15 best April Fools' Day hoaxes (CBS News) The following April Fools' Day hoaxes are presented for informational purposes only. Do not attempt these at home. You would never think the stiff upper lips of the BBC's news department would stoop to pulling one over on the British public. But on April 1, 1957 the respected news program "Panorama" broadcast an unusual agriculture story: Footage of Swiss farm workers pulling strands of pasta off of trees illustrated a report about the elimination of the "spaghetti weevil," allowing for a booming pasta harvest. It started a tradition of fake news carried by the Beeb on April Fools' Days, including advances in the technology of "smellovision"; the face of Big Ben being replaced with a digital clock; and an astronomer's contention that a planetary alignment would weaken Earth's gravitation pull, allowing people to jump really high.