Although all categories of interviewees showed varying responses to all questions, most of these variations were small and not statistically significant. That is, the variation might well have been due to the pollsters having interviewed only a sample of the population. Leaving aside such variations, there are still a fair number of situations where categories of interviewees gave responses differing significantly from those of the rest. For example, people from class AB were more likely to have tried nude swimming and the delights of a foreign naturist beach, while those from class DE were less likely to have done so. The ABs also approved legal public nudity to a greater extent, while the DEs disapproved more strongly. 20% of class AB had sunbathed nude. Class DE was the most anti-naturist, with 4% saying we are criminal and 12% disgusting. Class C1 joined the ABs with only around 4% rating naturists as disgusting.

Regional differences showed up mainly in answers to questions 1 and 4. People in the South West said "yes" around twice as often as everyone else to every section of question 1. Northerners and Scots were half as likely to have sunbathed nude, while nude swimming was less common amongst East Midlanders and more common for those in the South East. North of the Midlands, only around 2% had visited a British naturist location. Only 2% of eople in East Anglia regard naturists as disgusting, while 95% of East Midlanders find us harmless and 52% in the South West say we are sensible. There was a North/Midlands/South split over back-garden nudity, with the South more tolerant than the Midlands and the North less. Scots were noticeably less inclined to legal nudity than the rest of Britain for all locations except public parks – that part of question 4 produced near-uniform responses.

Generally, men and women gave very similar responses. The main exceptions are that twice as many men as women have tried nude swimming (31% vs 16%), 46% of men think naturists "sensible" compared to 34% of women, and – apart from nudity in back gardens – there was more support for legal public nudity from men than women. Men and women were equally likely to describe themselves as "naturist". The only significant variations in answers to question 5 were that those without children were almost three times as likely to be naturist as those with, and that 3% of single people said they were naturist. Having children also meant interviewees were less likely to approve of back-garden and swimming pool nudity. People living as married were less likely to regard naturists as disgusting, and more likely to regard us as harmless and sensible.

Responses were split into age bands, mostly covering ten years, plus a band for the over 65s. This last group liked nudity least, with 12% thinking naturism is disgusting. They also had by far the lowest rates of experience of nudity outside the bathroom and bedroom: 7% had sunbathed nude, 16% had swum nude and 6% had been on a foreign naturist beach (yes, that should have been phrased more along the lines of "been naked on a foreign naturist beach").

At the other end of the age range, the 16 to 24 band had average rates of experience, but were much less bothered than most about back-garden nudity. The 25 to 34 band were also more likely to accept nudity in back gardens and on beaches. The 45 to 54 age band is the most naturist-friendly. 88% approve of legal nudity on some beaches. Along with the 35 to 44s they give a 70% approval rating to legal nudity anywhere declared "clothes-optional". The 45 to 54 group has the greatest experience of nude leisure – 19% have sunbathed naked, and 15% have been on a foreign naturist beach.

On the basis of the above, the most naturist-friendly people are probably class AB single men aged 45 to 54 living in the South West. Oh dear. Not the dreaded "single male"? If you want the worst place to try public nudity, go for a public park in the North of England – in the middle of an outing by retired class DEs.

There is a detail of the poll report which cannot be represented in percentage terms. For question 4, the interviewer was asked to accept and record any responses saying that nudity should be legal only for men or only for women. While this added a small amount to the survey cost, it was thought to be important in the context of responding to Recommendation 54, which proposed an offence targetting only men. In the event, no more than 5 individuals responded "only for men" or "only for women" in any of the categories. For most of the locations only a single "only men" or "only women" response is recorded. It is therefore almost certain that well under 1% of the population thinks that someone's sex should affect the legality of their nudity. In that sense, this failure to find something is actually a most useful point of information.

With the details – large and small – covered fairly exhaustively, all that is left is column B of the table on the previous page. Have you worked out where the figures come from yet? Could it be a comparable survey in Denmark, where almost all beaches are clothes-optional? Germany, where nudity in public parks is not unusual? The Swedes, with their tradition of cooling off after a sauna with a nude plunge into the nearest lake? But would 20% of these enlightened foreigners have visited a British naturist site? Ah – perhaps the delightful Dutch? I am sorry to say it is none of those. The answer is: NATURISTS. Yes, indeed. 3% of naturists think that naturists are criminal and/or disgusting. Only 57% of naturists have swum naked. And so on. Amazing, isn't it? Frankly, I don't know what to read into these figures – even taking account of the accuracy range, which is up to ±15% given the very small numbers. Some have suggested that interviewees might have been confused, and thought they were being asked whether they regarded themselves as naturALists. Whatever the reason, to quote Fawlty Towers: "There's enough material here for an entire conference".

This article is a slightly edited version of an article that first appeared in BN 148, the Summer 2001 issue of the CCBN magazine. Tim Forcer.