Did anyone fake you out yesterday? It doesn't seem that April Fool's Day pranks are as prevalent as they once were. I have to figure that part of this gap in our date-inspired salt-and-sugar swapping and offering of binoculars that leave black eyes on the hapless victim or a rousing cup of cheer served in a dribble glass is owing to our constant fear of being sued back to the Stone Age, the days when Ogg would clobber his neighbor Nogg with a rock to the noggin every 4/1. One day, as Ogg stood outside of his cave giggling wildly, Nogg responded with a sheaf of papers filed by Writt, the first attorney, who had just appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. That's when the fun began to wane.
On English television ("the telly") there used to be a news show (a "newsy showy") called Panorama. On April 1, 1957 that show broadcast a segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. Partially-stunned viewers were told that the crop had come in so well that year because of an unusually mild winter and the “virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil.“ The audience heard anchor Richard Dimbleby (ever heard a more English-sounding name?) talking about the magnificent spaghetti crop as the show rolled video footage of a Swiss family 
pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and carefully placing it into baskets. “For those who love this dish, there’s nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti,“ said Dimbleby, with a straight face, as he closed the show by repeating the date.
There were two immediate results of this gag. First, people all over the British Isles and their allied territories, including the Gilligan Islands, rushed to fill out paperwork to have their names legally changed to "Richard Dimbleby," in hopes that Charles Dickens IV would write a book about their hardscrabble childhoods. Also, hundreds of viewers called the BBC to find out how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. They were given this official answer by the BBC's official horticulturist, Richard Dimbleby-Applebee, “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.“
This is still considered the #1 televised hoax of all time, rivalled only by the time George Bush went on tv and convinced millions of people that the mission was accomplished.
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Coming tomorrow - Pancake Update #3 - a scene from that new movie called "He Just Won't Give Up!"
pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and carefully placing it into baskets. “For those who love this dish, there’s nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti,“ said Dimbleby, with a straight face, as he closed the show by repeating the date.
1 comment:
Interesting - but what about the Martians???? I know that wasn't an April Fool's gag, but it was a good one. My friends and I waited and waited for those little green men! HAHA!
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