Fortnum advertises 'best job in the world'

Chocolate taster required. The pay? £35,000. Oh, and applicants must be willing to travel the world.

If this sounds like the ideal position, you may not be the first to think so.

Fortnum & Mason, which is looking for a new chocolate buyer, has been inundated with applications after advertising the "best job in the world".

Personnel director Cathy O'Neill said: "We only advertised it on Sunday but already we have had loads of people writing in saying they have absolutely no experience, or they work in the metal industry or something, but they love chocolate.

"I don't expect to have any trouble filling it. My nine-year-old daughter Molly has already written to the managing director."

The successful applicant will be expected to travel the world tracking down the best chocolate makers, from Belgium to Mexico.

Jenny Cork, the outgoing chocolate buyer, is moving to Fortnum's cookshop. Ms Cork still weighs only about eight stone - despite 13 years in the job. "I only taste real chocolate, which isn't fattening," she said.