The veteran statistician explained that outliers were "something that you are pretty convinced is not just normal variation... there is some special cause behind it".

“Having human data showing an effect like that … it’s a rare thing,” said Jinot, the former EPA statistician and toxicologist.

Adrian Barnett, a statistician at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, was the senior author of the BMJ study that debunked the idea that 27 is a particularly deadly age for musicians.

In previous elections, the political scientists, analysts and statisticians who make up the teams that call the races appeared on camera only when absolutely necessary.

Panorama has examined mounting questions from leading statisticians and medical experts about the safety of her convictions.