People in Britain would rather go the cinema this summer than sit down to watch the Olympics, according to a survey.
This may come as no surprise to many of us. Let's consider the options: would you rather spend two hours watching Harrison Ford brandishing his bullwhip in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on a Sunday afternoon, or switch on the box to catch some competitive pole-vaulting following by an equally un-photogenic sport enjoyed by a tiny fraction of the world's population?
Does anyone really enjoys watching the Games for sustained periods of time... Or is it just the idea of the Games and the vague sense of patriotism it brings that the majority of us is interested in?
The research - conducted on teenagers and adults over the age of 15 by the Film Distributors' Association (FDA) - found that this group of people would also rather go for a country walk, have a swim or sunbathe, than tune into the goings-on in Beijing, with the Olympics coming 12th on the list of preferred summer-time activities (a holiday and barbecues with friends ranking top, just above a trip to the cinema).
I guess if we want a dose of high drama, competitive rivalry and a shared group experience to bring us together this summer, it's more likely to take place in a darkened auditorium eating popcorn than in Beijing's multi-million pound Bird's Nest.
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