IQ winner beats statistics

Above Madonna but below Einstein comes Keith Jowett, who was measured to have the highest intelligence so far by BBC1's Test The Nation extravaganza on Saturday, with an IQ of 149.

Neither comparison meant much, Mr Jowett, from Walton-on-Thames said today. Nor, he added quickly, did it mean anything that he scored 24 points more than his wife. He still has a way to go to catch Einstein, at above 160, although he's ahead of Madonna's 140.

"Our scores don't reflect the situation in real life," said Mr Jowett, 56, who was among 90,000 viewers who subjected themselves to a televised intelligence test which the

BBC claimed to be a measure of the nation's IQ.

More than nine million people watched the three-hour programme. Viewers were invited to answer 70 multiple choice questions covering language, memory, logic, numbers and perception.

Mr Jowett, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, which represents more than 70 UK airports, contradicts several of Test The Nation's findings. According to the BBC's analysis, the region where he lives is the UK's least intelligent. South-East participants scored an average 106 IQ points, while those in the west of England scored 115.

His eyes are the wrong colour, grey: less "intelligent", according to the BBC, than blue. He does not support West Bromwich Albion, the football team with the brainiest followers, and has no connection with Leicester, identified by the programme as the "brightest" town in Britain, with an average IQ score of 119.

Father-of-three Mr Jowett said: "The test was just a bit of fun really." He said the memory questions were hardest, adding: " Anything to do with numbers was a doddle."

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