Traditionally, in some countries such as Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Australia, Cyprus, and South Africa, the

jokes only last until noon (12 oclock), and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool"

In France, Italy, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Ireland, and the U.S., the jokes last all day. In France and Italy children traditionally tack paper fish on each other's back as a trick and shout April fish!" in their local language

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes (tricks) of All Time

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

1957: The BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter, Swiss farmers were enjoying a spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with a video of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Many persons called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time Instant Color TV

1962: In 1962 there was only one TV channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display colour reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their TV screen. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular colour broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time UFO lands in London

1989: On March 31, 1989 thousands of people in London looked up in the air to see a glowing flying saucer descending on their city. The saucer finally landed in a field on the outskirts of London where local residents immediately called the police to warn them of an alien invasion. Soon the police arrived on the scene, and one brave officer approached the craft. When a door in the craft popped open, and a small, silver-suited figure emerged, the policeman ran in the opposite direction. The saucer turned out to be a hot-air balloon that had been specially built to look like a UFO by Richard Branson. The stunt combined his passion for ballooning with his love of jokes. His plan was to land the craft in London's Hyde Park on April 1. Unfortunately, the wind blew him off course, and he was forced to land a day early in the wrong location.

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time Flying Penguins

2008: The BBC announced that camera crews filming near the Antarctic for its natural history series Miracles of Evolution had captured a video of Adlie penguins flying to the air. It even offered a video clip of these flying penguins, which became one of the most viewed videos on the internet. Presenter Terry Jones explained that, instead of huddling together to endure the Antarctic winter, these penguins took to the air and flew thousands of miles to the rainforests of South America where they "spend the winter basking in the tropical sun." A follow-up video explained how the BBC created the special effects of the flying penguins.

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time Balloon Boy
On October 15, 2009, millions of people sat glued to their TVs, watching a silver, saucer-shaped balloon float through the sky. The media was reporting that a six-year-old boy, Falcon Heene, was inside the balloon, in danger for his life as it drifted out of control. After several hours, the balloon landed a few miles from Denver International Airport, but the boy was nowhere to be found. There were fears he had fallen out.

Thankfully he was alive. The entire time he had been safe at home, hiding in a room above his family's garage. The incident turned out to have been a bizarre hoax engineered by his parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, in an apparent effort to secure a reality TV deal. The hoax instantly became the most famous of the new millennium, symbolizing the modern world's often blurry line between reality TV, entertainment, and news.

Its the first of April. Watch out! People may play tricks, pranks or hoaxes on you!

Your shoelaces are untied!