In many countries around the world, the first day of April is a day for playing tricks and pulling pranks. Many of the most amusing and memorable trick that have been played on this day, also known as April Fool's Day, have been perpetrated by the media.
perhaps one of the funniest April Fool's pranks to have ever been pulled off happened on April 1, 1957. On this day, a well-respected British news show called Panorama aired a segment focusing on a supposed spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland the anchorman explained that the mild winter had resulted in a huge spaghetti crop. As the anchorman gave details about the "spaghetti crop," video footage was shown of Swiss people pulling fresh, long strands of spaghetti off of "spaghetti trees" and putting them in baskets.
Convincing viewers wasn't very difficult. Apparently this segment was realistic enough to fool a huge number of people. Hundreds of fascinated viewers called into the television wanting to find out how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. They were told, "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best." As one studio worker remembers, "The more people called, the harder we laughed."
Another nationally broadcast April Fool's joke occurred in Sweden in 1962. At the time the country had only one television channel, and it broadcast in black and white. The station had their technical expert announce to the viewers that a new technology had been created. Astonished viewers listened as he explained that this technology would make it possible to see color images on their black and white television sets. Accomplishing this was easy, he assured the audience. He explained that all that viewers needed to do to convert their black and white televisions to color was to pull a nylon stocking over the screen. He also advised moving one's head very carefully back and forth to see the best picture. Many viewers got excited, and thousands tried it. Today many Swedes still recall family members running around the house trying to find nylon stockings to place over their television set.