Mike Gould on the Bristol & Somerset genealogy list at RootsWeb posted a funny April Fools "gotcha" with just enough plausibility to reel in many a hopeful genealogist.

"Viewers of the UK television programme "Who Do You Think You Are ?" may have been surprised at the way in which the celebrities were able to go into a Record Office and come out with the birth, marriage and death certificates of their ancestors, especially as it takes the rest of us months or even years to do the same thing. Now under the Freedom of Information Act, it has been revealed that the government holds family trees for the whole of the UK population. The BBC had negotiated access to this information, but after details of this leaked out, it became apparent that we all have a right to this information."

From there the story expands until we get to the last line:

"...we will be able to demand our complete family tree right back to the sixteenth century."

Don't we wish? Well, maybe. The access to any record any time would be awesome. But to have all the work already done would take the discovery, challenge and wonder out of the process for me.

You can read Mike's entire post in the mailing list archives at RootsWeb.