British Museum to open all day

The British Museum is set to open for an unprecedented 24 hours a day to cope with demand for its Terracotta Army exhibition.

Some 180 people have been calling the box office every hour, while visitors have been queuing since 5.30am on some days for the 500 tickets available on the door each day.

Sometimes there have been more than 200 people waiting to see the lifesize warriors - dug up from pits close to Emperor Qin's tomb at Xi'an - that have been lent to the museum by China. The seven-month-long show, which cost £2 million to stage, was expected to attract 400,000 visitors - but it has sold 470,000 tickets in two months and is now expected to sell at least 720,000 tickets.

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, said: "The First Emperor has exceeded our expectations in every way."