نابغه خردسال

Ruth Lawrence made history yesterday when she came a clear first out of the 530 candidates who sat the entrance exam for St. Hugh's College, Oxford. The all-women's college is likely to offer her a scholarship . Ruth sat three three-hour papers-Algebra and Geometry; Calculus, Probability and Statistics; and Maths, Pure and Applied. `I was happy with the first two,' she said yesterday, `but I wasn't sure about the third.'

Ruth, who lives in Huddersfield, has never been to school . Her father; Furry Lawrence, a computer consultant, gave

up his job when Ruth was five to educate her at home. Her mother, Sylvia, who also works in computers, is the family breadwinner .

Harry Lawrence explained that, besides mathematics, Ruth also enjoyed English, history, geography, nature study and other subjects. She began to read at four and started academic subjects at five. `We did not start off with the thought that she would not go to school,' he said, `but we enjoyed teaching her so much and we seemed to be making quite a good job of it, so we just carried on.'