One of the most famous April Fools' hoaxes was PASTA GROWS ON TREES.
On April 1, 1957, the BBC TV show “Panorama” ran a segment about the Swiss spaghetti harvest, enjoying a “bumper year” thanks to mild weather and the elimination of the spaghetti weevil.
Many credulous Britons were taken in, and why not? The story was on television – then a relatively new invention – and Auntie Beeb (BBC) would never lie, would it?