8 Listen to the radio programme and choose the pictures mentioned.
Karen:Hi,I'm Karen and this is “Fun Time”. I'm joined today by Mark Collin. Hi, Mark.
Mark: Hello!
Karen: As you know, today is the 1st of April or, as we call it, April Fool's Day, and Mark's here to tell us about three of the best practical jokes in history.
Mark: Indeed. Let's start with the oldest recorded April Fool's joke, which took place on the 1st of April 1698. Some people were told to go to the Tower of London to watch “the washing of the lions”. Of course, there were no lions at the Tower of London. This was reported in a newsletter—similar to today's newspapers—on the second of April that year. Apparently, this practical joke worked so well that it was played on visitors throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
Karen: Well, I'd be pretty annoyed if someone did that to me. OK, let's hear the next one.
Mark: OK. This is a practical joke from 1965. The BBC News Channel invited a university professor to talk about his invention called “Smellovision”.
Karen:Smell-o-what?
Mark: Smellovision! This was a type of machine that allowed smells to be carried over the airwaves. During the interview, the BBC showed images of people actually smelling a TV screen!
Karen: But I don't get it... How on earth did people actually believe that there was such a thing as “Smellovision”?
Mark: The professor did a demonstration. He placed coffee beans and onions inside the Smellovision and asked people watching the programme at home to phone him if they could smell anything. And people did! Some really believed they could smell the coffee beans and onions. Some even said that the onions made their eyes water!
Karen: I see... I guess you can convince yourself of anything if you really want to.
Mark: Indeed! Now, my favourite one. The “spaghetti tree” joke.
Karen: Oh, I know it! It's a good one!
Mark: It's another BBC joke and probably the most famous one. On the 1st of April 1957, a news programme told viewers that the spaghetti trees in Switzerland were having a really good harvest. The programme even showed people picking spaghetti off trees and laying it in the sun to dry.
Karen:That's so funny!
Mark: Many people fell for the joke because spaghetti wasn't that common in England at the time.
Karen: I can imagine!