The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

瑞士面条树

Spaghetti harvest1957: The respected BBC news showPanorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and thevirtual elimination¹ of the dreaded² spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmerswere enjoying a bumper³ spaghetti crop. It accompanied thisannouncement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands⁴ ofspaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers weretaken in. Many called the BBC want to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To thisthe BBC diplomatically replied, "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for thebest."

1957年愚人节BBC新闻中说，瑞士的面条树大丰收，农民都在树上收割面条。大量观众上当受骗，打电话来咨询面条树的种植方法。BBC对此的回复是：把一根面条插在番茄酱里，然后就等着吧。

Sidd Finch⁵

虚拟棒球天才

Sidd Finch1985: Sports Illustrated⁶ published a story about a new rookie pitcher⁷ who planned toplay for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mphwith pinpoint⁸ accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finchhad never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in aTibetan monastery⁹ under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milara spa." Mets fanscelebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustratedwas flooded with requests for more information. In reality this legendary¹⁰ player only existed in theimagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton。

1985年愚人节，运动画刊杂志发布一条假消息，称一个名为Sidd Finch的新人棒球投球手，能投出168mph时速的球，比当时记录高出65mph;而且这位新人之前都没有玩过棒球!他在一个西藏的寺庙里学会了投球的艺术。大批棒球粉丝因此被骗。其实这个只是文章作者瞎编的。

Instant Color TV

即时彩色电视

Image1962: In 1962 there was only one TV channel in Sweden, and it broad castin black andwhite. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that,thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. Allthey had to do was pull a nylon¹¹ stocking over their TV screen. Stensson proceeded todemonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts onlycommenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

1962年愚人节，当时瑞典还只有一个电视频道，而且是黑白的。电视台的技术人员当天在新闻中说，彩色电视已经研发成功，用户只需拿一双尼龙袜盖在电视屏幕上就行。还真有人信了。

The Taco Liberty Bell

塔可自由钟

Taco Liberty Bell1996: The Taco Bell Corporation announced it had bought the Liberty Bell andwas renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged¹² citizens called the National HistoricPark in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were onlycalmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line ofthe day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinkingon his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known, hesaid, as the Ford¹³ Lincoln Mercury Memorial。

1996年愚人节，塔可钟快餐公司说他们买下了美国费城独立厅的大钟，并重命名为塔可自由钟。愤怒的市民打电话给费城的国家历史公园，要求确认这个消息。几小时后塔可钟快餐公司承认这只是个玩笑。当天最乌龙的事件还不在此。白宫记者会秘书Mike McCurry被问到这件事时，随机应变回答说，林肯纪念碑也被卖了，现在被命名为福特水星汽车纪念碑。

San Serriffe

虚拟国家

Image1977: The British newspaper The Guardian¹⁴ published a special seven-page supplementdevoted to San Serriffe, a small republic said to consist of several semi-colon-shaped islands locatedin the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of thisobscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital wasBodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers soughtmore information about the idyllic¹⁵ holiday spot. Only a fewnoticed that everything about the islandwas named after printer's terminology¹⁶。

1977年愚人节，英国卫报发行了长达7页的增刊，全是介绍San Serriffe这个印度洋上的小岛国的，据说那里有好几个分号形状的小岛。文章中大肆渲染了这里的风情和民俗，介绍了它的城市和首都，甚至总统的名字。当天卫报编辑室的电话都被读者打爆了，大家都想知道这样美好的度假胜地在哪。只有少数人注意到，首都名字Bodoni是印刷术语，是一种印刷字体的名称。