Advertisement
This isn't actually John Fitzgerald. Shutterstock/KPG_Payless
Brainiac

Ireland's youngest Mensa member (he's 6) could read the newspaper before he started school

John Fitzgerald’s parents say they knew he was super intelligent from the age of 12 months.

IRELAND’S YOUNGEST MEMBER of Mensa is a boy of just six years of age.

Limerick native John Fitzgerald has been all over the news today, after it emerged that he joined the organisation just two days ago.

His dad Barry Fitzgerald told Newstalk that the first time he noticed his son was special was when he was about 12 months old. John would read him books before bed:

If I missed a word, or skipped a word, or missed a sentence, or mispronounced a word, he would stop, point at the word and insist I read it correctly.

The proud dad said that the young boy would be reading the newspaper while wearing a nappy.

“He’d be on his hunkers reading the paper,” said Barry.

Annemaria, his mother, told the Irish Examiner that John started to memorise the alphabet when he was two.

There’s no age limit to get into Mensa, and in order to get in you have to take a home test first and then take a supervised test.

According to Irish Mensa:

Mensa can only test from 10.5 years upwards but independent psychological results on those under that age are accepted for membership to Mensa.

It costs around €60 to join per year – but if you come from very fine stock you can get a family deal.

Read: The Troubles, the parties and the loneliness of intelligence: Ireland’s Mensa story>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
41
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.