Batman's web Riddler

3:01pm Wednesday 10th March 2004

Eyebrows were raised in the editor's office this week when it was revealed that the number of unique visitors to the Hendon Times web site jumped by an exhilarating 10,000 last month.

Surely some mistake? Well, not according to the techies. A record number of people really did visit the site, and they were only interested in one thing. But what was it?

Alcohol-free zones, soaring council taxes or the 'will he, won't he' cliffhanger about whether Councillor Brian Coleman would get to be the next Mayor's escort?

'Fraid not: it was a story about a man in rather too tight-fitting breeches and his teenage companion aka Batman and Robin. Yes, it seems our news that the caped crusader's next film Batman Begins might be shot in Mill Hill, was enough to set superhero web junkies a-quiver. No sooner had it appeared in our pages than it was pasted up on Batsites across the globe.

Clearly they were thrilled by the news that director Christopher Nolan had visited the imposing gothic National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in the Ridgeway described in the architecture bible Pevsner as a 'bulky brown brick colossus' on February 5 for a look-see.

All of which gladdened our editor's heart no end, until he became vexed by the thorny question of how to pull off the same feat next month.

"Get Harry Potter," he said.