Useless knowledge we dug up this week.
The Spaghetti Tree Hoax
In 1957, the BBC aired a three-minute segment on the Swiss spaghetti harvest. Yes, the spaghetti harvest. Did you think spaghetti came out of a box? Narrated by the BBC’s leading news commentator Richard Dimbleby, a trusted voice by the British public, this seemingly benign April Fools’ Day joke bamboozled an audience not yet accustomed to such an exotic delicacy. If Dimbelby said spaghetti grew on trees, then by jove, it grew on trees. The esteemed men on the television would never tell lies, after all. Why, that’s just … well, it’s just poppycock! What sort of monster would do such a thing?
Needless to say, the decision to tell lies on national television was a controversial one. The day after the Spaghetti-Tree Hoax aired, the BBC allegedly received hundreds of phone calls either debating the story’s veracity or inquiring how one might grow a spaghetti tree of their own. The official response? “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”
Oh, and if you’re curious: The cost of this charade amounted to a little over $3,000 by today’s standards—including travel to Switzerland. Really makes you wonder what else is possible with a bit of cash and a dream, huh?
—Kana Coonce, Wandering Wikipedia Editor