A Sermon for Palm Sunday
Yesterday was April Fools Day, the day for pranks. One of the great pranks of all times was the spaghetti-tree hoax in 1957. That day the leading BBC anchorman began the news with a story about the spaghetti growing on trees in Switzerland. He reported that there was a good crop because it had been a mild season, and they had conquered the spaghetti weasel. The newscaster then showed pictures of people taking the spaghetti off the trees. They talked about the problem of growing each strand the same length. It was magnificent because at that time there were many people unfamiliar with spaghetti because it was an exotic food for Great Britain. People watching the news accepted this news story as true.