British men come out on top by finishing last in sex contest

First the good news. In a survey of how long men take to make love, British males beat all their international rivals by taking longest to finish. Now the bad news: it was only seven minutes 36 seconds.

First the good news. In a survey of how long men take to make love, British males beat all their international rivals by taking longest to finish. Now the bad news: it was only seven minutes 36 seconds.

But before the nation's women feel short-changed, they should spare a thought for their Turkish sisters. In Istanbul, men are finishing in less time than it takes to boil an egg.

The results of the survey, done by issuing couples with stopwatches, are reported in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. They were: 1. Great Britain (7.6 minutes); 2. United States (7.0 mins); 3. Spain (5.8 mins); 4. Holland (5.1 mins); 5. Turkey (3.7 mins). There were no French or Italian contestants.

Dr Marcel Waldinger, of Utrecht University, said his team set out to measure "intravaginal ejaculation latency time", which grown-up readers can work out for themselves. For the record, the shortest time was 30 seconds, and the longest 44 minutes. His identity is a secret.