With nine starred-A GCSEs and four top candidates' awards under his belt, 16-year-old Matthew Clifford must surely claim the title Brain of Bradford, if not Britain.

But the Thornton Grammar School pupil, pictured, doesn't want people getting the wrong idea.

"I don't want it to come across like I'm a complete freak," he said. "Of course I am absolutely delighted but this isn't the most important thing in my life. I am a fairly normal person."

The teenager scored perfect results in his GCSEs, with A* grades in all nine subjects. In four of them, English, maths, history and resistant materials (design and technology), he was named by the AQA exam board as one of the top five students nationally.

"I was quite comfortable with the maths exam but technology and history were the two I was most worried about," he said. "I was thinking I might not even get an A*."

Parents Mike and Joyce Clifford, of Clayton, are as amazed as his teachers.

Mr Clifford, a local government officer, said: "The nice thing about Matthew is that he's balanced, he has a wide range of interests rather than being purely academic."

Matthew works out, and he takes an active part in the life of Clayton Baptist Church, helping to run the Sunday School for younger children and even preaching in Sunday services.

"He does have this confidence in standing up in front of people, which I find amazing," said his mother, Joyce, a primary school support assistant.

Matthew has just returned from New York where he attended a Global Young Leaders conference as one of 350 delegates from around the world.

The group elected him chairman - so the highlight of his trip was chairing a final session in the conference chamber of the United Nations headquarters, where he sat in the seat usually occupied by General Secretary Kofi Annan and got to shake the great man's hand.

"I promised people that if they voted for me they would be out on time and we'd get our pizza," he said.

A skilled debater, Matthew may go on to a career in politics, or possibly writing, after completing his sixth form studies at Thornton Grammar.

Chris Sampson, the school's deputy head teacher, said: "The thing about Matthew is he's not at all odd, unpopular or introspective. He is a great lad."

Asked whether his success proved boys did not always, as national figures indicate, trail girls in exams, Matthew quipped: "That's my secret - I haven't told them I'm a woman!"

A-Level results are in our schools section