05/29/2026
On 1 April 1976, British astronomer Patrick Moore appeared on BBC Radio 2 and announced that at exactly 9:47 a.m. Jupiter and Pluto would align, creating a brief “Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect” that would weaken Earth’s gravity.
He told listeners to jump in the air at that moment to feel a floating sensation. The prank worked. Minutes later, the BBC received numerous calls from people who claimed they had felt lighter or briefly floated. One famous caller reportedly said she and eleven friends had floated around the room.
Moore’s hoax was quickly revealed as an April Fools’ joke, but it became one of the best-known April Fools’ pranks associated with British broadcasting.
