Kylie voted top female role model

She has the looks, money and ability to re-invent herself after more than a decade in the pop industry.

Now Kylie Minogue has been named as the number one female role model in a poll of people aged between 25 and 35.

The diminutive pop star - who came ahead of television presenter Davina McCall, singer Dido and Paul McCartney's wife Heather Mills - was praised for her combination of sex appeal, wealth and entrepreneurship.

A spokeswoman for the singer said she was "flattered and delighted to get this sort of recognition". The choice of top male role model, however, may provoke more than a few raised eyebrows.

Ageing nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow was named as Britain's most admired man in the survey for Marks & Spencer Financial Services.

Those questioned singled out the 61-year-old son of a Sheffield steel worker because of his wealth and his ability "to have gorgeous girls on his arm". The result led one lifestyle commentator to say that he was the personification of a new social group labelled the I WIN - or I Want It Now - generation, who believed money could buy them everything, including happiness, but were not prepared to wait.

Grandfather-of-three Stringfellow, who claims to have slept with more than 2,000 women, clinched 26 per cent of the vote in the poll ahead of Michael Owen, Robbie Williams and Sir Richard Branson. Speaking from his villa in Majorca, he said: "At last one of these surveys has got it right.

"I've got a beautiful young girlfriend, a villa, a boat, a club and I'm quite rich, so in a way it's understandable. I've never set out to be a role model but I'm flattered by the results.

"Seriously though, I think I might be admired because what I've got is attainable. I've not got the talent of Michael Owen or David Beckham and I've not had the education of Sir Richard Branson, but even so, I've made it."

Lifestyle commentator Flic Everett said: " Attitudes are changing dramatically and the younger generation have become more driven by money.

"By having money at their disposal, they are then able to buy things that they feel will improve their current situation, such as new clothes, cars and even cosmetic surgery.

"Their role models believe in living for the moment and this lifestyle is attractive to this specific age group." Psychologist Shirley Dale said:

"When people pick a celebrity as their role model they're basing it on the star's public persona. They obviously don't know what that person is really like so it tends to be a rosetinted view.

"People see a celebrity and are impressed by their wealth and fame.

What makes a role model very much depends on the individual.

"Some people might nominate a parent or friend as the person they admire most, while somebody else might take the opposite view and nominate somebody society sees as a rebel."