Revealed: Britain’s most friendly face

As a region it is as famous for its breathtaking countryside as its warmth of welcome and now tourist officials in Yorkshire have issued images of what it believes are the UK’s most friendly male and female face.

The images were produced after Yorkshire Tourist Board commissioned an independent research company to find out which greetings were the most and least welcoming – a ‘friendly face’ (79%), followed by ‘handshake’ (10%) were top; whilst the most off-putting welcomes were jointly ‘bad breath’ (26%) and a ‘grumpy face’ (26%).

The national poll of 1,000 people from right across the UK also revealed the region believed to give the warmest welcome to strangers are Yorkshire folk (18%), ahead of Scots (14%) and Geordies (13%) – Brummies, Mancunians and Taffies were joint bottom (3%) of the list of regions for perceived friendliness.

The results inspired the search for the UK’s friendliest face and working with Naomi Tickle – a leading international personologist and face reader – Yorkshire Tourist Board identified the seven key facial characteristics that epitomise friendliness.

The traits, which include full lips, square jaw, rounded nose and sloped-back forehead, were applied to TV presenters – usually well known for their friendly demeanour and appearance – and two composite images were created.

Joanna Royle, marketing director at Yorkshire Tourist Board said: “Our region is well known for its warm welcome and the conviviality and friendliness of those who live here – and now it seems it’s official.

“To celebrate coming top of the table for our friendly and warm welcome, and because a friendly face is the top most welcoming trait, we wanted to see what the UK’s most friendly face might look like.

“We involved Naomi to put a bit of science behind the search, but at the same time realise there is an element of fun to our research – at the end of the day, a smile goes a long way to welcoming a visitor, no matter what your face shape.”

Naomi Tickle, author of ‘You Can Read a Face Like a Book’, said: “A warm smile really does make a person feel welcome; however, some of it is down to your genes and certain facial characteristics can make you appear more friendly.

“The two composite images shown on Yorkshire.com/face could well be the friendliest faces in Great Britain, but there’s nothing like the real thing and I’m certain there’s more out there that are even friendlier. With Yorkshire coming top of the research for giving the warmest welcome to strangers, it looks like that’s the place to go to experience a warm welcome first-hand.”

*To see the faces, read the full breakdown of the seven facial characteristics used, or see celebrities’ faces explained, visit Yorkshire.com/face.

How the faces were created

A. The seven main characteristics, as described by Naomi Tickle, were isolated.
B. Next, 14 well known male and female TV presenters, who each had a specific, matching characteristic, were selected – TV presenters being usually well known for their friendly demeanour and appearance.
C. A composite, electronic image was created using computer software.

Characteristic – Male – Female

1. Full Lips - Vernon Kay - Kirsty Gallacher

2. Square Jaw - George Alagiah - Romilly Weeks

3. Low-set eyebrows - Steve Jones - Georgie Thompson

4. Sloped-back forehead - Alastair Stewart - Mylene Klass

5. Slightly rounded nose - Gordon Ramsay - Claudia Winkleman

6. Magnetic eyes - Russell Brand - Danni Minogue

7. Rounded features - Eamon Holmes - Charlotte Church

Celebrity UK faces analysed on Yorkshire.com/face include:

Gordon Brown
Katie Price
Graham Norton
Kate Moss
Jonathan Ross
Adrian Chiles
Richard Hammond
John Tickle
Sherrie Hewson
Russell Brand

Other celebrity faces analysed on Yorkshire.com/face are:

Jennifer Anniston
Vladimir Putin
Halle Berry
Julie Ormond
Bill Gates
Catherine McCormak
Richard Gere
Leonardo DiCaprio
Tom Hanks

Personology states that (courtesy of Naomi Tickle):

The relationship between the physical structure and personality has been well researched since the 1920's on thousands of people. The initial research was conducted by Edward Jones, a judge. He was intrigued by the relationship between the facial structure and personality including innate abilities. Based on the feedback from the subjects studied, it was found to be ninety-two percent accurate. Many of these traits can be seen at the time of birth.

Additional studies have been made over the years including some recent blind studies with career counsellors. According to Naomi, the results are amazingly accurate. Learning how to recognise key traits in the face will help you to better understand and communicate with the people you meet with on a daily basis. So if you should meet someone who appears to be less friendly, you will better understand your response.

Does that mean you should just walk away from a person with a trait you don't perceive to be desirable? Absolutely not! Tickle is quick to note that while face reading can be used as a tool to discern personality types, its greatest value is in its ability to create an awareness around a particular trait so that individuals can better understand how to approach each other.