Colin Firth (right) played Mr Darcy, the much-fantasised romantic hero of Jane Austen's novel Pride And Prejudice, to steamy perfection in a 1995 television adaptation of the book. But a new study, published on Thursday, gave Mr Darcy an unflattering "makeover". The study and its accompanying illustrations (one seen at left) suggest the real Fitzwilliam Darcy would have been white-haired, pale and pointy-chinned, with a long nose on an oval, beardless face. He would have been slightly undernourished, with sloping shoulders - "more ballet dancer than beefcake", according to one of the authors of the study, which was billed as the first historically accurate portrait of the fictional character. Hardly a steamy romantic hero, then, in modern eyes.