#cuddle bugs

A psychologist put the Beatles under his microscope yesterday...to find out what makes them tick with the girls.

His diagnosis may spark off screams of protest from the fans. For this, he says, in their secret: "There is nothing hard or aggressively masculine about them. Nothing to suggest sex."

And the psychologist, Dr Frederick Casson concludes that John, Paul, George and Ringo are just cuddlesome pets to their fans - objects for motherly rather than sexual feelings.

Why should this no-sex appeal strike such a response?

In an article in this month's Family Doctor magazine Dr Casson says that part of the answer is in the "cheerful, pleasant personality of the four boys."

He adds "They look young and unspoilt. Their hair and clothes are appealingly neat and clean. They hairstyle and their extremely youthful appearance creates an impression of sexual ambiguity."

Dr Casson goes on, "They seem essentially nice boys - the sort a young girl can safely dote upon. Their extreme youth appeals very much to young girls, even to nine year olds. Their informal boy-next-door manner makes it very easy for the girl to identify herself with the Beatles. They are unaffected, and relatively classless, with no pretensions - quite unlike the formidably glamorous grown-up stars of stage and screen and TV."

The doctor calls the screaming of girl fans "a very exaggerated form of giggles." And he says that the no-sex secret of this "mob ecstasy" may in the end cause the Beatles' downfall.