10:33 UK, Monday October 10, 2005
SKY
The dodgy hygiene habits of the French have been revealed in a new survey.
Only one-in-10 of our continental cousins regularly uses soap and one-in-25 never takes a bath or shower.
To make matters worse, one-in-33 never brush their teeth, according to a special report by the weekly magazine Le Point, which quizzed 10,000 people.
Rather than have a good wash, many French people simply use perfume and cosmetics to mask their smell.
Despite this, adults manage to spend between 48 and 56 minutes in the bathroom every day.
Of these, 14% make telephone calls, 8% sing and 6% smoke - and 1% admitted to eating there.
The report, called 24 Hours in France - An Unusual Portrait of France and the French, has not-surprisingly been criticised.
Pierre-Yves Gerbeau, the French-born former Millennium Dome chief executive, told the Daily Mirror: "This idea of the Frog who doesn't wash, has a baguette on his head and a string of onions around his neck is old hat.
"It's about as real as the Englishman in his pinstripe suit and bowler hat."
