Frances Millar

BEFORE we can even walk or talk, we’ve already learned to ‘tell porky pies.

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The moment we become capable of independent thought, we waste no time in using our fledgling brainpower for deception.

It is not something we are taught, we're just natural-born liars it seems.

A University of Bristol study found that around a quarter of babies under the age of one are already at it. The youngest fibber, still weaning, at just eight months old.

It says a lot about our species that we learn to lie before we can feed or protect ourselves. Our first survival skill is bluffing our way out of trouble. It starts off simply with straightforward denial, selective deafness, and pretending not to have seen what is plainly right in front of us. Then it develops into something more sophisticated by the time we are toddlers. Dropping an element of truth in, or creating a network of lies.