Rent-a-wife

Mother-of-two Debbie Harris is set to launch Rent-A-Wife from her Hove home in the New Year, offering people their very own "wife" whom they can send home at the end of a shift.

These new wives will be the perfect match for any man. They can even be paired up with women and age does not matter.

They will clean, tidy, cook, wrap Christmas presents, look after the bills, make sure the cupboard is well stocked, tend the garden and even put dinner on the table. They will, however, draw the line at bedroom duties.

And they will do it without any rows or nagging, just all the benefits of a Fifties woman in the 21st Century.

Debbie, who is married, said: "My mum thinks it's an excellent idea. She was working as a district nurse and bringing up three children pretty much on her own as my dad worked abroad. She thought it would have been perfect to have someone at home making a meal every night."

Entrepreneur Debbie is a statistician by trade and ran her own business from home until she decided on a complete change of career.

She believes her wives will be in demand because people have become busier with less time to enjoy leisure pursuits.

Debbie, 35, who has two children, Luke, eight, and Maddy, two, said: "I wanted to do something totally different. I felt there were a lot of people who would need this kind of service."

She advertised her new business in the Argus and took 12 calls from people who wanted to book a member of the wives team she is yet to create.

Many of the callers were busy professionals who were genuinely interested in having an extra pair of hands to help with day-to-day chores.

Debbie said she was yet to receive calls from women wanting a wife but said the service was open to anyone who passed the vetting procedure.

And there's some good news for the comedians, too. Debbie said of her wives: "They wouldn't be like Hilda Ogdens - not in Brighton, anyway."