The Beatles and football draw refugees to Britain

The Beatles, the Spice Girls and Manchester United are among the pull factors that attract asylum-seekers to cross the world in search of a new life in Britain, a study has found.

The Home Office survey of the reasons why more than 70,000 asylum applications were made in Britain last year reveals that the country is perceived as not only "modern, powerful and rich" but as a "tolerant country, sympathetic to asylum-seekers".

People seeking refugee status in Britain were most likely to have come here because of the presence of relatives or friends. Some asylum-seekers from former British colonies expected cultural similarities while others thought their knowledge of English would help them assimilate.

But the Home Office also found that Britain's global reputation in pop music, sports and film was also a major factor in many asylum-seekers' choice of destination.

Asked to name five Britons who he had heard of before coming to Britain, one Chilean asylum-seeker began his reply with "Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney". He said the significance of the Beatles was that they were "cool, free and anti-establishment".

The Home Office researchers said: "The perception gained from listening to British music also surfaced in interviews with younger respondents through the Spice Girls' music."

One Romanian asylum-seeker said: "We have a lot of music from MTV and we also know about young people from England and they are not cold. They are very modern."

The Home Office found that one area of British life with which many of the asylum-seekers were familiar was football "in particular, Manchester United Football Club".

The study said: "Not only did Manchester United create a perception of the UK as a globally successful country, but the club also gave the impression that the UK was a rich nation."

One Iranian told researchers: "When I was a child I loved England too much. It was my favourite country. I saw Manchester United playing football. So really it was a country of dreams for me." Asylum-seekers who took part in the study had scant knowledge of Britain's laws on asylum, work, housing and benefits but had fled persecution in search of a tolerant democracy, the study found.

The findings appeared to contradict the suggestion made in some quarters that economic migrants and those who may be attracted by social welfare payments see Britain as a "soft touch".

The asylum-seekers did not hold entirely positive preconceptions of the British people. One Algerian talked of "young people drinking wine ... usually the English are connected with hooliganism".

Many respondents regarded Britons as fastidiously punctual with "cold" personalities, wearing formal clothes and walking foggy streets to work.

Famous Britons such as Baroness Thatcher and the Royal Family reinforced ideas of a powerful and rich nation. The Government's attempts to inform would-be asylum- seekers of British laws should focus on transit countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the study concluded.