An old issue of Cosmopolitan that has resurfaced on Twitter reveals exactly what England’s most ‘eligible [bachelors](http://These Are The Hottest Royal Bachelors)’ wanted in a wife in 1973. Although, commentators are more concerned at what the magazine considered eligible back then.
‘What do Britain’s most eligible bachelors look for in a wife?’, the column begins. ‘Are they switched on by physical perfection, do they look for a definite personality type or is it simply a question of chemistry?’
Listing a writer and panellist, gourmet and ‘wealthy impressario’ as the elite bachelors, to name a few - uncomfortably, Jimmy Saville also gets a nod as a DJ on the second page - the answers are pretty incredible. ‘Someone who’s kind, jokey and talks even more than me,’ Gyles Brandeth said. ‘She’d have to earn as much or more than me. To marry a housewife would be terrible. I’d want her quite demanding and passionate, but even so I wouldn’t marry her if she smoked.’
‘I’d want a working wife,’ Simon Jenkins, a journalist, writes. ‘Someone who considers herself liberated and able to look after herself if I wasn’t around. Most of my friends are journalists but I’d rather no marry one. I couldn’t envisage marrying anybody who wasn’t attractive.’
A number of the men offer similar answers, often anting ‘very natural’ women who are both effortlessly beautiful and the most interesting person in the room. Although there are the outright sexist blokes who demand a wife know her place. Michael Fish, for example, a fashion designer, says ‘I think an old-fashioned wife who knows her duties. I was once told you choose a wife like you choose a cow – so that there’s regular times when she comes for milking. I wouldn’t want her trendy.’
Our favourite though? The man who clearly resents even being asked the question… and all women. ‘My favourite woman at the moment is Charley’s Aunt,’ Tom Courtenay, actor, says. ‘In my thirty-four years I have learnt a good deal about women… why is why I’m still single.’
Sure Tom, sure that’s why you’re still single.
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