a stupid generalisation, backwoodsman, its not the instrument but the player. mean whileChris Beardshaw told BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time that flowers kept near to the musical highlights of Cliff Richard had all died.

"Those in the Cliff Richard house all died. Sabotage was suspected but we couldn't prove it," he said.

Black Sabbath music was played in a second greenhouse, while a third was kept silent.

The plants kept in the other two greenhouses survived the experiment, the study revealed.

"The ones with Black Sabbath - great big, thumping noise, rowdy music - they were the shortest, but they had the best flowers and the best resistance to pest and disease," the findings stated.

The experiment was undertaken by horticultural students to see whether music affects plants.