10 stories that could be pranks - but aren't
by BBC

April the first is when jokers set out to fool and the rest of us are on our guard. Here is our annual round-up of some of the day's seemingly spoof news stories which are actually true.



1. A Japanese inventor has devised solar-powered clothes which can top up the battery on an iPod or mobile phone.

2. The Home Office is being asked to pardon Anne Boleyn, 500 years after she was executed, because she was "obviously innocent".

3. A study of men who attended lapdancing clubs found one man, named by researchers as "Graham the philanthropist" who went five times a week and believed "he was helping the women to make money quickly so they could become financially independent".

4. A family of four ate 20,000 Kit Kats to win prizes worth £12,000. "We had them for breakfast, dinner and tea," said 53-year-old Pat McGovern of Teesside.

5. Joss Stone has earned £5m, shooting her into the top 20 of a rich list of young entertainers. Will Young is worth £8m.

6. A Belgian police training manual which aims to help recruits understand body language has caused a row by likening George Bush's facial expressions to a chimpanzee's.

7. Thousands of visitors are rushing to Death Valley to see a remarkable range of wild flowers which have bloomed there.

8. A tow-truck driver in South Africa has been arrested on suspicion of tampering with traffic lights to make accidents more likely.

9. Conmen in Slough are getting people to pay £400 for laptops, before handing over bags filled not with computer but with bottles of water.

10. Christopher Eccleston, fresh from getting critical acclaim and near-record ratings as the new Doctor Who, has quit.