You know, a lot of people actually believed that this was real when it was first broadcast. But what has to be remembered is that the British diet was for many years very limited, and the food rationing that was a necessity during WW2 did not end in Britain until 1954.

'Foreign' food was a rarity in Britain when I was growing up in the late 60s and 70s and I didn't even know that spaghetti came dried in packets until I was about 15. The only spaghetti I knew came in a tin, with sugary, vinegary tomato sauce, and it was served on toast.

So it's not altogether surprising that people fell for the 'spaghetti harvest' trick, which was a BBC April Fool.