A quarter of Britons believe the Apollo moon landings were a hoax, according to a new poll.

Eight of the 1000 or so people surveyed thought jazz king Louis Armstrong made the first moon walk. Eleven thought Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear was the first person on the Moon.

The survey was conducted for E and T magazine, published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Editor Dickon Ross said: "The Apollo moon landing is mankind's most outstanding engineering event so it's deeply worrying that such a large number of people should think the first moon walk never happened and that the public's belief in the legitimacy of science and technology seems to be declining over time."

Conspiracy theorists point to "flaws" in film footage from the Apollo missions as proof the landings were a hoax.

The US flag planted by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin was said to wave in a breeze, impossible on the airless moon. NASA said it was due to residual momentum from contact with the astronauts Leading space scientist Professor John Zarnecki from the Open University said: "I think it would have been a far greater achievement to have mocked the whole thing up AND to have kept it quiet for four decades!

"If one in four Britons today don't believe the moon landings ever happened, then I'm afraid that says a lot about one in four Britons. And what it says isn't very complimentary.