1977: The British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic said to consist of several semi-colon-shaped islands located in the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Only a few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades.
Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.

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I am the guy who invented San Serriffe being Special Reports Manager of The Guardian at that time.

My original idea was to take the mickey out of the FT who were publishing long reports on obscure emerging nations that nobody had ever heard of. So I decided to invent one of my own.

Peter Preston was editor at the time and it was his decision to run with it. It was almost pulled at the last minute because of the aircrash on Tenerife in which several hundred were killed. We thought it might be in bad taste.

JWT exclusively booked every advertisement that appeared. It was personally handled by their CEO.
The size of the report was governed by the value of ads booked.

We received 12,000 responses of one sort or another.San Serriffe received mentions in both the UK and European Parliaments.

Philip Davies
Posted by Philip Davies  on  Sun Apr 23, 2006  at  05:05 AM

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Anon,
I think what Patricia O. was trying to say is not that Graphic Designers don't know typograpic terms these days; because that is why we still go to school for (I am a Graphic Designer myself and learned all that). I beleive she was referring to the people that are 'wanna be Graphic Designers' simply because they get a computer that allows them to choose typefaces and create home-made design; without the proper schooling.
Posted by Vico  in  Pasadena, CA USA  on  Tue Jun 13, 2006  at  01:26 PM

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Hi, I remember it well and was a bit chuffed that i sprung it as a hoax while several of my fellow Bristol universtiy students raved about how interesting it was.
The thing that gave it away was a job advertisement for (I think) Lunar Geologists, or something to do with the moon. The salary was advertised in the local San Seriffe currency (whatever that was) and elsewhere in the supplement it gave the exchange rate. If you did the maths the job paid about 150,000 pounds, a bit rich even for a Moon specialist in 1977.
Posted by Steve Hall  in  Sydney, Australia  on  Sun Aug 06, 2006  at  11:46 PM

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Since no-one has replied to Philip Davies' comment I would like to do so briefly as I have accidentally stumbled on this website and remember the story. Quite honestly, Philip you should be proud of yourself, etched in history as you are, along with your islands. Finest traditions of British writers and all that. Thanks for coming online and giving a bit of the inside track. Every year I dig around whatever my newspaper happens to be to see which the April Fool story is. I was looking at the Times a couple of years back and some of the articles seemed to me to be so ludicrous that it could have been any one of half a dozen.
best regards and congratulations
Posted by Ian Johnson  in  Surrey  on  Sun Nov 26, 2006  at  02:07 PM

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My Dad (Derek Taylor) was Makeup Manager at The Guardian at the time, and greatly enjoyed the whole thing.

He's visible as one of the over-dressed bodyguards in full uniform in one of the original photographs of the President. (I wish I could find a copy online - if anyone knows of one, please reply to this message.)
Posted by Adam Taylor  in  London  on  Sun Dec 10, 2006  at  01:05 PM

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I was working in England at the time, and remember this very clever supplement with great pleasure. I also was really smug at "getting the joke".

I have just found a reproduction of the supplement on a blog by Michael John Smith.

It starts at http://parellic.blogspot.com/2006/11/san-serriffe-secrets-of-guardian-spy.html with a link to a scond part.

I hope you all enjoy it.
Posted by Peter Cuffe  in  Dublin, Ireland  on  Mon Dec 25, 2006  at  05:15 PM

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Isn't that where our HQ is? Ah, well. But the point of our show is to discredit hoaxes.
Posted by Roger Davies  in  Bodoni, San Seriffe  on  Fri Feb 23, 2007  at  06:34 PM

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Hello. Matt Hand talking for the last time until my movie is released. In request to people asking when the movie will be released, I must answer to your questions. Until I get to set up my own website using the URL's name, I will not send anymore messenges pertaining to my show. This includes the Bodoni, San Serriffe HQ where the movie supposedly takes place.
Posted by Matthew Hand  in  Homosassa, Florida, USA  on  Tue Feb 27, 2007  at  09:56 AM

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Man that was such a cool hoax but seriously, did anyone really expect people in the 1977 (aka cattle driven by a superbot or 'member of parliment') to get typing stuff. God, get real.
Posted by Kat  in  Somewhere  on  Sun Apr 01, 2007  at  07:07 PM

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I was living in London when the San Seriffe holiday supplement appeared.
I enjoyed it so much I kept it, and still have it.
The only one I know which equalled it was an April fool item which appeared in a very small country newspaper in Australia during the 1960's.
The paper was the Macleay Argus ( Kempsey New South Wales), the editor - well, OK, they wouldn't let her be the editor because she was a woman, but she did all the work while the men did god knows what, printed that the Russians had landed at South West Rocks ( a local beach).
Half of the district drove towards the hills to escape from the Russians, while the other half drove towards the beach to see what Russians looked like.
Many years later she evidently said that neither group ever trusted her again.
My apologies for not being able to supply her name, although if anyone wants to know what it was I can find it out.
Mary, Sydney April 3rd 07
Posted by Mary Sharah  in  Australia  on  Mon Apr 02, 2007  at  06:11 AM

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Even Wikipedia has an article about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Serriffe
as does Wikitravel:
http://wikitravel.org/en/San_Serriffe

And this year The Guardian is offering the Guardian Book of April Fool's Day, which of course includes full details:
http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781845131555
Posted by anon  in  Elsewhere  on  Tue Apr 03, 2007  at  02:50 PM

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The synopsis was written by my late father, Stuart St.Clair-Legge. He was chuffed to bits that the story caught out the BBC who relayed it on a news broadcast. I still have a complete copy of the supplement. If there are any clever people out there (London)who could somehow scan it (it's broadsheet so needs A2 size scanner) and post it up on the web, I'd be happy to arrange something. It's full of amusing adverts such as one by Kodak inviting people to send in their holiday snaps etc. Liz
Posted by Liz St Clair-Legge  in  London  on  Thu Apr 26, 2007  at  07:36 AM

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And of course don't forget the T-Shirts that were sold for The University of San Serriff.

I still have mine somewhere!
Posted by Steve  on  Wed Nov 21, 2007  at  05:14 AM

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hey sender Patricia,APRIL 01 2004 im a graphic designer - studying design communication and TYPOGRAPHY i resent the comment that we know nothing about typography and all want to be graphic designer! and I would definatley recognise a serif from a sans serif , give US credit ,

great hoax , thankyou for the inspiration !
Posted by Bexi  in  Plymouth  on  Tue Nov 27, 2007  at  01:04 PM

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Saw this on the world's greatest hoaxes and thought it was one of the funniest things I've seen in years. Got it right away, and yes, I'm also a graphic design student. Of course, in the mid-70s, there wasn't such a subject for study, only communications and maybe journalism unless you studied print as a trade. Nice to hear that other designers are as well educated and have a sense of humor.
Posted by D  in  CALIFORNIA  on  Tue Apr 01, 2008  at  03:16 PM

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I remember it well and I think we still have the memorable supplement. I particularly liked the ad for San Serriffe Guiness - white with black froth. After a year or two I seem to remember an article saying that the movement of the sands had transported it through the Panama Canal and into the Caribbean!
Posted by Ros Flinn  in  Lancashire, England  on  Thu Apr 03, 2008  at  06:08 AM

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