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Famous April Fool's Day HoaxesDIY Colour TVSome of us are old enough to remember the days before colour TV. Back then television was all monochrome. Colour TV came to different countries at different times - in Sweden it didn't arrive until 1970.So it's easy to understand the excitement in Sweden when, on April 1st 1962, they were told that they could convert their own televisions sets to receive colour for the cost of a pair of nylons. We can forgive the Swedes a bit of wishful thinking. There was only one TV station in Sweden back then. Its technical expert Kjell Stensson - a well-known and respected figure - appeared on the news programme to tell viewers that they could convert their TV sets to colour. All they had to do was to stretch a nylon stocking over the screen. To prove the point Stensson demonstrated the process in the studio and remarked on the good colour he achieved. Since the programme was being broadcast in black and white, viewers had to take his word for it. Apparently hundreds of thousands of them did. Again, if this seems too "foolish" remember that nylon itself was then still a relatively new invention - nylon stockings were only introduced in 1940. Given the shimmering nature of the new high-tech material the hoax wasn't as ridiculous then as it sounds today.
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