According to a Mills and Boon survey - and let's face it, the well-known romance publishers should know - UK men are the self-confessed worst smoochers in the world.

It started with a kiss...

Unlike their Australian and Canadian counterparts, UK men admit their kisses were lacklustre and 37%, the highest in the world, said their technique left a lot to be desired.

One in 10 of those questioned said that their first romantic kiss was a "mushy miserable disaster".

A spokeswoman for the Global Romance Survey, Jane Kirkup, said that the claim by British men would not be put to any scientific test.

But, she suspects that they could simply be paying lip-service to their love-rivals because of an unwillingness to boast.

"It could simply be that they are more modest than their counterparts in the rest of the world," she said.

Prince charming

The survey, which involved 8,000 men and women worldwide - including almost 1,000 Britons, found that good old fashioned romance is alive and well.

Perhaps inspired by Leonardo Di Caprio's Titanic gesture of love, nearly a quarter of the British men surveyed said they would sacrifice their own lives to save their partner.

Almost half said they provided the romance in their relationship, with flowers being their favourite way of saying, "I love you". German men are a whole bunch better though, with 81% having sent a bouquet in the past year.

Women prefer to say it with sexy underwear - however a quarter of women polled said they would go all out and skip the underwear altogether for a special date.

Partner pleasing

Both sexes in the UK are keen to please their partners, with more than a quarter of men saying they would give up smoking to please their wives or partners.

Women are willing to go the extra mile for love with nearly half of those surveyed saying they would lose weight for their man, 16% would change their hairstyle and 4% would even go under the knife to please their other half.

But when it comes to love online, British lovebirds are lagging far behind.

Scandinavians beat all other nations with 27% of Swedes and 21% of Norwegians saying they have sent a romantic email message in the past 12 months, compared with just 4% in the UK.

Total turn-offs

The survey also found that Britons are the most jealous nation in the world with over a third of men admitting they are struck by the green-eyed monster if their wife or girlfriend chats to other men.

Women hate it most when their partner picks fights but 21% also hate it when they work late on an important occasion and when they spend their free time watching television.

So if British men can avoid those no-nos their love lives might stand a chance - even if they are the worst snoggers in the world.