Maradona's Hand Of God Wins Britain's Most Touching Moment Hands Down

25th May 2005

Of all the 'touching' moments in Britain's recent history, it seems that the one that has touched us above all others is Maradona's dubious goal for Argentina against England almost twenty years ago in 1986. Perhaps next year in Germany, the nation will finally be able to lay this painful memory to rest of Diego single-handedly knocking Bobby's men of the World Cup. For now though, the memory remains raw as just under one fifth of the survey sample rated this their most memorable touch moment.

The research, conducted throughout March to celebrate the arrival of the Nintendo DS touch screen, portable video games console, asked over 1,200 participants to rank their top five 'touch' moments. From this information, researchers were able to formulate the nation's most memorable touch moments as outlined below.

Britain's Top 10 Most Memorable Touching Moments

1 - Maradona - The 'Hand of God' goal, England Vs Argentina 1986 World Cup quarter final

2 - Madonna & Britney - Kissing at the MTV Awards

3 - Gazza and Vinnie Jones - Intimate squeeze on the pitch

4 - ET - 'Ouch'- Touching finger moment

5 - Neil Armstrong - Touching the moon for the first time

6 - Gordon Banks' save - 1970 World Cup against Brazil from a Pele header

7 - Rebecca Loos and that pig - The Farm, Channel Five

8 - The Channel Tunnel - British & French builders stretch through to shake hands

9 - Bush and Blair - THAT handshake

10 - Uri Geller's - Famous national live TV spoon bending challenge

Reinforcing the notion that as a nation we remain as infatuated as ever with planet football, two more moments from the sport also make the touch top ten: Vinnie Jones' Gazza-grappling at number three reminds us all of the harder side of the game; while Gordon Banks' amazes us time and time again at his athleticism with that incredible save against Pele in the 1970 World Cup, ranking sixth.

Never far from controversy, it will come as no surprise that Britney and Madonna's saucy kiss at the MTV Awards last year remains an intimate memory for us all. The only top ten entry representing the music industry, this S&M (Spears & Madonna!) double act comes in at number two - missing out on the number one spot by just five per cent. Surprisingly, from an industry that spends millions creating visual blockbusters, Hollywood features just once in the top ten - with Spielberg's classic 'finger to finger' moment between loveable alien ET and Elliott ranking at number four.

By contrast, real ground-breaking current affairs events are well-represented in the touch top ten with three moments firing the public's imagination - although slightly lower down the pecking order than one might have imagined. Those key moments are Neil Armstrong's moon touch down (no 5); the British and French construction team's Channel Tunnel break-through (no 8) and George Bush's protracted hand-shake with PM Tony Blair prior to the Iraq invasion (no 9).

Our happy ending is provided by Rebecca Loos, currently on assignment on ITV's Fijian Love Island. Loos' giving The Farm's Wiltshire pig Sam a helping hand comes at number seven. Enough said. Bringing up the rear in the touch top ten is another magical moment from popular entertainment, when condiment bender Uri Geller tried to work his magic touch on the nation with his spoon bending challenge.

James Honeywell, of Nintendo UK, comments:

"Arguably touch is the least considered of all the five senses, but I think the findings of our touch moment research demonstrate the immense impact this sense has on all of our lives. Certainly touch is an integral part of our new Nintendo DS, and as it recorded the fastest ever sales for a hand-held console perhaps the public is more in tune with the sense than we give it credit for."

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For further information please contact Simon Watts or Stephanie Moses at the Nintendo press office on 020 7307 3103 or register on the Nintendo Extranet www.nintendo-europe-media.com.

Editor's Notes:

Nintendo DS, launched in the UK on Friday 11th March 2005, achieved record breaking sales of nearly 87,000 units in its first two days alone. Nintendo DS software also proved a hit with gamers across the UK with Super Mario 64 DS, Wario Ware: Touched! and Rayman DS (Ubisoft) the UK's top three selling titles respectively. The success in the UK follows in the wake of exceptional sales in the US and Japan where over 3 million Nintendo DS units have been sold worldwide since launch.