What Women Want

If you believe all British men are charming if slightly-less-attractive versions of romantic heroes Colin Firth and Hugh Grant, think again: A new survey reveals British men are the least romantic in the world.

Half have never run their partner a bath or whisked them off on a weekend away (hey, even Hugh-Grant-as-Daniel-Cleaver managed the latter). Less than a third have ever written a poem for their partner, compared to 41 percent of non-British men.

The (rather unromantic) survey was of course done by a British man: Richard Wiseman, a professor at the U.K.’s University of Hertfordshire. He surveyed 6,500 men and women from around the world, and found British men are up to 10 percent less likely to make romantic gestures of any kind, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail. And if they made romantic gestures, they tended to be of the raunchy-lingerie variety — which isn’t, Wiseman learned, what women want.

“Contrary to what many men believe, you do not have to spend large sums of money to woo a woman —  it really is the thought that counts,” Wiseman told the Mail.

He added: “Women seem especially attracted to acts of escapism and surprise, whereas blatant displays of materialism, such as buying them sexy underwear or cosmetic surgery, scored very badly.”

For Wiseman's top 10 on what women really want, click here.