The Hindu : International : The most cultured Europeans

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 20, 2005

International

International

The most cultured Europeans

By John Hooper

ROME, FEB. 19. The Italians have Michelangelo, the French Moliere and the Germans Beethoven.

But, an Italian survey says the British are more cultured than any of them. They go to more concerts, films, plays, galleries and libraries than almost anyone in Europe. But the one area where they lag behind the other major nations of Europe is sport. These findings are contained in a survey of European cultural consumption commissioned in Italy . Interviewees from countries that made up the E.U. until its enlargement were asked if they had been to any cultural event in the previous year. The British scored higher than the French, Germans and Italians in every category except sport. More than 60 per cent of Britons said they were film-goers, compared with only 52 per cent in the land of Renoir, Godard and Truffaut, and 49 per cent of Britons claimed to have been to a library, compared with 27 per cent in the homeland of Goethe. —

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