It's 2005 and still the 'Da Vinci Code' stories keep coming. This time the claim is that the novel has helped the fortunes of Eurostar.
The train operator released figures yesterday that showed 15% more people travelled on the line in 2004 than they did in 2003. And, of course, some of this is down to the exploits of the ruggedly handsome Professor Robert Langdon and his beautiful Parisian cryptologist sidekick Sophie Neveu.
"We have certainly seen a Da Vinci Code effect, with people reading the novel then going to book a trip to Paris," a Eurostar spokesperson is quoted as saying.
Of course, other reasons for the increase in passengers may be the faster trains and British Airways’ decision to cancel its service from Gatwick to Paris. But Eurostar aren't going to let those factors get in the way of a bit of free publicity.
The Da Vinci Code story has been picked up by The Times, the Independent and the Guardian today, and both the Independent and The Times came up with the same, rather uninspired, headline: Da Vinci Code cracks it for Eurostar.
Although, to be honest, ours isn't much better.
