People with ginger locks are head and shoulders above blondes or brunettes when it comes to coping with pain, researchers claim.

Scientists have found that the gene responsible for flame-coloured hair also produces a morphine-type substance that acts like an anaesthetic and reduces pain.

When researchers at the Medical Research Council in London introduced the gene in mice, they found the rodents could withstand more pain than normal.

"Seventy per cent of redheads are redheads because a particular gene doesn't work," Prof. Jeff Mogil of Montreal's McGill University, told CTV News.

"This is a gene that would otherwise give you brown hair. This gene is also relevant to pain and painkilling by certain drugs."

Researchers in Scotland will now launch studies on humans to confirm the theory.

The findings could lead to the development of new drugs to combat chronic pain.

The hair colour gene produces a protein pivotal to feeling pain. In blondes and brunettes, it produces high levels of the protein, which means they feel pain much more keenly.

The gene that's linked to red hair, melanocortin-1, dates back about 100,000 years. Ancient Romans considered the colour unlucky but the Egyptians thought redheads were favoured by the gods. Some of the Pharaohs were ginger.

Britain's greatest warrior, Boudicca, was a redhead. One Roman described her as "tall and terrifying... a great mass of red hair fell over her shoulders".

Being tougher than the rest could also explain the strength of famous redheads through the ages.

Napoleon, Cleopatra, Columbus, Vincent Van Gogh, William Shakespeare, George Washington, Florence Nightingale and Winston Churchill were all redheads.