Color television was a long way off for Swedes in 1962. In fact, at the time, Sweden had only one black-and-white television station. However, on April Fools’ Day, a “technician” from the local TV station had viewers rushing for the lingerie drawer in a bid to watch their favorite programs in living color.
The broadcaster showed how simply placing a pair of ladies’ stockings over the TV screen would unlock the technology to magically turn the black-and-white TV sets into color. Once the pantyhose were in place, you needed only to move your head from side to side to make the color appear.
His use of elaborate technical jargon obviously fooled many, who were reportedly taken in by the simple yet funny April Fools’ hoax. It would be eight years before Sweden could actually enjoy real color TV technology.
