Hunt, 72, an English biochemist who admitted he has a reputation for being a ‘chauvinist’, reportedly told the World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul, South Korea:

“Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.”

He added that he was “in favour of single-sex labs” but “doesn’t want to stand in the way of women.”