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TIL in 1957, the BBC aired an April Fools news report about 'spaghetti harvesting' in Switzerland, showing farmers picking pasta from trees. The hoax was so convincing that even the BBC Director General was fooled, and viewers called in asking how to grow their own spaghetti trees.

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via reddit.com

7m6r TIL of “Fritz the Cat,” a 1972 adult animated feature that was the first to ever receive an X rating and became the highest grossing independent animated feature of all time.
YpbQv TIL Devo 2.0, a Disney tween cover band of Devo, was the idea of Devo's Gerald Casale - when Disney proposed repurposing their material for the child audience, Casale replied that they can do it by hiring a group of children, like in The Monkees, instead of Devo playing these songs for kids.
p89Qp TIL that in 2015, a journalist wanted to prove that the media will be quick to grab on any scientific claims to make news. He fabricated a study that claims chocolate helps in weight loss, got it published, then released it. He succeeded, fooling 20 countries.
jNlWE TIL Charlie Chaplin's corpse was dug up and held for ransom in 1978.
nOeb TIL of the New Guinea “Singing Dog” - considered the rarest dog breed, discovered in the 1950s. Only a few hundred exist, and in zoos/homes they are wonderfully tame around people, and not only do they sing but they also climb trees.