The BBC news site went down, interrupting many people’s ‘wake up and read the news’ routine. The fact that it was down wasn’t the worst part, though, it was the error load page.
It’s common for web developers to add silly error pages in order to make the fact that their servers screwed up a little less annoying.
This page goes beyond silly, though, and some people were genuinely freaked out.
Who is that clown? Why is it on fire? What’s happening at BBC?
The clown does hold some significance to Brits who grew up when test cards were still used on TV. The clown itself is Bubbles the Clown. He was seen on ‘test card F’, which is a test card used to test the TV signals back in the day.
This was way before most channels aired 24/7. Bubbles the Clown was a running joke in the community and was often used as parodies, which would make sense as to why BBC made him the error page.
But why is he on fire?
I didn’t notice how creepy the BBC’s test card F clown is until it appeared in front of flames 😱 pic.twitter.com/hi0iUvo5Vd
— NicLeech (@NicMLeech) July 26, 2018
Yeah, super creepy. To those who wasn’t aware of test card F, it was all the more terrifying and much less a joke.
The site is back up and order is restored, until next time. Then, Bubbles the Clown will be back in flames.