But once they reach 56 – like movie star John Travolta – they become “invisible” to the opposite sex, the poll suggests. Three in four women are now also happy to date bald men, compared with half in the 1980s. Four in five don’t mind dating chaps with a slight paunch. Women told researchers older men were becoming sexier as they worked harder to keep in shape and wear better clothes.

In the ’80s, girls considered men “past it” aged just 45.