April Fools' Day is thought to date to 16th-century France, when the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar moved New Year's Day to January 1. People who kept celebrating on April 1 were called April fools and sent on mock errands. Broadcast media later adopted the tradition, and the BBC's 1957 Panorama segment showing Swiss farmers harvesting spaghetti from trees is often cited as the first April Fools prank on television. Pranks work by borrowing the conventions of trusted reporting. Today, when news is distrusted and shared fast, the same tactic can backfire.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.