NEW research reveals a more cultured picture of the 21st century lad.

A survey revealed that 44 per cent of today’s lads opt for a night in watching a box set over a marathon night out with mates.

The study of 1,237 UK adults by a men’s fashion retailer also found that a third of men aged between 25 and 34 chose a box set over watching sport on TV.

They also found that male twenty-somethings preferred drinking real ale, whisky, and gin and tonic over lager, showing a move away from the typical lager lout image.

And they found that the majority preferred a good TV drama to a video game.

It’s all very interesting, but aren’t the researchers targeting the wrong age group? Lad culture is surely confined to those in their late teens and early twenties. Once men - and women - reach their mid-twenties they slow down. Many are married with children. It is not until they are 50-something - like my husband - that laddish behaviour returns.