There was the legendary “Spaghetti Harvest” on BBC Panorama in the late 50s, and the Guardian’s entire Travel supplement in the 80s devoted to the imaginary island of Sans Seriffe. And these days the 1st April is not complete without an obligatory spoof story in all the national newspapers, on the Today programme, whether it be a Mail exclusive about the Queen going to the bookies or the Independent’s more esoteric revelation that the theme-tune to The Archers was to be spiced up and modernised by Brian Eno. Now, for the first time, Martin Wainwright tells the history of how April Fool’s Day first came about, when it developed into a media phenomenon, and collects all the best examples from across the world of April Fool spoofs over the years. He also looks at the effects of the best tall stories – how people were taken in – and finds the most laughably incredible stories published on April 1st that were actually perfectly true. The author will ensure that at least one story quoted as an April Fool spoof from the past is actually a flagrant invention of his own to fool the reader. In hardback this book reprinted quickly, and was advertised and promoted heavily by the Guardian in the run up to 1 April. It is now reissued in paperback with an eye-catching cover.Martin Wainwright is Northern Editor of the Guardian. He edited A Lifetime of Mountains: the Best of A. Harry Griffin’s Country Diary, A Gleaming Landscape: 100 Years of the Guardian Country Diary, and wrote A Coast-to-Coast Walk, all published by Aurum. He lives in Leeds.