THE author of a controversial new book about the female body says he learnt a lot from women in Swindon.

Desmond Morris, who was born in Purton and grew up in Victoria Road, Old Town, is a world-renowned zoologist and lover of the female form.

His ground-breaking new book, The Naked Woman: A Study of the Female Body, has just been published and explores every part of the female body from head to toe.

Morris says he has always loved and been interested in women, but just wishes he had had a copy of this book when he was a young man wooing the women of Swindon.

"It was that time in my life before I settled down," says the author, 76, who now lives in Oxford with wife Ramona, who he met in Marlborough and married in 1952.

"I had lots of girlfriends when I was growing up in Swindon but Diana Dors was the exceptional one.

"She was incredibly beautiful and had the most wonderful body.

"She taught me things as I was a bit nave. She was very knowledgeable, but if I had had a copy of this book, I could have taught her a thing or two!"

Morris would take Diana out to an island on a lake in Queen's Park, armed with his gramophone and a tent, and she taught him to dance.

At the time, the Morris family owned the park and it was there that his love for animals and zoology started.

Years later he has combined his love for zoology with his appreciation of the female form.

"There are lots of books on women but this is the first one written by a zoologist who understands female evolution and fashion trends and how culture has affected this," said Morris.

"By the time you finish reading it you are given a full insight into the human female.

"It explains why, for example, some women wear red lipstick and squeeze into tight shoes.

"Women will be interested to read it because we are always interested in our own bodies.

"Men will probably be most interested in the chapters which concentrate on the central parts of the female body."

There are 23 chapters, 22 of which are dedicated to a part of the body.

"I do not really have a favourite part of the female body," said Morris. "But I have something to say about every part.

"The book is sexual, but I don't play on that.

"I write the same way I would write about an animal. I'm not trying to be erotic but I'm not Victorian about it either."

Morris made his name when he published The Naked Ape in 1967.

The Naked Woman is published by Jonathan Cape and goes on sale on September 2, price £17.99

Emma-Kate Lidbury