Spaghetti-tree hoax

The Spaghetti Tree is a fictional tree and the subject of a humorous documentary ( mockumentary ) the BBC.

The short film was broadcast in the BBC's Panorama program on April 1, 1957, shows an alleged spaghetti harvest in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The then -known radio and television spokesman Richard Dimbleby commented on the scenes shown and told, among other things from the Spaghetti industry in Switzerland and Italy, the concerns of farmers due to eventual late frost in March and the particularly good harvest because of the mild winter and the disappearance of the spaghetti weevil. The film was shot in St Albans (England) and in Switzerland.

It was this to be an April Fools joke. About eight million viewers watched the show and hundreds of them then called in to the BBC to ask whether spaghetti really would grow on trees; other even wanted to know how they could grow these themselves. In the 1950s spaghetti was not an everyday occurrence in England and were considered exotic delicacy that was known mainly in the form of canned food with tomato sauce.