Mr Sanderson points out that the most popular Olympic events in America are women's figure-skating and gymnastics, both of which involve scantily-clad young women performing for judges.

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King entered the court in a red velvet chair carried aloft by four bare-chested college football players, before Riggs followed in a rickshaw drawn by a group of scantily-clad models.

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All 80 game tables and 850 slot machines form a kind of orbit around a multi-story glass sun by American artist Dale Chihuly, around which swarm scantily-clad resort guests, crisply-attired croupiers and more than a few celebrities (rumoured recent sightings include Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber).

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Although there are many of the trademark features of American rap in his videos - cars with bouncing suspension, ostentatious jewellery and much semaphore-like hand signalling - there is no sign of the gyrating, scantily-clad ladies that are more or less ubiquitous to the genre in the West.

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Imagine my shock when I arrived in England bursting with all that knowledge gleaned from the books I had read and from a few well-behaved British tourists I had met in my town, only to be confronted by the screaming headlines of the tabloids and pictures of scantily-clad models baring most of their assets.

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And critics have taken direct aim at CEO Mike Jefferies, the man who transformed Abercrombie from hunting-goods store to a specialty retailer with scantily clad models, wondering whether he is still the best choice to lead the company.

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But gone are the days of jaw-dropping liplocks (Where were you, Madge?), wildly inappropriate (and wildly entertaining) speeches and scantily clad starlets (rapper Lil' Kim, newly released from prison, gave a shout-out to former cellmates but was, disappointingly, covered up).

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