A schoolboy with autism has collected more 60 flags which he flies from a pole in his garden - and he knows the history and politics behind every one.

Joshua Moss, 13, says that the flags help combat anxiety and encourage him out of bed in the morning.

A different flag is flown outside the house in Lymington every day, and Joshua encourages a Facebook following of 200 to guess which country the flag is from.

He was diagnosed with autism about a year ago, but has always had an interest in flags and the meanings behind them.

His mother, Isabel Moss, thinks that Josh's passion for vexillography - the design of flags - came from travels with his family at a young age.

The family moved from country to country with the army while Joshua was growing up as his father, Robin Moss, 49, is a British Army officer.

Born in Kuwait, the secondary school pupil spend four years going to an international school in Jordan, and his 11-year-old sister Amelie was born in Cyprus.

Joshua's favourite flag is Bhutan which shows a white dragon on a yellow and orange backdrop.

Joshua said: "When I didn't have my flagpole, I would focus more on the stress of the day and I would feel very tense and very anxious.

"But when I have a flagpole I don't get up thinking 'oh no it's a new day', I get up thinking 'good, let's put up the flag on the flagpole'.

"Bhutan is one of my favourite flags, and I really like Bhutan because obviously it's got the dragon on it.

"In Bhutan they believe the sound of thunder is the dragon - hence why it's a thunder dragon."

Joshua can identify all the flags in the world and has collected 60 so far.

Isabel, a brokerage administrator, said: "The reaction from the neighbours has been fantastic.

"They thought it was something to do with the World Cup, but it's got nothing to do with the World Cup at all.

"We had someone knock on our door to ask us what it was all about, just because they were interested, and the next thing we know it's gone viral on a Facebook page, and everyone wants to know what the flag of the day is.

"It's a way of blocking out what's been overwhelming him in the day, and calming him down.

"So it is escapism and it's also fantastic education, because it's not not just about the flags, he knows capital cities, he knows something about the politics, he's got interesting facts.

"He knows where every single country is in the world - he knows countries I've never even heard of."

Joshua added: "I like flags because of their representation of the nation and the symbolism behind them.

"I know every flag in the world."

many of Joshua's collectin but not natioanal flags bu the the standards of cities, counties, regions or US states.

Josh's Flags: Andalucía, Castilla la Mancha, Aragón, Galicia, Missouri, Kansas, North Carolina,Virginia, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England, Brittany, French Guiana, Amsterdam, Irish four regions flag, Sarawak, Australian capital territory,

Wallonia, Claymore UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Romania, Cyprus, Armenia, Georgia, The Netherlands, Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Nepal, Bhutan, The Maldives, Cambodia, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, North Korea, South Korea, United Korea, Tuvatu, Libya, Chad, South Sudan, Eritrea, Sierra-Leone, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Burundi, Comoros, USA, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, Macau and Bavaria.