight cycling studio, which allows passengers to “burn calories on board during long-haul international flights”:

The Virgin Active Cycle head coach Emma Masters said: “Each Spin Class has been designed to achieve optimal in-flight heart rate and maximum calorie after-burn in the case of the Jetlag Buster and Spin & Sleep classes. For those looking to relax, the Cruise in the Clouds options provides a more laid-back workout.”

Although it’s a prank (boo), it’s not a bad idea. Watch below:

It’s great when two Virgin companies work together to come up with a really great idea. Well done to everyone at @VirginAustralia and @VirginActiveOz for introducing the world’s first in flight spin class. Will be touring Australia later this year and can’t wait to join one pic.twitter.com/cTIAxUuVZS

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) March 31, 2018

How about some Chocolate Mayo with that tuna?

In a very cleverly crafted ad, Heinz informs loyal followers how it has been working on a “top-secret recipe in time for Easter”: mayonnaise made even better with Belgian chocolate:

The tired lioness

No doubt, this one had South Africans thinking that there was some hope left for us after all.

Dropped by Kruger Sighting, the obviously Photoshopped image [real image up top] had people believing that such a thing could happen in the wild:

Got you, didn’t it?

Sloof Lirpa – April Fools’ backwards. Solid effort.

The Washington Post published an extensive list of pranks from Sunday, and you can check them out here if you’re hungry for more.

[source:twitter&wp&theguardian]