I hate practical jokes.

It doesn't matter whether they're pulled on me or on the other guy. I guess it's because there's often a fine line between a practical joke and out-and-out cruelty, however unintended - which is why I generally give them a wide berth.

Hoaxes, however, are another thing. A good hoax, pulled on the public with no intent to harm, can achieve the level of a great work of art. Of course, the greatest media hoax of all time was, and will probably always be, Orson Welles' broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" on October 30, 1938. But since we're coming up on April Fools' Day, it seemed a good time to remember how the whole annual tradition of spoof news stories really got started.

The British media has had a tradition for many years now of slipping in a good one on the first of April Usually it will be found placed unobtrusively somewhere in the middle of the newspaper, just to catch the reader off guard. And, as a further stroke of genius, the topic usually concerns something that is almost - but not quite - believable; just believable enough to give our gullibility a nudge.

It was in England that the first great television April Fools' Day hoax was perpetrated, when the BBC aired rare "documentary film footage" of the annual "Swiss Spaghetti Harvest" in 1957.

This particular gem fooled a lot of people because it played brilliantly on a gullibility that was caused by a sincere lack of knowledge. Spaghetti wasn't as widely-known in post-WWII England as it is today; many Brits were introduced to it by the soldiers who were returning from Italy. It was still considered an exotic dish, and a lot of people genuinely didn't know how it was prepared.

The same still holds true of some foods today; after all, how many people know where capers come from?

Here are a few of my all-time favorite April Fool's Day hoaxes, starting with the best:

1) Swiss spaghetti harvest

Considered by many to be the greatest April Fools' Day hoax of all time, the "Swiss Spaghetti Harvest" appeared in 1957 on the BBC television news show "Panorama," and featured film footage of that year's "bumper spaghetti crop." Swiss farmers and their families were seen intently gathering strands of limp spaghetti hanging down from the trees. The announcer added, in a beautifully dead-pan voice-over, that the farmers were grateful for the mild winter, which had eliminated the dreaded "spaghetti weevil."

As a result, the BBC received hundreds of calls from people wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti trees, encouraged no doubt by the pronouncement at the end that there was nothing quite as good as "homegrown spaghetti." The BBC was ready with a follow-up hoax, as staffers told callers that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Hoaxes just don't come any better than this one.

2) Bronte Land

My friends in Haworth, Yorkshire, shared this one with me. A few years ago, during the week of April first, one of the weekly newspapers ran a front page cover story claiming that the entire village of Haworth had been sold to an American company - I believe it was Disney - and would be turned into a theme park, to be called "Bronte Land."

(For those of you scratching your heads over this one, the mid-19th century literary Bronte sisters not only put their hometown of Haworth on the map - thanks to the success of novels such as "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights" - but also have continued to be the main industry for the village, making it the number-two literary tourist attraction in England, after Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon).

Anyway, the highlight of "Bronte Land" was going to be a huge monorail, stretched out over the entire length of the moors above the village. Every so often, a local will bring up the "Bronte Land" hoax again and, with a profound shudder, show you a copy of the newspaper.

3) Nixon running for re-election

National Public Radio has taken their cue from the BBC and come up with some real dillies over the last few years. On April 1, 1992, during a broadcast of "All Things Considered," they announced that Richard Nixon, unexpectedly, was running for president again. They featured a live hook-up with Nixon at his California ranch, announcing that his new slogan was going to be "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again."

I remember hearing this one live. The only reason I wasn't taken in was that I was sitting there listening for the annual hoax; also, I dimly recognized the voice of Rich Little, that day's "Nixon" impersonator. Turned out that it wasn't just the general public that was fooled News trucks filled with reporters from the nation's major networks showed up at Nixon's ranch within a few minutes, to the surprise of the Nixon family. NPR had to announce during the second half of the broadcast that their "coup" had been a hoax after all - and for everybody to go home.

4) Free clothing at designer ateliers in Paris

I admit it - I fell for this one. About 15 years ago, during an April 1st broadcast - once again on "All Things Considered" - NPR's Paris correspondent announced that, one day a year, the Paris fashion designers opened up their ateliers to the general public and gave away freebies - one item to a customer, but you could get whatever you wanted. To add a little authenticity to the moment, the background audio was punctuated by excited shrieks from customers who were apparently getting the deal of a lifetime. What finally tipped me off in the end was when the reporter remarked that sale was always held on the same day every year - and that everyone should be able to guess what day that was.

In celebration of April Fools' Day, you can check out the BBC's website, www.bbc.com, and download a video of the notorious "Swiss Spaghetti Harvest" story.

And just remember, it was Mark Twain who wrote, "The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year." No kidding.