Red alert for gingers

Ginger-haired people could face extinction within 100 years as the world's races mingle because of migration, scientists said yesterday.

Blondes are also likely to be consigned to the genetic dustbin of history but at a slower rate, because there are more of them.

Dr Desmond Tobin, of Bradford University, said the proportion of ginger-haired people had been falling for at least 50 years.

'As migration, inter-marriage and mixing increases, we will see them all disappear,' he said. 'They are simply being swamped.' Dr Tobin said redheads historically came from rural communities in places such as Scotland with a shared ancestry.

Red hair colour is inherited only when both parents have the same relatively rare genes.

As communities become multiracial, the chances of both parents having the genes becomes tiny.

Dr Tobin added just three per cent of British women were natural blondes. The rest used hair dye.