-
- Would you put a bet on the end of the
world? It might seem like a dodgy wager, since no matter what the odds,
it could never possibly be honoured.
-
- But every week dozens of punters are
placing bets on Armageddon, possibly inspired by the Millennium and the
feeling of doom surrounding it.
-
- A survey of 1,001 adults found that 59
per cent think they have more chance of experiencing the end of the world
than winning the National Lottery.
-
- Most (33 per cent) think the end will
be caused by a world war, followed by global warming (26 per cent) and
collision with an asteroid (15 per cent.)
-
- Bookmakers William Hill are offering
odds over whether the end of the world is nigh.
-
- They are offering 100,000,000-1 against
civilisation being destroyed by mass suicide. But when it comes to destruction
by alien life forms, the odds shorten to 500,000-1. Floods (100,000-1),
asteroids (50,000-1), famine (25,000-1), and war (1,000-1) are all covered.
-
- Graham Sharpe, media relations manager
at William Hill, said many people placed very specific bets about when
the world would end. "One man placed £1 on a 1,000,000-1 bet
on the world ending on August 11, 1999, at 12.50pm, while we gave another
odds of 6,666,666-1 that it would end at 6pm on the sixth day of the sixth
month this year.
-
- "I would estimate that we would
get at least half a dozen of these bets every week."
-
- John Mason, vice-president of the British
Astronomical Association, said: "Public concern about an asteroid
hitting the earth is understandable but it is highly unlikely that we will
see it in our lifetime.
-
- "An asteroid like the one which
led to the extinction of dinosaurs hits earth only every 50 to 100 million
years."
-
- Stories of a similar widespread panic
as the last millennium approached are exaggerated, according to Eric Christiansen,
lecturer in medieval Europe and Baltic countries at Oxford University.
He said: "This was something dreamed up at the end of the 19th century.
-
- "But fear of the end of the world
is regular through every generation. In 1927, thousands gathered in Weymouth
expecting it to end."
|
