Men like foreplay more than women

Findings also show that ladies reach orgasm first nearly half of the time.

Some 18 percent of men already spend up to 30 minutes on the build-up - but almost a third would ideally like it to be even lengthier, the Daily Star reported.

And perhaps surprisingly a tenth of men would happily linger on the preamble for an hour or more.

The findings shatter the long-held myth that men take part in foreplay purely to please their partner and they are only concerned with intercourse.

In fact the survey of 2,000 people revealed that men actually want to spend longer than women in the realms of foreplay.

Of the women questioned 17 percent claim their average foreplay time is around 25 minutes. And a quarter cite between 20 and 30 minutes as an ideal period.

According to the survey, commissioned by Lovehoney and relationship expert Tracey Cox, men would also ideally spend longer on intercourse too, with a third desiring a session lasting between 20 and 30 minutes.

For 16 percent of women, a love-making session of half that time is perfectly acceptable.