From Cole to Newcastle
Warring celebrity couples and political scandal are among the UK's top ‘alternative moments' that defined 2010, according to Bing.
In another round-up of 2010, Microsoft has analyzed the top search terms on Bing as well as polling the users of MSN UK in December to reveal the top talking points of last year.
It would appear that the UK is obsessed with celebrity couples and Cheryl Cole has topped Microsoft's list as one half of the ‘most searched for celebrity couple' as well as ‘most searched for celebrity break up'.
The MSN poll revealed that for 3,000 Brits Liz Hurley and Shane Warne's whirlwind romance was the most shocking coupling up, while half of respondents thought Dawn French and Lenny Henry's break-up was the most surprising after 25 years of marriage. Meanwhile, 1 in 3 people crowned Prince William and Kate Middleton their favourite couple of 2010.
Looking at Bing's survey results, you could be forgiven for thinking that all Brits are obsessed with celebs and sex. Almost half of MSN UK users voted Tiger Woods and Wayne Rooney's (separate) affairs as the most shocking celebrity scandals of 2010. Jason Manford's sexy Tweets to fans, Mark Owen's affair and Vernon Kay's saucy texts also made the top 5.
From famous to infamous, 2010 was quite a lively year for politics with the General Election and numerous scandals. Bing's most searched-for political fall-outs of 2010 were:
- Gordon Brown calling a woman a bigot during the election campaign
- Rumours about William Hague's sexuality after sharing a room with his 25-year-old male aide
- Ed Miliband named Labour leader over older brother David
- The rise in university tuition fees
- Lib Dems forming a coalition with the Conservatives
While it might be unsurprising that the Gordon Brown ‘bigot' story caused such a stir, a third of MSN UK users thought the political shock of the year was the hike in tuition fees and resulting riots.
Laura Simpson, MSN content manager, homepage and news, said:"It is an issue that continues to cause great controversy and impacts on everyone from future generations to parents who are funding their children's education. But strong opinion over the coalition will no doubt continue to drive the news agenda in the New Year."
