In 1957, the BBC pulled off the best April Fools' Day prank ever, convincing portions of the British population that not only did spaghetti grow on trees, but that they could grow their own by sticking dry spaghetti into cans of marinara sauce.

It started when the network aired this broadcast featuring farmers "harvesting" the spaghetti crop from trees. Announcer Richard Dimbleby noted that the harvest this year would be especially good since the "spaghetti weevil" had nearly been eradicated.

Even BBC General Director Sir Ian Jacob wasn't entirely sure it was a joke and had to research the topic in three different books to confirm the segment wasn't true.

The network was flooded with calls from viewers asking how they could grow their own spaghetti, to which they received the response, "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best,"

original sourse

https://archive.org/details/SpaghettiHarvest