Paul Rochester, 60, of Seaham, County Durham, scooped the top prize with a leek weighing in at 10.7kg for the Canna UK National Giant Vegetables Championships, at the Malvern Autumn Show, in Worcestershire.

He said: “I am over the moon. This is the third time I have broken the world record. The first time was in 2014, at the South Causey Arch Horticultural Show, in Stanley, with a leek weighting 9.6kg.

“The following year I was invited to Malvern Autumn Show and broke the record with a 10.6kg leek.

“I went down last year try and break it again but only managed a 10.4kg, but still won.

“This year I went in with a 10.7kg leek, which was 0.1 past my own world record.

He added: “I have had a fantastic year. I cam second in the National Pot Leek Society, won the World Leek and Onion Show in Blyth with three leeks, and won a snow in Ponteland.”

He secret is lots of hard work, plently of water, good fertilizer and ‘lots of TLC’.