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Swot! Keeno! I can still remember the hot flush of shame when no one picked you for games, or your best friend "forgot" to save you a place at lunch. It's not easy being a clever girl, as poor Gail Trimble is finding. The Oxford postgraduate student - billed as the cleverest contestant ever to appear on University Challenge - has set off a giant quarrel. Is she smug and elitist? Or a natural, unaffected girl who just happens to be a brainbox?
Of course it's fantastic that Gail has a planet-sized brain and I think she's handling the storm with grace. But her bluestocking wardrobe creates certain assumptions. I itch to get her out of the cardigan and flats. Clever girls need all the help they can get.
We annoy people in the way clever boys never do. While my male peers boasted about their A-grades, I did everything I could to play it down. I'd lurk around the lockers at my comprehensive school to try to grab my essay results before anyone saw them. I was thrilled when I got put down a set for chemistry (at last I had an Achilles heel).
Clever boys grow up to be celebrated polymaths such as Boris Johnson or Andrew Marr. Clever girls tend to go a bit quiet. Even now I never mention my A-level results (three As, two S-levels), my first-class degree in English or my master of philosophy in modern poetry.
You learn tactics early on to deflect from your cleverness. I developed an obsession with trashy popular culture (even now I know the state of celebrity marriages better than I know the Shadow Cabinet). On holidays in Wales, my special treat was a tabloid newspaper every day.
It didn't help that my mother was the French teacher at our school (my dad was the local education officer). We had no pop music in our house. I longed to know more about hair and make-up but vanity was considered a Very Bad Thing.
We were sent out into the world looking like mini estate agents, with long gloomy fringes and briefcases (what were my parents thinking?). Only my little sister, who was good at sport, was bright enough to escape.
The curse of being clever has left its mark. Ugly Betty is a personal heroine and I have huge reservations about hot-housing children. When helicopter parents start banging on about the importance of children learning Latin at three, I wince. What about social skills, I think, or charm?
I won't lie. Growing up as a clever girl was hell. But it's made me what I am today, equally able to appreciate high art and popular culture. Sometimes - when you hold your nerve - it all comes good in your forties. And, hey, it's not impossible to love Proust and Prada.
Reader views (22)
I do not agree that mainly boys are called for being clever. I am a clever girl myself and I do not even put effort into work!
But suddenly, in high school, you are a swat, nerd, or dork, just for being naturally clever.
I am sick of it. People need to learn what a real nerd/swat/dork is, and when they do, whether you are one or not shouldn't be decided by your grades.
I think a swat/nerd/dork is a name for someone with no social life, that loves to study/ play educational games all day- not a talented kid.
The bullies who use these insults need to at least learn the personality & hobbies of the person before any name calling begins.
I am not for a moment saying that I agree with the name calling, I'm just saying:
JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS NATURALLY CLEVER, THEY ARE NOT A GEEK, NERD, SWAT OR DORK.
- -Anonymous-, North-West, England, 09/04/2010 23:20
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She is someone that has bothered to stick at it.
She may have the advantage of being in a home where learning is/was encouraged, but at the same time, learning is hard none-the-less.
good for her.
- S, Ox, UK, 26/02/2009 12:41
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An admirable beautiful young woman, a breath of fresh air in a smoke-filled room filled with empty headed painted women. In a long life I have seen many blond beauties turn into bitter ugly old hags as stupid in their old age as they were in youth. I have also known some intelligent young women, they are like wine, they improve with the years.
- Ciccio, Toronto, Canada., 25/02/2009 18:16
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Oh come on and get over yourself! Clever boys are the ones bullied not girls. Words like geek and nerd are directed at boys. The awkardness of these girls is more likely to be a product of their all-girls school background rather than their cleverness. Perhaps you'd have worked this out for yourself if you really were as clever as you'd like to think
- Stephen, West Sussex, 25/02/2009 17:58
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I find the picking on Gail Trimble yet another disgusting facet of life in Britain, the envy and spite that loves to bully those who excel. She clearly loves learning and derives pleasure from being widely-read and knowledgeable about an impressive range of subjects. Good luck to her - no way is she arrogant! I hope she will be head-hunted by some prestigious organisation that will appreciate her unaffectedness, her keenness
and considerable talents. Perhaps they will give her a little guidance on how to make the best of her pleasant features, beautiful, glossy hair and flawless complexion. Remember Carol Vorderman on her first Countdown appearance? She, too, looked a bit of a blue stocking, but soon evolved into the glamorous lady she was to become. Leave Gail alone - what harm has she done to any of these petty-minded, jealous backbiters?
- Pamela Stockwell, United Kingdom, 25/02/2009 17:46
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If one has been indulged in full-time education until the age of 26, then yes - she ought to know a lot!
Many people are just as smart, but perhaps even smarter than Ms Trimble by knowing that a dollop of street-smarts, charm, and some good personal presentation are also skills you need.
The way she is now is asking for absolute sabotage on subtle levels when she decides to venture out into the real world. Yes, we applaud intelligence. What no-one likes is a smuggie pulling faces on the next desk and correcting everyone all day long.
- Sally S, London, 25/02/2009 17:44
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Poor Liz Hoggard - what a sad commentary on her school. At my all girls boarding school in the nineteen fifties, clever girls were admired and looked up to. To get into Oxbridge was the ultimate prize. As a avid watcher of University Challenge, I was delighted and thrilled at Gail Trimble's success. Well done! Brava!
- July Glover, London, 25/02/2009 17:09
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There is definitely a prejudice against intelligence in this country.
- Andrew, Edinburgh, 25/02/2009 15:35
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Firstly, University Challenge is about knowing facts, not being able to reason logically. This doesn't require you to be "clever" in the sense that the word "clever" is usually used. Secondly, I don't think 3 'A's at A-level and 2 S-levels necessarily means that you are particularly clever. I also have 2 S-levels (distinction in maths, merit in physics) and 3 'A's at A-level (physics, maths and further maths). At the same sitting I also gained a fourth 'A'-level (chemistry, but not at 'A' grade) and an 'AO' level. These results put me only 5th out of about 75 students in my year at my school - a state grammar that became a comprehensive when I started in my fourth year - so nothing remarkable at all about the grades - and this was 1983, before grade inflation meant that every other candidate was gaining five 'A' grade A-levels. I also have a bachelors and two master degrees, yet I have worked for people who, within the work environment, are pretty much as smart as me and have no or very few qualifications.
- Paul E, London, UK, 25/02/2009 14:08
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We appear to be a nation that favours stupid people rather than the well educated people, just look at many of our television programmes. This girl is clearly a brilliant person; her fashion sense does not take away from that fact. In your photograph she clearly has a lovely smile.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford England, 25/02/2009 13:57
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I think the answer to avoiding being disliked because of your cleverness is to be as self-effacing as you are clever. No-one likes a pompous know-it-all but everyone likes modest people and usually they don't care about your qualifications if you're an approachable down-to-earth person. It's got something to do with being unthreatening - especially for women. I don't know about this particular girl because I didn't watch the programme. Give me Eggheads anyday - more my level of academia!
- Isabel, Woking, 25/02/2009 13:54
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In her makeupless, natural, ecofresh looks, I find her truly attractive. Even more as she is completely aware of her being a great mind.
I am sure she would be happier with an environmentalist than with some snobbish Oxfordshire academic freak.
I wish you the best, Gail.
A tender, Latinamerican kiss to you in the lips.
- Reinaldo, San Antonio de los Altos, Venezuela, 25/02/2009 13:35
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Nick of Croydon (is Croydon the fashion capital of the world? - I think not)being fashionable is not actually all that important. There are other qualities in life, which, Nick, believe it or not, are actually more important. This girl has brains - they will last far beyond dressing up in cheap fashionable clothes.
And as for a sexist remark -is Stan Hayward for real? Does he really think that being "sexy" and appealing to men is the most important thing for a woman? How about - working hard, maximising your brains, getting a good job and having a fulfilling and independant life - with or without a man around? And I thought dinosaurs had expired several million years ago.
- Susannah, London UK, 25/02/2009 13:30
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Clever is hard to define. F'rinstance I was passenger in a Cambridge maths Dons car when he noticed that a back wheel was running on its rim and sparking. Not a major problem really, just slow down and fit the spare. I can only surmise that Newtons Laws are no longer taught as stomping on the brake pedal with only three good wheels was disastrous. Three pirouettes and flew off the motorway backwards. Clever eh?
- Davey, North Cornwall, 25/02/2009 13:27
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Leave the poor girl alone! It appears that she is a normal, well adjusted young lady with an exceptional talent. Bernard Hawkins, Cristiano Ronaldo and Roger Federer all fall into this category and earn millions because of it. Yet nobody slates them !She entered this competition purely for fun. So get a grip all you knockers and whingers, and learn to appreciate the skills of others.
- Tom Rowe, Bury St Edmunds. Suffolk, 25/02/2009 13:24
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Most clever people are so clever you would never know it. Only thickos join Mensa etc. If she was that bright we would never have heard her name.
- John, Aberdeen, UK, 25/02/2009 13:16
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How humble and "quiet" of Liz "never" to mention her own breathtakingly impressive qualifications - especially not to the millions of readers (she hopes) of this newspaper!
- Phil, London, 25/02/2009 13:09
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If I had the choice between being clever or lucky I would be lucky anyday.
- Flaga, poulton le fylde, 25/02/2009 13:07
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"Even now I never mention my A-level results (three As, two S-levels), my first-class degree in English or my master of philosophy in modern poetry."
Is it just me...?
- Word, London, UK, 25/02/2009 13:06
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It’s interesting that many people have claimed that they dislike Gail, not because she’s bright, but appears arrogant when she gets a question correct.
Would these same people, I wonder, say the same about a footballer that just scores, then "shows off", or a runner who crosses the tape first then throws his arms up in celebration of victory?
If not, why not?
I think the answer to that question would give us the answer to “what is true human nature”.
We might be surprised to find we are not so far from the animals as we like to think!
- Darius Midwinter, London UK, 25/02/2009 13:05
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It seemed to me while watching the final of University Challenge that the American girl sitting to Gail Trimble's right was equally as bright, but just as tragically unfashionable - in fact the whole Corpus Christi team were odd!
- Nick, croydon, uk, 25/02/2009 12:48
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The problem of being a clever girl is not being clever but being clever about things that are of little interest to men generally, and unclever but otherwise attractive girls.
If cleverness doesn't help your survival then it doesn't count for much. Better being smart, wise, talented, or charming, and if the worse comes to the worst, just being sexy.
- Stan Hayward, London UK, 25/02/2009 12:47
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