Wednesday, 13th December 2006, 08:52
LSE
Men are more likely to talk about what they are having for dinner than what they get up to in the bedroom, a survey claims.
The hot topic discussed by men over a pint is sport, followed by work, nights out, friends and holidays. But sex comes eighth, behind food and celebrities, as a point of conversation.
Love and girls limp at nine and ten in the list of top topics.
However men in London talk about sex more than anywhere else in the country while Yorkshire blokes appear to be more gentlemanly talking about the topic almost 50 per cent less than their southern counterparts.
And guys from the south west are twice as likely as the average man to boast about their sexual exploits.
Carling asked nearly 1,000 men across the UK about their mates and what they chat about over a pint.
They found the average male group mirrors the original 1950s ratpack, and has five members.
These include a leader, a party animal, an intellectual who has all the answers and a fall guy - who is always the butt of the others' jokes. The fifth is a sensitive soul who listens to his pals' problems.
Big Brother psychologist Geoff Beattie, said: "You can apply the five-friend formula to the original 1950 ratpack which was made up of five Hollywood heroes. The group included the kingpin (Frank Sinatra), the party animal (Dean Martin), the fall guy (Sammy Davis Junior), the knowledgeable one (Peter Lawford), and the one that people went to for advice (Joey Bishop)."
A modern day celebrity ratpack to fit the formula could feature Daniel Craig, the latest James Bond, as the kingpin, comedian Russell Brand as the party animal and football star Peter Crouch as the fall guy, Professor Beattie said.
Coldplay's Chris Martin could fill the role of the intellectual, and TV presenter Dermot O'Leary could be the listener.
"Male groups need all of these types to gel but by far the most important role is that of the kingpin who keeps all of the friends together. He often has a more reliable and realistic take on things and is able to temper the emotions of the rest of the group," he went on.
Guys in the north east not only have more friends than average, they are the most fiercely loyal to others in the group. 95 per cent insist their group will be friends for life and one in five said they had over 100 mates.
In contrast, only 51 per cent of Londoners think they will stay together for ever.
Prof Beattie, from the University of Manchester, added: "The fact that Londoners believe there is less chance of staying together then other parts of the UK may well be indicative of the transient and fast-paced lifestyle that Londoners lead."
