# ñ ñ

ñ # ñ
ñ ñ # ñ
Spaghetti Harvest

On April 1, 1957, BBC announced on the

news that thanks to a very mild winter people
in Switzerland were enjoying an incredible
spaghetti crop. They accompanied the
message with a picture of people pulling
strands of spaghetti down from trees. A huge
number of viewers were taken in and called
the BBC to find out how they could grow
their own spaghetti. To this BBC answered
that they should place a sprig og spaghetti in
a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best!
LA Highways Close for Repair
In 1987 a disc jockey in Los Angeles
announced that the highway system would be
closed for an entire month due to repair. It
was alarming news as you need to go on the
highway to get almost everywhere in Los
Angeles. People started calling in and the
California Highway Patrol reported that they
were flooded with calls throughout the day.
A representative from the California
Department of Transportation called the
station’s manager to let him know that they
didn’t like the prank!
Dogs Painted White
In 1965 Politiken, a Danish newspaper had a
story about all dogs must be painted white. It
was because it would increase road safety at
night by allowing dogs to be seen more
easily.
Read about the different hoaxes and decide which one you like best and why?
Instant colour TV ñ
In 1962 Sweden had only one TV station and it broadcast in black
and white. However, they told the viewers that they could convert
their existing TV sets to display color reception very easily. All
they had to do was to pull a nylon stocking over their TV screen.
They had a technical expert demonstrate it! Again people called
in to learn more as it didn’t work right away!
The left-handed Whopper
Burger King published a full page advertisement in the April 1 st
edition of US Today some years ago announcing that they had a
new item on the menu. 32 million left-handed Americans could
now enjoy a burger designed especially for them. The new
whopper had all the same ingredients as the original one except
all the condiments had been rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of
the left-handed people.
Whistling Carrots
Twelve years ago the British supermarket
chain Tesco announced in an advertisement
in The Sun that they had developed a
genetically modified “whistling carrot”.
The carrots had grown with tapered
airholes in their side. When fully cooked,
these holes caused the carrots to whistle.
ñ

ñ ñ Then write in you notebook a prank you would like to be published in a paper or
brought on television.