A Berkshire Journal: April Folly

There is nothing like the aroma of warm, rich, soil hitting your senses on that first legitimate day in the garden to finally, finally, really put the lid on winter.

Children from St Ann's Primary School in Tottenham, London, have fun recreating the iconic Panorama Spaghetti-Tree hoax, on June 4, 2014. Tesco via Getty Images

On April 1, 1957, a worldwide BBC broadcast told of the early harvest of an especially abundant crop of spaghetti from trees that had sprung up with great vigor in certain villages of the Swiss Alps overlooking Lake Lugano. Spirits were riding high on the balmy breezes of a warm spring, after what had been a particularly mild winter.

Reporters described in great detail the anxiety felt by the spaghetti farmer, should there happen to be a late frost, which would put a quick end to the bounty. They went on (to sounds of mandolin and folk accordion playing in the background) to show the different harvesting methods employed by various family-run spaghetti orchards.