A recent British Airways’ travel survey, which polled travelers in Europe and South Africa to gauge how knowledgeable they were about London, has revealed that Port Elizabethans are the least gullible about London trivia, while Bloemfonteiners are most knowledgeable about sports and leisure.
A few other surprising results came from the survey.
The windy city’s wise residents weren’t duped into thinking that London has the world’s highest rainfall, all Brits take tea at four o’clock every day, buses are red because it’s the Queen’s favourite colour and other whimsical nonsense.
On the other hand, many Bloemfonteiners were prepared to believe these and other misconceptions, including that Coco Chanel’s logo is displayed on Westminster lampposts as a romantic gesture and black cabs are free between 12pm and 3pm on Sundays.
But when it came to sporting questions such as whether Arsenal was a London side or the name of Chelsea’s home ground, the Free Staters excelled, demonstrating a sporting knowledge that exceeded their peers from Port Elizabeth as well as Pretoria, Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Capetonians came a close second in terms of their general knowledge about London, but fared poorly on the sports questions. Durbanites knew the least about sport.
The airline commissioned the survey amongst 4 000 travelers in France, Italy, Sweden, Belgium and South Africa to gauge how knowledgeable they were about London.
Big Ben was the attraction which the overwhelming majority of respondents associated with Britain’s capital.
“Surprisingly we found that despite living furthest away, South Africans knew much more about London’s history, geography and sport than many of their European counterparts,” says Sue Petrie, British Airways commercial manager for Southern Africa. – Meropa Communications
