TELEVISION IN DENMARK

When I was young, not everybody had a television; and those that did were often only black and white. Now, however, everybody in the rich world expects to have a television.

Until today, though, I did not realise just how many televisions there were in circulation. In Denmark, 85% of households have not just a television, but a flat-screen television; fully 50% of households have two or more of them. The first figure has doubled in the past five years, the second has quadrupled. At this rate, every single Dane will have their own flat-screen TV by 2020.

Whether that is a good thing is, of course, a moot point. But it does make for good sports watching. The combination of the world handball championships from Spain, tennis from the Australian Open, and football from the Premier League was my diet today. And a good one it was too.

Walter Blotscher