Danbury artist breaks two pumpkin carving world records

David was so rapid he ran out of pumpkins to carve

A pumpkin sculptor from Danbury has carved a place in the record books by breaking two world records.

David Finkle set new benchmarks for the single fastest carved pumpkin and the most pumpkins carved in one hour.

His time of 20.03 for the first record was three seconds faster than the old mark, whilst 102 carved pumpkins in the 60 minutes was double the old record.

His attempts were filmed by BBC One's Countryfile programme which was aired on the night of Halloween.

"There was a guy called Stephen Clarke in America who held a couple of pumpkin world records and I wanted them, it was as simple as that," he said

The records were the latest chapter in the Writtle College lecturer's pumpkin carving adventure.

His 3D carvings of the likes of Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, Simon Cowell and Wayne Rooney have seen him gain national and international media coverage over the past year.

The record attempts, which took place in Aldham near Colchester, were seen by millions of viewers of Countryfile on Sunday, 31 October.

David was aided and cheered on by Countryfile's Matt Baker

"They asked me to be part of their autumn special, to do these world records, which tied in nicely," he said.

"Matt Baker was next to me and we were both going head to head on the single fastest carved pumpkin and it got so tense, because we were poised ready and waiting and looking at each other.

"He wasn't far behind, only four or five seconds behind my speed so full credit to him."

David's two world record attempts can be seen via the BBC iPlayer.