It's April 1st and you know what that means: it's April Fool's Day! You'll probably be avoiding (or not) tricks all day. I bet nothing will top this one from the BBC. A well respected news program called Panorama broadcast a story in 1957 about a great spaghetti harvest in Switzerland. The public fell for it hook, line, and sinker. The BBC fielded hundreds of calls from viewers asking how they, too, could grow a spaghetti tree, to which they answered "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."
This is the first I had heard of this, but it is classic! The footage from the original story is quite nice, but I can't imagine anyone actually believing it. Ah well, I guess I come from a much more cynical and media savvy age, but it's neat to look back on a time when a hoax like this was possible.
4-01-2008 @12:37PM doodoolemonque said... Thanks for this. This is the kind of stuff I used to love to show my kid and somehow forget to explain its a joke. Its not as much fun since she caught on. And now when I tell her weird stuff that's true, she never believes me, but there's value in learning drollery.
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