San Serriffe
Encyclopedia
San Serriffe is a fictional
island nation
created for April Fools' Day
, 1977, by Britain's Guardian
newspaper. An elaborate description of the nation, using pun
s and plays on words relating to typography
(such as "sans serif"), was reported as legitimate news, apparently fooling many readers. Knowledge of typography has since spread through widespread use of computers, and so the jokes are much more likely to be spotted today.
The hoax
appeared in The Guardian on April 1, 1977. A seven-page supplement was published in the style of contemporary reviews of foreign countries, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the island's independence, complete with themed advertisements from major companies. The island was reused for similar hoaxes in 1978, 1980 and 1999. On April Fools' Day 2009 the geography, history and culture of San Serriffe featured heavily in the paper's cryptic crossword.
The original idea was to place it in the Atlantic Ocean near Tenerife
, but due to the ground collision of two Boeing 747s there
a few days before publication it was moved to the Indian Ocean
, near the Seychelles
Islands.
San Serriffe was one of the most famous and successful hoaxes of recent decades; it has become part of the common cultural heritage
of literary humour
, and a secondary body of literature has been derived from it.
Professor Donald Knuth
of Stanford University presents reward cheques
for small denominations to readers who find errors in his textbooks, but due to problems with fraud, as of 2008 they have been drawn on the Bank of San Serriffe.
was always doing special reports on little countries I'd never heard of. I was thinking about April Fool's Day 1977 and I thought, why don't we just make a country up?" Special Reports editor Stuart St Clair Legge suggested the name San Serriffe. Geoffrey Taylor designed the semicolon
-shaped map of the island, based on a shrunken version of New Zealand
.
Initially, the supplement featuring the fictitious archipelago
was to be a single page, but the newspaper realized that a larger, more in depth review would generate greater revenue in the form of advertising.
s. Owing to a peculiarity of ocean current
s and erosion
, its exact position varies. A recent report locating it in the Bering Sea
was presumably an error. On April 1, 2006 The Guardian reported that San Serriffe was then just off New Zealand's South Island, but if the rate of movement really is 1.4 km per year as published, San Serriffe should stay in the Indian Ocean for several millennia.
consisting of two main island
s and a number of smaller ones. Of the larger islands, the more northerly (the Caissa Superiore or Upper Caisse) is roughly round and the more southerly (the Caissa Inferiore or Lower Caisse) round but with a promontory extending south-westwards from the south-east, at Thirty Point
. The two major islands are separated by the Shoals of Adze
, dominated by Cap Em
. A major inland feature is a swamp, the Woj of Type.
The capital, Bodoni
, is in the centre of the Caissa Superiore, and is served by an international airport
. It is linked by fast highways to the major ports, including Port Clarendon
and Port Elrod, which both provide ample commercial shipping facilities.
Upper Caisse in particular is well served by a network of railway lines serving Bodoni, the airport and the major coastal towns, including the phosphate
mining and processing region in the north east. The main line, built by the Great North Bodoni Railway Company, had its own golf club, at Port Baskerville
.
A ferry connects Adze on the south coast of the northern island to Cap Em on the north coast of the southern island and there were plans to build a west coastal line as far as Gill Cameo
, but it is not known if this line was completed.
Possibly because of its reportedly remote and shifting location, the full history of San Serriffe has never been adequately told, but these basic details are known.
The native people of San Serriffe are known as the Flong
. The dominant group are of European stock, the descendants of colonists, known as colons
. There is also a large mixed-race group, known as semi-colons. In the last available census (1973), as reported in the April 1, 1977 Guardian, the population was 1,782,724, with approximately 640,000 colons and semi-colons; 574,000 Flongs; 271,000 Creole
s; 117,000 Malaysians; 92,000 Arab
s; and 88,000 persons of other ethnic groups.
For many years following independence in 1967, San Serriffe had an autocratic form of government under military strongman General Pica. Democratic elections were held in 1997, and the winner was the charismatic Antonio Bourgeois
.
Among the cultural highlights are:
The relaxation of the islands' strict anti-pornography laws under the Bourgeois government has led to the publication of a series of risqué novels by Serriffean journalists, collectively referred to as the "Times Nude Romances".
The bitter-sweet swarfega
is prepared in various ways to create unique Serriffean dishes. Because of this, the local cuisine lacks the oily character of some related styles.
The national bird of San Serriffe is the kwote
, a member of the guillemot
(guillemets
) family.
San Serriffe has made little impression on the international sporting world, apart from their epic defeat of England
at football
in 1999. The application of the national Rugby Union
team, the Kwotes, to participate in the Rugby Union World Cup 1991 was rejected by a Twickenham
official on the grounds that "we don't have any four-figure scoreboards, old boy." The islands' annual endurance challenge race, involving running
, mountain biking
and windsurfing
from Cap Em to the German immigrant village of Ems in the Caissa Inferiore (popularly known as the Two Em Dash), now attracts international participants, and it has been some years since it was won by a Serriffean athlete.
In October 2008 Donald Knuth
established the Bank of San Serriffe (in Thirty Point, Caissa Inferiore, San Serriffe), which is an offshore institution that has branches in Blefuscu and Elbonia on the planet Pincus. He opened an account for anyone who received a cheque
from him as a reward for discovering errors in his books.
Fictional country
A fictional country is a country that is made up for fictional stories, and does not exist in real life, or one that people believe in without proof....
island nation
Island nation
An island country is a state whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. As of 2011, 47 of the 193 UN member states are island countries.-Politics:...
created for April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
, 1977, by Britain's Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper. An elaborate description of the nation, using pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
s and plays on words relating to typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
(such as "sans serif"), was reported as legitimate news, apparently fooling many readers. Knowledge of typography has since spread through widespread use of computers, and so the jokes are much more likely to be spotted today.
The hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
appeared in The Guardian on April 1, 1977. A seven-page supplement was published in the style of contemporary reviews of foreign countries, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the island's independence, complete with themed advertisements from major companies. The island was reused for similar hoaxes in 1978, 1980 and 1999. On April Fools' Day 2009 the geography, history and culture of San Serriffe featured heavily in the paper's cryptic crossword.
The original idea was to place it in the Atlantic Ocean near Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
, but due to the ground collision of two Boeing 747s there
Tenerife disaster
The Tenerife airport disaster occurred on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger aircraft collided on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands...
a few days before publication it was moved to the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, near the Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
Islands.
San Serriffe was one of the most famous and successful hoaxes of recent decades; it has become part of the common cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
of literary humour
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
, and a secondary body of literature has been derived from it.
Professor Donald Knuth
Donald Knuth
Donald Ervin Knuth is a computer scientist and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University.He is the author of the seminal multi-volume work The Art of Computer Programming. Knuth has been called the "father" of the analysis of algorithms...
of Stanford University presents reward cheques
Knuth reward check
Knuth reward checks are awarded by computer scientist Donald Knuth for finding mistakes in, or making suggestions for, his publications. In the preface of each of his books and on his website, Knuth offers a reward of $2.56 to the first person to find each error in his published books, whether it...
for small denominations to readers who find errors in his textbooks, but due to problems with fraud, as of 2008 they have been drawn on the Bank of San Serriffe.
Background
The idea for the hoax came from the Guardian's advertising representative Philip Davies. In a 2007 interview he said "The Financial TimesFinancial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
was always doing special reports on little countries I'd never heard of. I was thinking about April Fool's Day 1977 and I thought, why don't we just make a country up?" Special Reports editor Stuart St Clair Legge suggested the name San Serriffe. Geoffrey Taylor designed the semicolon
Semicolon
The semicolon is a punctuation mark with several uses. The Italian printer Aldus Manutius the Elder established the practice of using the semicolon to separate words of opposed meaning and to indicate interdependent statements. "The first printed semicolon was the work of ... Aldus Manutius"...
-shaped map of the island, based on a shrunken version of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Initially, the supplement featuring the fictitious archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
was to be a single page, but the newspaper realized that a larger, more in depth review would generate greater revenue in the form of advertising.
Fictional history
San Serriffe is an island nation in the southern oceanOcean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
s. Owing to a peculiarity of ocean current
Ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun...
s and erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
, its exact position varies. A recent report locating it in the Bering Sea
Bering Sea
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves....
was presumably an error. On April 1, 2006 The Guardian reported that San Serriffe was then just off New Zealand's South Island, but if the rate of movement really is 1.4 km per year as published, San Serriffe should stay in the Indian Ocean for several millennia.
Geography
San Serriffe is an archipelagoArchipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
consisting of two main island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
s and a number of smaller ones. Of the larger islands, the more northerly (the Caissa Superiore or Upper Caisse) is roughly round and the more southerly (the Caissa Inferiore or Lower Caisse) round but with a promontory extending south-westwards from the south-east, at Thirty Point
Point (typography)
In typography, a point is the smallest unit of measure, being a subdivision of the larger pica. It is commonly abbreviated as pt. The point has long been the usual unit for measuring font size and leading and other minute items on a printed page....
. The two major islands are separated by the Shoals of Adze
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
, dominated by Cap Em
Em (typography)
An em is a unit of measurement in the field of typography, equal to the currently specified point size.The name of em is related to M. Originally the unit was derived from the width of the capital "M" in the given typeface....
. A major inland feature is a swamp, the Woj of Type.
Transport
The capital, Bodoni
Bodoni
-Cold Type versions:As it had been a standard type for many years, Bodoni was widely available in cold type. Alphatype, Autologic, Berthold, Compugraphic, Dymo, Harris, Mergenthaler, MGD Graphic Systems, and Varityper, Hell AG, Monotype, all sold the face under the name ‘’Bodoni, while Graphic...
, is in the centre of the Caissa Superiore, and is served by an international airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
. It is linked by fast highways to the major ports, including Port Clarendon
Clarendon (typeface)
Clarendon is an English slab-serif typeface that was created in England by Robert Besley for Thorowgood and Co. , a type company formerly known as the Fann Street Foundry until approximately 1838. The font was published in 1845 after Besley, an employee of the foundry since 1826, was made a partner...
and Port Elrod, which both provide ample commercial shipping facilities.
Upper Caisse in particular is well served by a network of railway lines serving Bodoni, the airport and the major coastal towns, including the phosphate
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
mining and processing region in the north east. The main line, built by the Great North Bodoni Railway Company, had its own golf club, at Port Baskerville
Baskerville
Baskerville is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville in Birmingham, England. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, positioned between the old style typefaces of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giambattista Bodoni and Firmin Didot.The...
.
A ferry connects Adze on the south coast of the northern island to Cap Em on the north coast of the southern island and there were plans to build a west coastal line as far as Gill Cameo
Gill Sans
Gill Sans is a sans-serif typeface designed by Eric Gill.The original design appeared in 1926 when Douglas Cleverdon opened a bookshop in his home town of Bristol, where Eric Gill painted the fascia over the window in sans-serif capitals that would later be known as Gill Sans...
, but it is not known if this line was completed.
History
Possibly because of its reportedly remote and shifting location, the full history of San Serriffe has never been adequately told, but these basic details are known.
- 1421. "Discovered by adventurers recruited by John Street, an EnglishEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
admirer of Henry the Navigator. The crew made their historic landfall in the Shoals of Adze." (Guardian, April 1, 1977) - 1432–1439. Colonized by the SpanishSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and PortuguesePortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. - 1659. Annexed by Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. - 1796. The schooner Excelsior, under Sir Charles Clarendon, runs aground just east of the islands, prompting Clarendon to observe in his diary that 'the land is being eaten bye the see and raising hazardes to the Island Easte'.
- 1815. Ceded to Portugal.
- 1824–1836. The condominiumCondominium (international law)In international law, a condominium is a political territory in or over which two or more sovereign powers formally agree to share equally dominium and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it up into 'national' zones.Although a condominium has always been...
Condominium in this context refers to the joint governance of a middle ground by two otherwise sovereign nations; an example is the English and French Condominium of the Islands of Vanuatu. Travellers to Vanuatu are asked if they wish to be placed under English or French law and their passports are stamped accordingly. - April 1, 1967. Independence; a social democraticSocial democracySocial democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
government takes control. - June 1967. Colonel Hispalis seizes control.
- August 1969. General MinionMinion (typeface)Minion is the name of a typeface designed by Robert Slimbach in 1990 for Adobe Systems. The name comes from the traditional naming system for type sizes, in which minion is between nonpareil and brevier...
seizes control. - May 11, 1971. General Maria-Jesu Pica assumes responsibility for the government, and institutes martial law and assumes full dictatorial powers in response to "foreign terrorist infiltration." This leads to nationwide protests, escalating into civil war and 23 years of chaos and anarchy.
- 1972. San Serrife expelled from Commonwealth and Organisation of Itinerant States (OIS).
- 1973. Oil discovered off Caissa Superiore.
- 1974. San Serriffe readmitted to Commonwealth and OIS, and invited to join NATO.
- 1977. A Guardian feature on the islands prompts $500 million of inward investment in just 12 months.
- 1982. General Pica rescues flagging popularity by personally leading commando force to liberate the island of Ova Mata, a Serriffean protectorate.
- 1989. General Pica is deposed by cabal of senior officers who declare they are tired of listening to his stories about the Ova Mata campaign. General Melior, formerly Pica's gardener, is appointed president in 1990.
- May 12, 1997. First general election. Antonio Bourgeois swept to power.
Ethnic groups
The native people of San Serriffe are known as the Flong
Flong
Flong is a term used in relief printing , which refers to an intermediate step in making of a stereo plate typically used in a rotary press though not exclusively...
. The dominant group are of European stock, the descendants of colonists, known as colons
Colon (punctuation)
The colon is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.-Usage:A colon informs the reader that what follows the mark proves, explains, or lists elements of what preceded the mark....
. There is also a large mixed-race group, known as semi-colons. In the last available census (1973), as reported in the April 1, 1977 Guardian, the population was 1,782,724, with approximately 640,000 colons and semi-colons; 574,000 Flongs; 271,000 Creole
Creole peoples
The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...
s; 117,000 Malaysians; 92,000 Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
s; and 88,000 persons of other ethnic groups.
Government
For many years following independence in 1967, San Serriffe had an autocratic form of government under military strongman General Pica. Democratic elections were held in 1997, and the winner was the charismatic Antonio Bourgeois
Bourgeois (disambiguation)
Bourgeois is the adjectival form of bourgeoisie, a social class characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture.Bourgeois may also refer to:* Petite bourgeoisie* Bourgeois Alternative, Danish political party...
.
Culture
Among the cultural highlights are:
- The Cult of the Sonorous EnigmaRiddleA riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
- The Festival of the Well-Made PlayWell-made playThe well-made play is a genre of drama from the 19th century that Eugène Scribe first codified and that Victorien Sardou developed. By the mid-19th century, it had entered into common use as a derogatory term...
- The AmpersandAmpersandAn ampersand is a logogram representing the conjunction word "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and".-Etymology:...
String QuartetString quartetA string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
The relaxation of the islands' strict anti-pornography laws under the Bourgeois government has led to the publication of a series of risqué novels by Serriffean journalists, collectively referred to as the "Times Nude Romances".
Cuisine
The bitter-sweet swarfega
Swarfega
Swarfega is a brand of heavy-duty hand cleaner made by Deb Limited, a British company based in Denby, Derbyshire, and is used in engineering and other oily, dirty, manual trades, such as printing....
is prepared in various ways to create unique Serriffean dishes. Because of this, the local cuisine lacks the oily character of some related styles.
National bird
The national bird of San Serriffe is the kwote
Quote
Quotation is the repetition of someone else's statement/thoughts. This can be in the form of words, songs, American Sign Language, written, or any other form of communication. Quotation marks are punctuation marks used in text to indicate the words of another speaker or writer...
, a member of the guillemot
Guillemot
Guillemots is the common name for several species of seabird in the auk family . In British use, the term comprises two genera: Uria and Cepphus. In North America the Uria species are called "murres" and only the Cepphus species are called "guillemots"...
(guillemets
Guillemets
Guillemets , also called angle quotes, are line segments, pointed as if arrows , sometimes forming a complementary set of punctuation marks used as a form of quotation mark....
) family.
Sport
San Serriffe has made little impression on the international sporting world, apart from their epic defeat of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
in 1999. The application of the national Rugby Union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
team, the Kwotes, to participate in the Rugby Union World Cup 1991 was rejected by a Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
official on the grounds that "we don't have any four-figure scoreboards, old boy." The islands' annual endurance challenge race, involving running
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
, mountain biking
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
and windsurfing
Windsurfing
Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a...
from Cap Em to the German immigrant village of Ems in the Caissa Inferiore (popularly known as the Two Em Dash), now attracts international participants, and it has been some years since it was won by a Serriffean athlete.
National Bank
Donald Knuth
Donald Ervin Knuth is a computer scientist and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University.He is the author of the seminal multi-volume work The Art of Computer Programming. Knuth has been called the "father" of the analysis of algorithms...
established the Bank of San Serriffe (in Thirty Point, Caissa Inferiore, San Serriffe), which is an offshore institution that has branches in Blefuscu and Elbonia on the planet Pincus. He opened an account for anyone who received a cheque
Knuth reward check
Knuth reward checks are awarded by computer scientist Donald Knuth for finding mistakes in, or making suggestions for, his publications. In the preface of each of his books and on his website, Knuth offers a reward of $2.56 to the first person to find each error in his published books, whether it...
from him as a reward for discovering errors in his books.
External links
- Foolish things, David McKie, The Guardian, 1 April 2006 explaining how the original hoax came about and the impact it caused
- Some rough guides to San Seriffe, The Guardian, 5 April 1999
- How young Tony Blair tuned into a new type of politics, The Guardian, 2 April 1999
- Return to San Serriffe, Berlin Sans, The Guardian, 1 April 1999
- The leader's rise to power in San Serriffe, Mark Arnold-Forster, The Guardian, 1 April 1977
- Spiking the cultural roots, Tim Radford, The Guardian, 1 April 1977 - 2007 April Fools Project.
- Museum of Hoaxes the history of the hoax
- San Serriffe history with coin image