Classic April Fool’s Hoax
On this day in 1957, the BBC broadcast its highly respected Panorama documentary show which contained a segment about pasta sprouting trees in Switzerland. From the BBC web site:
1957: BBC fools the nation
The BBC has received a mixed reaction to a spoof documentary broadcast this evening about spaghetti crops in Switzerland.
The hoax Panorama programme, narrated by distinguished
broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, featured a family from Ticino in
Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest.
It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.
But some viewers failed to see the funny side of the
broadcast and criticised the BBC for airing the item on what is
supposed to be a serious factual programme.
Others, however, were so intrigued they wanted to find out where they could purchase their very own spaghetti bush.
See the complete BBC article and video clip of spaghetti farmers.
Also check out an extensive article on Swiss Spaghetti Farming at the Museum of Hoaxes.
You Tube Goes Rick Roll Mad
The Rick Roll monster keeps getting bigger thanks to YouTube’s April Fool’s contribution, where every featured video on their home page today leads to… you guessed it, a funny looking bloke wearing Ray Ban’s and trying hard to swing his arms while lip syncing to the music. Will this finally propel Rick Astley’s cheese fest to the top spot on YouTube’s most viewed clip? Only time will tell.
