PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Fantasy hit The Lord of the Rings has retained its position as the nation's favourite film theme tune.

It held off challenges from Gladiator and a surge of interest in the work of late composer John Barry, who died earlier this year.

The Lord Of The Rings, with a score composed by Howard Shore, topped the poll organised by Classic FM. It also led the field last year in the annual Movie Music Chart poll.

Barry featured in top 100 four times and had two entries in the top five - Out of Africa was at three and Dances with Wolves at five, with both of them climbing from their 2010 positions.

Hans Zimmer's Oscar-nominated Gladiator score was runner-up in the list.

John Williams had the most entries with 11 film themes in the top 100, including Schindler's List and Star Wars.

Classic FM presenter John Suchet said: "Were Mozart and Beethoven alive today, they'd surely be composing film scores - the popularity of movie music with audiences across the UK confirms that today's classical music is as enduring as ever."