Monday, April 07, 2003

The dreaded spaghetti weevil
Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time
#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest
In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees.

I saw that! I think the clip ran on Today one year, although it must have been later than 1957 or I wouldn't remember it. Dave Garroway introduced the clip, and he never acknowledged that it was an April Fools joke, but I was rolling on the floor.

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