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Verwood Rugby players 'are Britain's brightest people'
Anne Robinson and Phillip Schofield hosted the quiz
Verwood Rugby Players are amongst the most knowledgeable people in Britain,
according to a BBC television quiz about the events of 2002. Although a
team of Celebrities including former Take That singer Mark Owen and
EastEnders actress Charlie Brooks, beat off teams of rugby players, hairdressers,
cab drivers and secretaries, the Verwood Boys were the best of the Bunch.
Simon Banks, Dave Hockaday, Darren Clarbull, Andy Hoggins, Mike Wheatley
& Paul McGill represented Verwood RUFC.
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Around 8 million viewers watched the BBC's Test The Nation according to ratings figures.7.9m tuned in for the first part of the survey, which began at 8.30pm, with 7.7m returning for the second part after the 10pm news bulletin.
Comedian Jo Brand was the highest scoring celebrity, getting 87% of the current affairs questions correct but Verwood's Paul McGill scored 90% only 3% short of the individual highest score.Across Britain more than 20,000 people logged on to the internet to complete the quiz at home - revealing a national score of 61% for men and 57% for women. The first Test the Nation show, which was held in May, put celebrities at the bottom of the pile with an average IQ of 97 - 10 points behind the rest of the country.
'Get drunk'
Monday's 70 question quiz saw celebrities score an average of 78%. Jo Brand came top on the celebrity team Host Anne Robinson remarked on Jo Brand's victory: "The answer is to get drunk before the test because that is what she did."
The Verwood Boys followed her advice (but in moderation of course),and are seen below in pre-test preparations
Rugby players came second on 77%, with cab drivers on 74% and a group of parents in third place with 65%. Hairdressers scored 62%, secretaries 60%, and teenagers 58%.
Tabloid readers
The test also broke the results down by age, with those in the 35-49 and 50-70 age brackets scoring joint highest at 64%. The cleverest country in the UK was Northern Ireland on 61%, while England was bottom with 59%. Aberystwyth in Wales was the highest ranked city on 62%, followed by Aberdeen and Manchester with 61%. Broadsheet readers were the highest achievers, getting 66% of questions right, compared to 60% of tabloid readers and 54% of non-newspaper readers.
Brainiest region
The first show in May saw more than nine million viewers tune in to see how their IQ compared to the rest of the country. The experiment compared IQs from the country's regions, with Leicester emerging as the brainiest region with an average IQ of 119. Londonderry in Northern Ireland came bottom of the league with an average of 102. Men had an average score of 111, compared with 104 for women.
The celebrity team finished with a total of 97 points - 10 points below the average IQ for the UK.