Inside The BBC’s Legendary ‘Spaghetti Tree’ Hoax — And How It Fooled Hundreds Of People
By Katie Serena | Edited By Erik Hawkins
Published December 7, 2021
Updated October 27, 2023
On April Fools’ Day 1957, BBC viewers watched a program about a "spaghetti tree" in Switzerland, and many were so convinced it was real that they wanted to grow their own.
In 1957, the BBC pulled off what is arguably one of the greatest April Fools’ joke of all time. The “spaghetti tree” hoax was so good and so believable, in fact, that even BBC staff members were convinced, and had to research the topic to confirm that it was a hoax.