Leicester student sets British Rubiks cube record

A Leicester student has become the fastest British person to solve a Rubik's cube after he solved the puzzle in a staggering 6.54 seconds.

Ben Whitmore, 21, who is currently studying Mathematics at Leicester, first picked up the 1980s brain teaser when he was just six years old, and has become focused on setting personal records ever since.

He is believed to have picked up the British record over the bank holiday weekend after hosting his own contest in his hometown Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs, which saw 69 participants coming all the way from Australia, America, Malaysia and Singapore.

Each maths-whizz was given five attempts to solve the tricky puzzle, with their best and worst times being removed and an average being taken from the remaining three to determine a winner.

Ben finished second in this latest event with an average of 10.03 seconds, as Keaton Ellis, 19, from Maryland, US, won with an average of 8.21 seconds.

Ben said: "In everyday life it's pretty rare to find someone who can solve a Rubik's Cube, so having a whole bunch of people together like this is interesting. There are a lot of people playing it now.