A national internet quiz has ranked Brighton and Hove as the cleverest place in Britain.

Residents answered 87% of questions correctly in the quiz run on Microsoft's MSN web site.

The resort topped a league of 30 British towns and cities.

Wolverhampton came bottom, with residents answering only 36% of questions correctly.

But residents of the Midlands town did have a chance of revenge this morning when the Mayor of Brighton, David Watkins, took part in a phone quiz with the mayor of Wolverhampton.

This time the Black Country beat the seaside - the Midlands mayor won by one point.

Coun Watkins was not disappointed by his defeat and he paid tribute to his city's clever-clogses.

He said: "I am not surprised we are the cleverest place in Britain. We are a melting pot of intelligence from a society that is made up of people of all ages from a variety of backgrounds.

"I am afraid I rather let the city down but I did point out the Albion beat Wolves 4-1 at football earlier this month, and that is far more important."

Coun Watkins left school at the age of 14 and gained his education at the 'University of Life'.

Internet users visiting the MSN home page were invited to answer ten multiple choice questions from a database of 500.

They included "Who is the England football captain?" (David Beckham) and "What does Sinn Fein literally mean?" (Ourselves alone).

One question stumped every single contestant. No one knew the doldrums was an area of low atmospheric pressure over the equator.

The full league table is: Brighton 87%, Leicester 70%, Southampton 67%, Bristol 66%, Aberdeen 65%, Glasgow 65%, Liverpool 65%, Cardiff 63%, Birmingham 63%, London 60%, Edinburgh 57%, Plymouth 55%, Sunderland 55%, Norwich 55%, Newcastle 55%, Carlisle 55%, Leeds 54%, Ipswich 54%, Hull 53%, Bath 52%, Sheffield 52%, York 52%, Manchester 52%, Oxford 52%, Exeter 52%, Coventry 51%, Dundee 51%, Swansea 50%, Cambridge 49%, Wolverhampton 36%.