Lonely hearts ache for money

Women scanning the lonely hearts columns care more about the wealth of their prospective partners than their looks, psychologists have discovered.

They are more likely to be attracted to men who have OHOC (own house, own car) than OHOT (own hair, own teeth).

A study of nearly 3,000 personal adverts has found a man's status, education and income are far more important than his appearance.

The research also found men prefer to talk about themselves than listen to their girlfriends or wives.

In the small ads, men used more words boasting about themselves than describing their perfect match. Women were more likely to give prominence to the qualities of the man they were looking for.

Researcher Richard Atkins, of Thames Valley University, west London, told a British Psychological Society conference: "This is Darwinism in the small ads.

"Men describe themselves while women tend to use descriptions of the person they are looking for."

He said the findings backed Darwin's findings that the male of a species tends to be a show-off - like the peacock with his extravagant plumage.

Mr Atkins collected 2,934 romantic adverts from papers Loot and Diamond Free Ads. A computer programme then scanned the ads, separating phrases about attractiveness from those about status.