The bottom’s fallen out of Brit bravado

This country’s truly gone to the dogs. Time was, all you had to do was mention the Romans and everyone within earshot would strip naked and paint themselves blue, before rushing down the nearest hill ululating wildly and waving axes.

These days, according to a survey by Corel, most of us won’t even strip off to let someone else paint us. A meagre eight per cent of Britons would pose naked for a painting. As befits the traditional warrior image, men are three times as likely as women to agree to drop their drawers and be drawn, and the young and vigorous would be more at ease before the easel.

There are some surprising regional variations, however: not known for their demonstrative nature, Yorkshiremen are all too willing to whippet all out for the sake of art, but despite the fact (if you believe Mel Gibson) that they were disrobing and enwoading well into the 13th century, the Scots are extremely reluctant to let the world see their neeps and tatties. Perhaps there’s less than we thought beneath those kilts…