A teenager from Wiltshire has become a UK record holder after solving a Rubik's Cube in less than four seconds.
The previous UK record for the fastest time to solve a standard three-by-three Rubik's Cube was 4.59 seconds, and only two people in the UK have ever been able to go below the four-second barrier.
The first person to do this was Rubik's Cuber Jake Brown at the Weston-Super-Mare speed cubing competition which saw 85 top speed-cubers gather on Sunday, November 17.
But Brown had the title of UK record holder snatched from him when later in the same competition Wiltshire teenager Aidan Grainger took glory with an astounding time of 3.69 seconds.
Aidan is a year 12 A-level student currently studying at Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, and this is not his first time becoming a national record holder.
The Wiltshire teen also holds the UK and the European record for the fastest time to solve a Megamix (a 12-sided Rubik's Cube puzzle shaped like a dodecahedron).
Now Aidan can add the standard three-by-three Rubik's Cube national record to his collection, which also places him as 10th fastest in the world to solve the cube.
"This is so surreal," said the teenager.
"I used to stay up dreaming of situations like this, 4.4 seconds, low 4s maybe.
"But never would I have thought I could have gotten this."
He added: "The day also marked exactly one year on from my first-ever record, making it such an even crazier moment.
"It beats my old personal record by exactly two seconds, and that was a personal record that I thought I would never be beating.
"Shoutout to Jake Brown for getting the UK's first sub 4 merely minutes before this too, absolutely incredible scenes.
"Not sure I'll ever be able to process this."
Aidan's achievement also coincidentally marks the 50th anniversary of the Rubik's Cube, which was invented by the Hungarian Professor Ernö Rubik in 1974.
Although now known widely as a puzzle challenge, the cube's original purpose was actually for science.
Erno wanted to be able to design a cube that contained all moving parts without falling apart, and the Rubik's Cube was the result of his success.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel