We’ve been taking quite seriously the idea that a huge backlash was underway against Lewis Hamilton in the UK. But maybe we were wrong.
Stevenage’s finest son has, after all, just come second in a poll to determine the nation’s best-loved celebrity.
We’d like to link directly to the results – but Marketing Magazine’s content is far too significant and important to be casually published for just anyone to read. You have to register to see it and therefore we’ll link to this BBC story about it instead.
According to them, the top five most-loved celebs are all male – with Paul McCartney winning the biggest share of the nation’s affections – while four of the five most-hated are female.
Most of the men are sports personalities while most of the women are entertainers. And the only person to buck the trend is Simon Cowell, the fifth most-hated (but he also appears in the most-loved list, so make of that what you will).
Of course, that move to Switzerland, the McLaren spygate affair and a testing start to the 2008 F1 season have all been challenges for Hamilton to overcome as far as his public image is concerned.
But perhaps none of these things have made too big a dent in his reputation after all…