But out of the rest, here are the pranks we ranked the best, the worst – and the most original.

Best

Parikiaki

Announced Newly formed Cypriot owned air company Moufflon Airlines have announced that they will be flying from Larnaca to Athens in September and by next May Larnaca to Stansted. Its a great step forward and will boost Cyprus tourism says the airline Chairman Andreas Peripesos.

In the Parikiaki sports section they announced that After the Turkish Cypriots have informed FIFA over their intention to join the Cyprus Football Association, in a move that is expected to pave the way to reunification of  football on the island.

The KOPA Football League were also in talks to also join the Cyprus Football Association and an agreement between the two Associations was suggested that any player signed with either  League will have the freedom to play for any club in London or Cyprus.

Also a suggestion has been made that the Champions and top four teams of the KOPA Football League be allowed to play in a mini summer Tournament with the other clubs of Cyprus similar in structure to Euro and World Cup Finals.

Van Gaal loves astrology

Among the sports-themed April Fools’ out there today was this classic from The Sun, suggesting Louis van Gaal actually picks his team based on his belief in astrology.

The report suggests this explains his falling out with star striker Radamel Falcao – a Uranus to his Leo.

But the highlight is the mocked-up image of Van Gaal holding a team sheet with the player’s star signs written under their names.

Limited edition Simon Cowell £5 notes

The Sun has to receive some serious plaudits for its photoshop work today after it unveiled the news that Simon Cowell’s face is to appear on £5 notes.

Occupying page 5 in the paper, the story claimed that bank chiefs had decided it would be “foolish to print more than 100,000”.

Cowell was also quoted, telling the Sun: “Having made so much money I am delighted to give something back to the country, Oh, and please handle me carefully.”

Cambridge University security guards

A key fob-protected door at the University of Cambridge was adorned with a note to trick the clever students – and according to Dr Paul Coxon “so many” fell for it.

It read: “The door access system in this building has been upgraded to include voice recognition – speak your name towards the card reader to gain entry.”

New Edinburgh bridge to have gap

The Edinburgh Evening News have a decent effort on their website, with a report saying that a blunder ordering support beams for the new Forth bridge, the Queensferry Crossing, will leave a gap in the middle.

The mock-up is great, as is the detail that “drivers will face a minimum speed limit of 30mph on the Queensferry Crossing, so that vehicles clear the gap safely”.

Com.Google

Google threw the full wealth of its marketing budget at April Fools’ this year, but our personal favourite from its offerings is over at com.google.

Yep, that’s right, Google decided to offer a search function where everything reads backwards.

The company even managed to come up with its “reason” for doing so.

It said in a blog post: “We’re always thinking about what’s ahead, but sometimes it’s important to look backwards. In that spirit, we’re proud to introduce http://com.google, available today. Made possible by new gTLDs (http://goo.gl/HolXqe), http://com.google gives us an opportunity to reflect on our efforts by flipping our results on their head (and y axis).

“So take a minute out of your day to peek at the Search you know and love at http://com.google. It might just change your perspective.”

Worst

Kim and Kanye’s huge news!

It was an early contender, but hasn’t yet been beaten to the crown of worst April Fools’ of the year – this tweet from Kiss FM.

Aside from the fact that no Kim & Kanye news could ever really be considered “BIG”, it falls down primarily on the fact that they haven’t even bothered to provide any fake “news” to speak of.

The words “April Fool” and a Despicable Me gif doth not a decent prank make.

Jeremy Clarkson joins Guardian drive for fossil fuel divestment

At first glance, this had the lot: a slick video featuring star names like Sophie Raworth and Owen Jones, a pun in the headline, a topical subject matter – even a hired look-alike!

But scratch the surface and what do we have? Apart from the fact that the look-alike is awful and EVERYONE was expected to do something Clarkson-y, this is all really about The Guardian’s climate change thing.

And as admirable as it is to encourage an increased focus on the plight of the planet, that’s not what April Fools’ Day is about. Really, this is no better than a fancy corporate “Oh I see you’re doing a round-up this year” press release.

Google Japanese Input Piro-Piro

We like what Google does with April Fools’ generally, but this offering from Google Japan is just, well, a bit too foolish.

The principle at stake – a new hands-free device that requires the user to do something silly – is sound.

But a party horn/keyboard that types a letter depending on how hard you blow? What? This would simply never work – and a key part of April Fools’ is that it is at least a bit believable.

It is somewhat redeemed by the slick product launch video, however.

Weekly shop at a whole new level

Metro’s effort at an April Fools’ picture story, courtesy of Tesco, was a classic case of someone thinking they could make an entire prank work with just a bit of photoshopping.

“Ex-Towie star Lucy Mecklenburgh tests Tesco’s new trampoline aisles to help small people reach the top shelves,” the caption claimed.

It would never work 2) Who is Lucy Mecklenburgh and 3) This does not feel very original

Independent and Parikiaki