William Horace de Vere Cole (May 5, 1881–February 25, 1936) was a British eccentric prankster. His most famous trick was the Dreadnought Hoax in 1910 when he fooled the Royal Navy. May 5 is the 125th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (126th in leap years). ... 1881 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Prankster (real name: Oswald Loomis) is a fictional character and villain who appears in Superman stories published by DC Comics. ... The Dreadnought Hoaxers in Abyssinian regalia; Virginia Woolf is the bearded figure on the far left The Dreadnought Hoax was a practical joke pulled by Horace de Vere Cole in 1910. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ...

As an undergraduate at Cambridge University, Cole dressed as a sultan of Zanzibar - who was visiting London at the time - and made an official visit to his own college. In some educational systems, an undergraduate is a post-secondary student pursuing a Bachelors degree. ... REDIRECT [1] ... A sultan (Arabic: سلطان) is an Islamic title, with several historical meanings. ... Map of Zanzibars main island Zanzibar, Tanzania, comprises a pair of islands off the east coast of Africa called Zanzibar (Unguja) (1994 est. ...

Once he disguised himself to look like prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, arranged for the real MacDonald to be lost in a cab and went to a meeting of the Labour Party to make a speech where he told the members to work more for less money. The Right Honourable James Ramsay MacDonald, PC (12 October 1866–9 November 1937), British politician, was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ... The Labour Party is the principal centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ...

Once Cole directed a group of workmen to dig a hole in the middle of Piccadilly. It took a week before public officials had it filled. Piccadilly is a major London street, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. ...

In another occasion, Cole dared a Member of Parliament to dash before him to the nearest corner with a 10-yard head start - having already slipped his gold watch into the MP's pocket. When the MP then began to run, Cole yelled for the police who promptly arrested the "pickpocket" and took him to the nearest police station. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ...

In his honeymoon in Italy in 1919, Cole dropped horse manure onto Venice's Piazza di San Marco - which could only be reached by a boat. Location within Italy Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venessia in the local dialect), the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province of Venice, 45°26′N 12°19′E, population 271,663 (census estimate 2004-01-01). ... St Marks Square, often known in English by its Italian name Piazza San Marco, is the town square of Venice, Italy. ...

Cole has also been suspected of the Piltdown Man hoax. Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus dawsoni) was a fraud which was perpetrated, possibly by Charles Dawson and/or others, on paleontologists from November 1912 until its exposure in 1953. ...