WHEN the dashing Mr Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice first graced our TV screens in 1995, women all over the country went into a collective swoon.

The smouldering character played by Winchester's own Colin Firth set hearts alight in every living room with his tall, dark and handsome looks throughout the hugely popular BBC TV adaptation of the classic novel.

Little wonder then that the leading man has been voted the literary figure women in the south-east would most like to snog.

A recent survey carried out by the Royal National Institute of the Blind revealed that Mr Darcy knocked spots off book characters such as Charlotte Bronte's Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte's Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights the most lusted after literary character.

More than 600 women across the region voted Mr Darcy 'top of the snogs' in the survey carried out for the RNIB's Right to Read week starting this Saturday.

The Right to Read Campaign, launched last year, aims to raise awareness of the discrimination that blind and partially sighted people face in buying or borrowing books.

Rhett Butler from Margeret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind came second place in the survey, and Daniel Cleaver from Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary was third.

RNIB Right to Read spokesman Jayne McLaughlan, said: "Mr Darcy was a very popular choice for women in the south-east. He has always been a romantic figure, but I imagine Colin Firth's portrayal of him in the TV version won the character more fans than ever before."

The infamous tight jodhpurs and dashing charm are unquestionably a sure-fire hit with the ladies and this has not gone unnoticed by another favourite TV pin up.

Gardening god Alan Titchmarsh who is well known for his garden in Alton, north-east Hampshire, will dress up as Mr Darcy to promote the BBC's Big Read - the hunt to find the nation's favourite book.

The 54-year-old, who has a house on the Isle of Wight, will don sideburns and a ruffled shirt alongside Goodness Gracious Me actress Meera Syal as Mr Darcy's love Elizabeth Bennett on the front cover of the next Radio Times.

Anya Slatter of Preludes dating agency Romsey, says: "Every woman would like their own Mr Darcy. He is the type of character that doesn't give out his affections to every woman he meets so when he finds the woman he wants he makes her feel really special. Every woman regardless of their age wants that so it's not surprising he has come out top in the survey."

Top ten literary figures women in the south-east would most like to snog.

1: Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2: Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

3: Daniel Cleaver from Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

4: Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

5: Aragorn, pictured, from Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

6: Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

7: Mellors from Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence

8: Rupert Campbell-Black from the Rider Rivals Polo Series by Jilly Cooper

9: Soames from The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy

10: Adrian Mole from The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend