So, where’s spaghetti come from, anyway? Would you believe a spaghetti farm?!<\/p>\n
Maybe you wouldn’t believe it, but many did. Just ask the thousands of Englishmen duped by a TV special about “spaghetti farming” in northern Italy.<\/p>\n
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) pulled off one of history’s greatest April Fools’ Day pranks some years ago, airing a fake documentary about the annual pasta harvest along the Swiss-Italian border.<\/p>\n
BBC commentator Richard Dimbleby described peasant farmers raking spaghetti out of trees, while news footage rolled in the background. Viewers fell for it–hook, line and noodle.<\/p>\n
The BBC isn’t alone in the media for pulling off great April Fools’ Day gags. Some other notables:<\/p>\n
–A National Public Radio talk show featured impersonator Rich Little pretending to be former President Richard Nixon and announcing his decision to run in the 1992 presidential election. After a number of calls from distressed listeners, the network ‘fessed up to the joke.<\/p>\n
–A London newspaper, the Daily Mail<\/em>, reported that a goldfish named George had leaped out of his bowl and taken a bite out of 12-year-old Amanda Baker’s hand. The article, which included a picture of the bandaged Mandy, said George was the result of an attempt to breed a male piranha and a female goldfish.<\/p>\n —Sports Illustrated<\/em> ran a spoof, written by George Plimpton, about an aspiring monk named Sidd Finch, who had learned in a Tibetan monastery how to throw a baseball 168 miles per hour (the major-league record is 101). The alleged Mr. Finch, who pitched with one bare foot “for balance,” was supposedly granted a tryout with the New York Mets. A writer from The New York Times<\/em> called Plimpton and asked, “It’s not true, is it?” Plimpton dryly replied, “How did you guess?”<\/p>\n So, if the joke’s on you this April 1st, just remember: You’re in good company. (By the way, did you know fettuccine grows on shrubs?)<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[406,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3743,3999,4208],"tax_ctp_topics":[388],"class_list":["post-52746","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-deceit","tax_ctp_tags-folly","tax_ctp_tags-ignorance"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n