BOTTOMS are top of the list it seems. Ever since the royal wedding, women have been peering over their shoulders in the mirror and wondering how to perk up their posteriors.

But what makes a rare rear?

Pippa Middleton’s derriere attracted world-wide attention following her appearance as maid of honour at Kate and William’s wedding on April 29 – it even has its own Facebook appreciation page.

But despite all this public adulation, this week Kate’s 27-year-old sister lost the battle of the bootys to a woman twice her age. For it was Countdown queen Carol Vorderman, 50, who, this week, won thecoveted Rear of the Year Award. Organisers said the maths wizard attracted a “deluge” of votes after appearing in a succession of newspaper pictures wearing hip-hugging couture dresses.

“I am really surprised and flattered to get this award, particularly at this stage of my life,” Vorderman said.

“I always suspected there were a lot of people out there who were glad to see the back of me, so this has turned out to be very funny indeed!”

Tony Edwards, who organises the annual award, said Kate Middleton’s sister was “totally unknown” before the royal wedding and had less than six weeks to gather votes “There have been quite a lot of votes for her over the period after the royal wedding, but it was less than six weeks from then to now and other stars had a lot of time to ratchet up the votes,” he said.

Strictly Come Dancing star Anton du Beke scooped the male Rear of the Year award. He described it as an “absolute honour”.

“Sadly, it has often been said that my rear is better than my front, so thank you very much indeed,” he said Sally Allen, of Wizard Jeans, sponsors of the annual celebrity honours, said: “Seeing Carol, with her enviable figure, in our jeans is a celebration of a woman’s body at the peak of its beauty “And after seeing Anton in his tight-fitting, gold-spangled trousers on Strictly, how could there ever have been another winner?”

Spencer Cuckney, who runs Bournemouth’s Fit Body Boot Camp, said the secret of what’s know known as “a yummy bummy” is working on your gluteal muscles.

“It is one of the key areas my clients worry about but it’s not just important aesthetically – it also is important functionally for the gluteus maximus is one of the strongest and largest muscles in your body.

“If you suffer from weak glutes it can affect your posture and cause knee problems and hip pain. One of the most effective ways to tone up this area is by doing lots of different squats, lunges and short hill runs.”

And Spencer adds that our obsession with the shape of people’s backsides is not necessarily a bad thing.

“It’s all about bust and bums right now which is a good because women want to look like real women not like skinny waifs any more.”