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British youth turning on classical music

LONDON, May 10 (UPI) -- The latest ratings show a surprisingly large number of young Britons are tuning in to classical music.

New radio ratings show about 500,000 youths under age 15 are now listening to Classic FM each week. That's a 52 percent jump from just the previous three-month period, The Daily Mail reported Thursday.

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The theory is the young people are being drawn to Classic FM after watching movies such as "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" series, which have classical music scores.

Classic FM also has sought to attract a younger audience by bringing on board contemporary presenters Myleene Klass, Katie Derham and Lisa Duncombe, and luring celebrity guests such as Simon Cowell, Sting and soccer star Graeme Le Saux.

The station's total listenership for the first quarter of 2007 was more than 6.5 million a week, according to industry monitor Rajar.

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