What is Britain’s favorite sports?

A reader from Manchester writes:

Dear Julie，

My question is- what is Britain’s favorite sport? My dad says it’s football but I think he’s wrong．I think it’s tennis．Who’s right?

It’s not an easy question to answer，Do you mean favorite sport for people to play（participant sport）or for people to watch（spectator sport）? The difference is important．Every year，four million people in Britain go fishing but every week，fifteen million watch football on TV．

I telephoned the Spots Council（委员会）in London and asked them the question：

“It’s difficult to say which spectator sport is Britain’s favorite．There’s football，of course，but the Tennis Championships at Wimbledon（温布尔登网球公开赛）are very popular too，and don’t forget the Olympics，cricket and horse-racing．”

So I can’t really answer the question about spectator sports．But the question about favorite participant sport is easy．The answer is surprising．It isn’t football or tennis or any games with a ball．To give you a clue，it begins with“w”，it’s cheap，there’s no special equipment and everybody in Britain does it．The answer is walking．And the second favorite? Swimming．

1．What is the story talking about?

2．How many people in Britain watch football on TV every week?

3．What’s Britain’s favorite participant sport?