Melon art inspired by World Cup

The carvings take a couple of hours to complete

An amateur artist from Leicester has carved a series of melon sculptures of England's World Cup heroes.

Amrat Parmar, 64, an aerospace engineer, has only been carving the melons since January when a friend suggested he give it a try.

Mr Parmar said World Cup fever convinced him to carve David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney.

"Everyone is talking about the World Cup - so I decided to carve these footballers," he said.

He is not selling the melons - which will last for about a week if left in the freezer overnight - and has displayed them at several local pubs.

"I took a woodcarving course and someone asked me if I had tried carving melons - and when I tried it - they came out really good."

Mr Parmar is retiring next month and hopes to expand his repertoire to include brides and grooms for weddings.