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In Scotland you could theoretically get a PhD by the time you're 23 (leaving school at 16, 4 yr degree, immediately doing PhD) without being a genius. I know a couple of people that did mostly because the funding was there and they were on a conveyor belt that enabled them to get pissed and avoid responsibility for as long as possible. Their social maturity was also not great I have to say, mostly through being so institutionalised and not breaking out of that 'schoolground' mentality. Tended to be the science students as well in my experience.
Not every one of his claims stands up to close examination 🙂
The timeline of his education and employment doesn't seem to have left much room to fit in a PhD in the conventional way, and you would expect to find at least one citation of his doctoral thesis if it existed, if only by his supervisor to break his duck.