Rod's losing his libido

He famously posed the question: Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?

And the posturing, tight-trousered way he performed the song suggested he thought he was.

That impression has been underlined by the string of leggy young blondes who have been happy to hang on his arm in the 25 years that followed.

But for Rod Stewart, it seems, time has caught up with his legendary libido.

The 59-year-old singer has admitted to having trouble performing regularly in the bedroom and hints he prefers kissing to sex.

'As the years go by we don't get it up as often as we used to,' he said. 'It's quality now, not quantity. Kissing is very important.'

And when asked by Dame Edna Everage in a Radio Times interview if he ever turns down an invitation for sex, he replies: 'Yes, many times. Foreplay is so important.' He later appears to change tack a little, saying: 'I just believe in a nice glass of wine in the evening, football and sex, and a lot of music in your life.'

Two years ago, Stewart's girlfriend of five years, model Penny Lancaster, revealed she had to pester him for sex.

When asked if he was demanding in bed, the 33-year- old replied: 'If the truth be known, it's probably the other way round. I would put a few more demands on him when it comes to that.

'He's like, "Penny, I've just done a show, please". It's my age, it's the racing hormones. My mum apparently was the same and it didn't stop until she was about 50 - sort of gagging for it, without being too crude.

'I need it a couple of times a day, not a couple of times a week like some people.'

Stewart's ex-girlfriend, actress Britt Ekland, agreed with Miss Lancaster, saying he had preferred sitting at home and watching television to making love during their four-year romance.

'Rod would far rather sit around at home eating steak and kidney pie and watching television than spend an evening in bed making mad, passionate love,' said Miss Ekland.

'He is the one who goes on about how sexy he is and how many times he has to do it. But it's a joke. That is not the real Rod at all. I always thought he had a distinctly average sex drive and I'm afraid to say he was always a very selfish lover.'

In the past, Stewart - who has five children by three different women - insisted he needed to make love every day.