A quarter of French people do not take either a bath or a shower every day, according to a poll.

The French have had a reputation among the Americans and British for uncleanliness and they still have not caught up with some other nations, the survey by the French Institute of Public Opinion (Ifop) showed.

It found that 81 per cent of women said they washed their whole body every day, compared with only 71 per cent of men. In a 1951 survey, only 52 per cent of French women told Ifop that they performed a complete wash every day. That year’s survey, commissioned by Elle, shocked France and caused the magazine to conclude that “the Frenchwoman is not clean”.

The latest survey reflected