Exercise? We'd rather watch TV

British men spend nearly half their free time watching TV and videos, a survey showed yesterday.

They are among the biggest couch potatoes in Europe, second only to their counterparts in Hungary.

Our women are nearly as bad, spending 44 per cent of their spare time in front of the box - the fifth laziest in Europe. However, they make up for it by doing nearly twice as much housework as their partners.

While men do help out with household chores, women spend about 75 per cent more time housekeeping in Britain. They are, however, better off than their French sisters, who do 90 per cent more domestic duties than men.

The figures come from a study of free time by Eurostat, the EU's Luxembourg-based statistical office.

Slovenians appear to be the busiest people, while Germans and Norwegians are among the biggest loafers.

But in the ten countries listed, German men are least reliant on TV for amusement - tuning in for only a third of their spare time.

In nearly all countries, women do more food preparation, dish-washing, cleaning, laundry and childcare, while men do more gardening, construction and repairs, the survey showed.

The exception in Britain is shopping - it makes up 17 per cent of men's 'domestic duties' compared with 15 per cent for women.

Across Europe, men have more free time - 4hrs 41mins a day compared with 4hrs 21mins for women.