What do they call those silly women who prance around at the beginning of sports occasions in America? Cheerleaders? I never quite got that and I’m so glad that’s one Americanism that doesn’t seem to have penetrated our society at all. Do the US sports put it on to provide titillation to the male audiences or is there some other reason for it? Does it help to generate advertising revenues? Does it add anything at all to the experience of going to a game? Is it actually something that happens at all sports or do we Brits paint this caricature? Can anyone help me to understand this weird phenomenon because it baffles me. Maybe we could ask Bill Bryson to investigate...maybe he already has.