The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

April 1, 1957

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest. Robert Couse-Baker from Sacramento, California, CC BY 2.0
Image: Robert Couse-Baker from Sacramento, California, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On 1 April 1957 the BBC current-affairs programme Panorama aired a three-minute report about a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees. Many viewers, in a Britain where pasta was still unusual, called in asking how to grow their own. It is often called one of the most famous April Fools' Day hoaxes of all time.

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