Apparently, the tests were done to see if teams wearing red shirts benefited more than those wearing a different colour – and surprise, surprise, it was found they did.

Personally, Mr Pendle believes referees are not as affected by the colour of a team's shirt as the scientists believe – although fans of teams who wear shirts of a colour other than red might disagree.

He prefers to believe the reason Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have enjoyed more success down the years at football is simply because they have been the best teams.

Similarly, Wigan Warriors and St Helens have won more trophies than most at rugby league through their abilities on the pitch, not because their predominantly red shirts happen to catch the match officials' eyes.

Were things that simple, every team would have some red incorporated into their shirts.

Still, the story gave the scientists involved their 15 minutes in the limelight – which is probably the reason they made the results of the survey public in the first place.


HOW many people are taken in by the ever-increasing number of TV adverts promising them cheaper car insurance deals?

Mr Pendle was prompted into posing this question after receiving a telephone call the other day asking if he would consider switching from his current insurers to the caller's company – coincidentally around the time his own policy was due for renewal.

When he politely declined the offer, he was asked by some 100-word a minute jobsworth if he would consider a switch "if we could save you some money".

Again, he politely declined and terminated the call – for by "saving him money", Mr Pendle presumed they meant, in the words of the ads, they would beat his existing policy price by, say, £30 – in other words, about 60p a week.

In other words, he felt their offer was not worth the time and trouble of him filling in all the forms involved to change from an insurer with who he has had no cause to complain over all the years he has been with them – and neither did his parents before that – to a company he had never heard of before and whose service might therefore be inferior to what he has been accustomed to.

And if people took a few seconds to work out what £30 a year actually means, he believes many would choose to stay put as well.