April Fools’ Day round-up in Denmark

Some tall tales were more creative than other in the news today

If you’ve noticed an obscene number of ridiculous stories today, take a peek at the calendar and you’ll have your reason. As it is April 1, you’ve entered the realm of April Fools’ Day.

From naked yoga deals and nudist football teams to driver-less ships and drug-sniffing cats, there were a host of tall tales in the Danish news today.

Ferry operator DFDS tried to convince its customers it was launching driver-less ferries on its Oslo routes, while web solutions firm Decato went all out in its efforts to make people believe in a new chewing gum pregnancy test called GraviGum. They even went as far as making a website and a video.

Butts in the gym
The fitness companies in Denmark also got in on the act. FitnessDK revealed that it was mounting selfie sticks on its cardio machines, while Fitness World unveiled plans for a new nude yoga fitness program.

BT tabloid wrote that Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik had hired a French relationship therapist named Monsieur Poisson D’Avril in a bid to save their marriage and DanmarksBloggen broke the dubious news that the Little Mermaid had been sold to China.

Kristelight Dagblad wrote that Pope Francis was prepared to make Martin Luther a saint after 500 years of strife, while Historie.dk was adamant that Hitler and other leading Nazis had indeed escaped to Argentina after WWII.

Blue Balls FC
The folk music festival Tønder Festival broke the news that Justin Bieber would headline their festival this year and North Zealand Police revealed it had finally found a new member of its drug-sniffing department: a cat named Hank who can get to those places dogs can’t reach.

Perhaps one of the more creative bids came from Videnskab.dk, which claimed a clause in the original sale of the Virgin Islands from Denmark to the US meant that Denmark could buy them back within 100 years of the sale in 1917.

DBU Jutland no doubt cracked a few smiles with its news that Denmark’s first nudist team ‘Blue Balls FC’ was starting up in Jutland, while Ingeniøren wrote that the Transport Ministry was ready to adopt virtual reality as a way to get a driving licence.

Finally, Berlingske wrote that in the future, aeroplane passengers would have to pay a fee for every extra kilo they weigh over 105 kilos.

The Copenhagen Post has also written a wee tall tale today. We’ll leave it to our readers to uncover the sneaky culprit. It shouldn’t prove too difficult.