Stephen Hawking Crunches the Numbers to Predict England World Cup Win

Among his other numerous attributes, Stephen Hawking is also apparently a big soccer fan.

In this ad for Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, Hawking notes that as a theoretical physicist, he is "marginally more qualified to make predictions than Paul the Octopus." Hawking then employs general logistic regression modeling to offer the best conditions for an England World Cup win: England should use a 4-3-3 formation, hope for a European referee and a 3:00 kick-off. Hawking acknowledges, though, that when it comes to penalty kicks, "We couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo."