Firstborns 'more likely to be rock stars'

The order in which siblings are born could play a significant role in determining whether they become the next Brad Pitt or Mick Jagger.

New research has revealed firstborn children were more than 3.5 times more likely than siblings to become rock stars - while youngest children were more than twice as likely to be successful actors than their siblings.

Middle children could be pre-destined for a life in politics - with many party leaders being middle children, according to the findings.

The research team studied 100 personalities encompassing the past 20 British prime ministers, pop stars, sports personalities, BAFTA winning actors and self-made multi-millionaires to discover links between birth order and occupation.

Three quarters of the study sample of rock stars were oldest or only children, with common traits such as being ambitious, energetic or people pleasers who craved approval.

Eldest children 'ambitious, energetic'

Stars following this trend include Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and only children, Van Morrison, Elton John and Eric Clapton.

Middle children are more likely to become prime minister, with 67 per cent more chance than their siblings.

Traits commonly associated with middle children include diplomacy, a competitive nature and a tendency to be peacemakers.

David Cameron, Nick Clegg and former leader Gordon Brown are all middle children along with ex-PMs Tony Blair, Anthony Eden, Neville Chamberlain and David Lloyd George.

Furthermore, researchers found a trend for prime ministers to come from large families of between three and six children.

Youngest children 'attention-seeking'

Youngest children are more than twice as likely to become actors than their older siblings.

Half of the study sample of actors were youngest children - commonly characterised by personality traits such as risk taking, attention seeking, hard working and having a good sense of humour.

Renowned actors who follow this trend within the study sample include Kevin Spacey, Julia Roberts, Daniel Day-Lewis, Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench and Annette Bening.

Statistician Dr Geoff Ellis, who conducted the research on behalf of television channel UKTV Gold, said there was a less than one per cent chance of the birth and job link being down to chance alone.

"When rock stars are considered in isolation against the rest of the sample group, the probability of the results being purely random are reduced to less than one in a thousand."