A 56-year old farmer from Fintona revealed he has written to the examinations awarding body CCEA to ask if his O Level paper from 40 years ago can be remarked after doubts over the accuracy of grades in 2017. 

Patrick Flynn, who scored a C in English Literature in 1977 and was dubbed ‘the smartest man in Tyrone’ by his fellow villagers, maintains he was ‘done up like a kipper’ by the exam board after he thought he definitely scored  a B at least.

“Even though I was labelled the smartest man in Tyrone for years back then after getting the C, I knew I’d done a deadly paper and even managed to write a poem that was 14 verses long during it about a Massey Ferguson which had a mind of its own and wanted to be a Lada. We weren’t asked to write a poem at all but I did it anyway to show off my talents. I was gobsmacked when I got the envelope.”

Flynn maintains he has never been able to hold down a relationship since the result due to fears that women were only after him for his brains after word of the ‘C’ grade got out.

CCEA have confirmed that it’s highly unlikely his paper from 1977 still exists but that they’ll look out the back for it anyway.

Meanwhile, schools in Tyrone have confirmed that Tyronish is to be taught as a GCSE this year with the first module teaching pupils how to insult and slag people in their own dialect effectively.