LONDON, ENGLAND - He was talking at nine months and by 18 months, was reciting the alphabet in the bath.

Within the next six months, he had a vocabulary stretching to thousands of words, while most children his age would have mastered only about 50.

Meet Oscar Wrigley, the two-year- old with the brain power of Albert Einstein and British scientist Stephen Hawking.

With an IQ of at least 160, he is the youngest boy in Britain to be accepted into Mensa, the international organisation for people with exceptional intelligence.

Assessors at the Gifted Children's Information Centre said Oscar was one of the brightest children they have ever come across, the Telegraph reported.

'His abilities fall well within the range sometimes referred to as intellectually gifted. He demonstrated outstanding ability,' said Dr Peter Congdon, who assessed Oscar. 'He is a child of very superior intelligence,' he said.

Oscar has been ranked in the 99.99th percentile of the population, meaning he is one in 100,000 in terms of his intelligence. He has been ranked off the scale as the Stanford-Binet test cannot measure higher than 160.

His father Joe Wrigley, 29, an IT specialist from Reading in Berkshire, said he expects that some day, his child will turn around and tell him he is an idiot.

'He is always asking questions. Every parent likes to think their child is special, but we knew there was something particularly remarkable about Oscar,' Mr Wrigley said. 'Oscar was recently telling my wife about the reproductive cycle of penguins.'

Mrs Hannah Wrigley, 26, told The Daily Mail: 'He amazes everyone. We knew at 12 weeks he was extremely bright. He was unusually alert.'

The housewife said about her son: 'His vocabulary is amazing. He's able to construct complex sentences.'

Oscar's parents have normal IQs, although his maternal uncle, Mr Jonathan Masters, was a child prodigy who began a university degree in computing at age 13, couriermail.com.au reported.

Oscar's parents say they encourage him to follow any activity in which he shows interest. He is already showing a gift for music and has asked for a saxophone for Christmas, despite the fact that he is far too small to be able to play.

Mr John Stevenage, Mensa's chief executive, confirmed that Oscar had been accepted at age two years, five months and 11 days.

'Oscar shows great potential. Converting that potential to achievement is the challenge for his parents and we are delighted that they have chosen to join the Mensa network for support.'

The youngest British child to join Mensa was Elise Tan Roberts, from Edmonton, London, at two years, four months and 14 days, with an IQ of 156.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.