Behind every great man there is a great woman, trumpets the Daily Mail this morning.

But it’s far more likely to be his “pushy mother” (never let it be said that the Mail indulges in gender stereotypes) than his partner driving him on.

German scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology drew the conclusions after observing bonobo (a type of chimpanzee) communities. As with humans, successful male bonobos are more attractive to females, they found.

But to be successful male apes have to rise through their community hierarchy, which can involve winning battles with higher-ranking males

The males who won these battles were more likely to be the ones who were backed from the wings by “pushy mothers”.

The German study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, found male bonobos with forceful mothers were not just better at rising up the social ranks, they had more sexual triumphs too.

This may be said to explain who’s behind all the great men (although I have my doubts), but who’s behind all the great women? That’s what I want to know.