/ 30 March 2010

Ex-Yugoslav leader Tito more popular than Harry Potter

Former Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito surprisingly beat Harry Potter in Croatia when a Tito documentary got more viewers than the boy wizard, state television said on Monday.

The second instalment of a 12-episode documentary on Tito’s life, broadcast on Friday on the national television (HRT), was watched by 14,9% of Croatians, HRT spokesperson Danko Druzijanic told Agence France-Presse.

At the same time private RTL television broadcast Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which attracted 11,92% of viewers.

A popular reality show showing local celebrities working on a farm also in the same time slot on private Nova TV was watched by 14,1% of Croatians.

The first episode of the documentary on Tito, broadcast on March 12, sparked even higher interest as it was the most-watched programme of the day with 22,6% of Croatians watching it, the spokesperson stressed.

Tito ruled the Yugoslav Federation, of which Croatia was a part, for 35 years until his death in 1980.

A decade after his death, Yugoslavia broke up in a series of internecine wars.

Croatia declared independence from the Yugoslav Federation in 1991, sparking a four-year war with rebel Serbs who opposed it. — AFP