A CHEEKY artist has been given a £20,000 National Lottery grant - to look at girls' bums.

Sue Williams was given the cash to "explore cultural attitudes towards female buttocks".

She will create plaster cast moulds of women's behinds to try to understand their place in contemporary culture.

Swansea-based Mrs Williams, 53, will also examine different racial attitudes towards bums in Europe and Africa. She said: "The project is taking on the issues around the bottom."

Emma Geliot from the Arts Council of Wales, which awarded the grant, said: "This produces a tee-hee response but there is a serious point."

Lib Dem MP Adrian Sanders, a member of the all-party Culture Committee, said most Lottery players would "question" the handout.

By HARRY HAYDON

This is the type of thing I love...Artist paid to explore things...and what's more beautiful than female anatomy?? I am working on a breast grant now!