My shattered dream: Just as he finishes it, jigsaw maker's 40,000-piece record goes crash



Dave Evans, 63, from Weymouth, spent five weeks creating the puzzle

It's montage of Queen's Diamond Jubilee photos to display at Sandringham

The 19ft 6in by 8ft puzzle crumpled to the floor while he was adjusting it



Mr Evans now racing to re-do the puzzle by Wednesday

Guinness World Record bid is not affected as submission was already in



He is doing his best to pull himself together.

But when the 40,000-piece puzzle he had been working on for weeks collapsed on to the floor, Dave Evens was in bits.

The master craftsman had just placed the last piece into the world’s biggest hand-cut wooden jigsaw, which he had created from a montage of photos of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

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Magnificent: The 19ft-wide hand-cut jigsaw is a montage of highlights of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee last year Creator Dave Evans was adjusting the jigsaw when he turned to give a passer-by directions and the jigsaw started to sag... Five weeks' work, ruined: Mr Evans was appalled when he looked back and saw what remained of his masterpiece

The very next day, his 19ft by 8ft masterpiece slipped on to the floor, shattering his record-breaking effort in the blink of an eye.



The puzzle had been displayed on a frame which kept it upright at a tilt against a wall. Mr Evens was adjusting it when it tipped too far and slid to the ground.

A webcam set up to record his progress with the puzzle captured the moment of disaster.

'Absolute disaster': Mr Evans' wife, Margaret, who can be heard exclaiming in horror as the jigsaw fell, helps him pick up the pieces

Mr Evans asked for local volunteers to come and help him put the pieces in order so he could re-do the puzzle in time The jigsaw is so thick that many of the pieces stayed together when they fell, but there are still several thousand scattered around

He is seen throwing a wooden baton he was holding to the floor in frustration.

His wife Margaret is heard declaring ‘Absolute disaster’ in the background. Mr Evens, 60, now has seven days to put the puzzle back together at his workshop in Weymouth, Dorset, before it goes on display at the Queen’s Sandringham House in Norfolk.

Luckily he had already measured and photographed his work and sent the details to Guinness World Records.

A day from disaster: Mr Evans put the last piece in to his hand-cut masterpiece to a round of applause

The professional jigsaw-cutter had wanted to do a world record attempt for some time, and thought the Jubilee was a colourful theme

Mr Evens had spent more than 200 hours hand-cutting the jigsaw from 6mm plywood before it collapsed. ‘It seemed to happen in slow motion,’ he said.

‘It’s a fully interlocking jigsaw so when it fell it almost rolled down like a carpet and came down in a huge pile on the floor.’

He added: ‘I was annoyed to say the least. I had no choice but to sit on the floor and start picking up the pieces one by one.’