It’s that time of year again - when those of us who were offered a calendar for Christmas are half-heartedly hanging it up on an overlooked wall of our choice.

Sunsets, racing cars, Justin Bieber… Calendar subjects tend, ironically, not to be the kind of things you want to spend an entire year looking at.  

But fortunately for us in France, the yearly calendar frenzy has emerged as an unlikely occasion for the country’s cheese-makers to try their hand at soft-core porn.

Launched in 2006, the From’Girls calendar (‘from’ being short for fromage or cheese) is now something of an institution according to one regional daily. The concept is pretty straightforward, if not necessarily appetising. The calendar features 12 women, clad in what looks like the weekend wardrobe of a 40-something with a penchant for rural swinging. Posing provocatively and slathered in make-up, the only seriously abnormal aspect of the pin-up calendar is that each of the women is clutching a giant slab of stinking cheese.

Admittedly, the quality of this year’s calendar has improved massively since previous editions. Clutching a piece of cheese is one thing, but caressing, straddling, or whipping one is quite another…