Panorama, the BBC's revered documentary strand, ran an investigation of the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland on this day.

The program, hosted by the unimpeachable Richard Dimbleby, followed the activity of a family in Ticino apparently carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. At one point in the documentary, Dimbelby explained that the harvest each year is a tense event as there is a danger of a frost which can damage the spaghetti's taste.

Women were seen carefully removing the spaghetti from trees and then laying it down in the sun to dry.

At the time spaghetti was not widely used in Britain. The reactions ranged from disgust that the august institution of Panorama would lend itself to such a hoax, to requests from viewers interested in getting their own spaghetti bush...

Top Ten Laughs: April Fools Hoaxes.