Predictably, homework comes top of the most-loathed list, with Facebook and the Financial Times at positions nine and ten.

The results are contained in a report called up 'Read Up, Fed Up: Exploring Teenage Reading Habits in the UK Today'.

The report showed a big increase in online reading. Honor Wilson-Fletcher, director of the National Year of Reading, said that the breadth of online reading should be celebrated.

"Young people are web natives – exposed to a wider variety of reading material than any previous generation through the explosion of digital media. It seems not all adults are comfortable with this shift and often discourage teens from taking advantage of this new reading landscape," she said.

The schools minister, Jim Knight, concurred: "It is vital that young people have the opportunity to read widely. It is wonderful that 80 per cent of the teenagers surveyed write their own stories and keep up to date with current affairs by using sites like BBC Online."

Top of the most-loved read was Heat magazine followed by Bliss and internet song lyrics in joint second with computer-game cheats in third place.

www.yearofreading.org.uk

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