So, where's spaghetti come from, anyway? Would you believe a spaghetti farm?!

Maybe you wouldn't believe it, but many did. Just ask the thousands of Englishmen duped by a TV special about "spaghetti farming" in northern Italy.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) pulled off one of history's greatest April Fools' Day pranks some years ago, airing a fake documentary about the annual pasta harvest along the Swiss-Italian border.

BBC commentator Richard Dimbleby described peasant farmers raking spaghetti out of trees, while news footage rolled in the background. Viewers fell for it--hook, line and noodle.

The BBC isn't alone in the media for pulling off great April Fools' Day gags. Some other notables:

--A National Public Radio talk show featured impersonator Rich Little pretending to be former President Richard Nixon and announcing his decision to run in the 1992 presidential election. After a number of calls from distressed listeners, the network 'fessed up to the joke.

--A London newspaper, the Daily Mail, reported that a goldfish named George had leaped out of his bowl and taken a bite out of 12-year-old Amanda Baker's hand. The article, which included a picture of the bandaged Mandy, said George was the result of an attempt to breed a male piranha and a female goldfish.

--Sports Illustrated ran a spoof, written by George Plimpton, about an aspiring monk named Sidd Finch, who had learned in a Tibetan monastery how to throw a baseball 168 miles per hour (the major-league record is 101). The alleged Mr. Finch, who pitched with one bare foot "for balance," was supposedly granted a tryout with the New York Mets. A writer from The New York Times called Plimpton and asked, "It's not true, is it?" Plimpton dryly replied, "How did you guess?"

So, if the joke's on you this April 1st, just remember: You're in good company. (By the way, did you know fettuccine grows on shrubs?)