The dramatic rescue of the Chilean miners from their underground trap in October has emerged as the runaway winner as the British public’s Event of 2010, receiving almost double the number of votes given to ‘the General Election and change of government’ option, which was seen as the second most popular story of the year.

With a consistently high level of support across the population, and in particular among females, David Cameron has emerged as the population’s favourite politician of 2010 in the YouGov awards, beating London Mayor Boris Johnson into second place and consigning Gordon Brown and former MP Anne Widdecombe to joint third.

Helped by a large female vote David Beckham has comfortably gained the YouGov Sports Personality of the Year 2010, fighting off competition from Formula 1 drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton as well as Tom Daley and Jessica Ennis who all finished joint second to the famous footballer and national treasure.