SMS-loving Brits sent a record-breaking 3.3bn text messages in May - representing a daily average of 106m or, by our reckoning, roughly 1.76 missives per day for every man, woman and child in the land.

In hitting the keypads en masse, they surpassed the previous high of 3.2bn messages dispatched during March, the BBC reports. The May figure was 26 per cent up on the same month last year, says the Mobile Data Association (MDA) responsible for rattling the abacus.

The FA Cup final and Champions League final provoked the biggest SMS spikes - 120m and 124m, respectively, although the MDA reckons the World Cup may prompt another record month in June. For 2006 as a whole, the association estimates a total of 36.5bn texts, compared to 32bn in 2005. ®