Objective: To elicit the level of knowledge, training and preferences of men in relation to Testicular Self Examination (TSE). Setting: The Genito Urinary Medicine (GUM) department of a large teaching hospital in the North East of England. The open access clinic serves patients from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, Gateshead and surrounding areas. Newcastle is a city with two universities and therefore a large student population. We sought to estimate the current knowledge and practice of Testicular Self Examination amongst men attending a large Genito Urinary Medicine Clinic and ascertain whether they performed TSE, if they could articulate the signs or symptoms of testicular cancer, whether they felt instruction on TSE was necessary and who, if anyone, should provide training. This information was obtained using a simple questionnaire distributed to all new male patients attending GUM at Newcastle General Hospital, during a 12-week period in early 2006. Results demonstrated that only 67 (8%) of the men performed TSE as recommended in health education leaflets (monthly) with 576 (67%) carrying it out on a random basis. In total, 980 (98%) of the men felt that all men should be given instruction on TSE, with 59 per cent stating that school was the most appropriate place to receive the training. Whilst almost all men were aware that testicular lumps may be a sign of testicular cancer, few were able to identify any other potential signs or symptoms. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)