Beckham hero for British youngsters
Monday, January 26, 2004

George W Bush and Jesus were left far behind football superstar David Beckham in an Internet survey of British young people's heroes published yesterday. Jesus and the US president were each ranked 123rd in the survey of 2,500 young Britons, way behind Real Madrid playmaker Beckham, whose good looks and celebrity status - and perhaps his athletic abilities - scored him 132 votes and first place.

"It's slightly depressing really. What links all the names in our top 10 is not their great minds but their great looks," commented Adrian North, a psychologist at the University of Leicester in central England who organised the poll. "They went for people with nothing much to say but who look good," said North. Bizarrely, Prime Minister Tony Blair was ranked 69th equal with David Blaine, the US illusionist who earned ridicule in Britain last year by spending 44 days without food suspended above London in a glass box.

View all items