'British men are too shy' says Julia

They have been called emotionally illiterate and hopeless lovers.

Now Englishmen are under fire again, as Hollywood star Julia Stiles joins a series of beautiful women who claim men in London are too shy to get anywhere with women.

The New York-born actress, who plays the lead in the West End's Oleanna, echoed Gwyneth Paltrow by complaining the capital is a lonely place for an American girl away from home.

Stiles, 23, said: "Gwyneth was right. English men are all lovely, but too shy. Not one has so much as asked me for a drink since I got here."

Commenting on her lack of invitations to dinner while staying in Britain, Paltrow once said: "It is no big deal and no weight should be attached to it. It's only dinner, for God's sake."