“I felt well enough to write my first letter home from Italy :
My dear Mum, Dad and Des,
I am officially somewhere else,
that somewhere else is where I am,
I am not at liberty to say,
the whole of this land
we have arrived in
is now TOP SECRET,
in fact no one is allowed
to know where it is,
even the people who live in it
are told to forget they are here,
however, the bloody Germans
know where it is,
and don’t want to let us have it
(Spaghetti).
I’ve been here about a certain number of days (Spaghetti)
and we all arrived here by certain transport
and landed at a certain place
at a certain time,
of all these facts I am dead certain (Spaghetti).
We are allowed to mention the sky,
so I’ll say that we have in fact got one,
it’s directly overhead and high
enough to allow you to stand up.
The weather, well it was nice and warm when we landed
but is turning cool,
as are the natives,
and now there is rain
every other day,
I am not with the regiment
at the moment,
no, I have had an illness called sandfly fever, it’s caused,
as the name suggests,
by getting sand in your flies,
which immediately sends
your temperature soaring,
so despite the cold weather
I’m quite warm thank you,
in fact my temperature got so high,
walking patients used to sit around
my bed at night to keep warm. (Spaghetti).
However, I’m better now, I’ve still got a temperature but it’s normal.
Next I’ll be sent to a bloody awful
Reinforcement Camp,
where all the mud is sent to be slept on by unclaimed soldiers.
So far the Battery have not sustained any casualties except me. (Spaghetti).
With the censorship as it is it’s pointless to write any more, all I want you to do is to write and tell me where I am (Spaghetti).
Your loving Son/Brother/Midwife
Terry
SEPTEMBER 28, 1943
1957: The SPAGHETTI HARVEST | Panorama
Classic BBC clips | BBC Archive
Panorama reports from Switzerland, where the combination
of a mild winter and the virtual disappearance of pests
like the spaghetti weevil, has resulted
in a bumper spaghetti crop.
This clip is believed to be one of the first televised April Fools pranks -
the original fake news, if you will.
The narrator of the film is the highly
respected journalist Richard Dimbleby.
Back in 1957, some viewers failed to see the funny side
and criticised the BBC for airing the spoof news item
on what is supposed to be a serious factual programme.
Others, however, were so intrigued that they wrote in to the BBC
asking where they could purchase their very own spaghetti bush.
Originally broadcast 1 April, 1957.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of tv to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic tv clips from the BBC vaults.
