When Laurie Brokenshire started his puzzle collection as a schoolboy, he had no idea that it would eventually grow to be one of the biggest in the world.

He spoke to SARAH JONES.

SAYING Laurie Brokenshire likes a challenge is something of an understatement.

Not only is he the proud owner of one of the world’s top ten biggest puzzle collections, he has also dreamed up all manner of weird and wonderful adventures to further test himself to the limit.

There was the time he swam the channel, his quest to cycle round the world in stages (he will start the 10,000 km America leg later this year), then there was the London Marathon he completed and also the small matter of a sponsored walk from Portsmouth to London that he will be tackling in May, wearing a blindfold and juggling all the way.

With a collection of more than 10,000 brainteasing puzzles (he never throws any away), the 56- year-old had to build an extension on to his home to fit them all in, and he regularly holds puzzle parties for his friends who “suffer from the same affliction”.

With puzzles in every room of his house in Stubbington, Laurie even keeps some by his bed so he can pit his wits until his head hits the pillow if he so chooses.

Known as one of the world’s best puzzle solvers, companies across the world send the retired Navy Commodore their prototypes so they can get his expert opinion before they hit the shops.

“It’s like mental exercise, I like to keep myself fit,” says Laurie, who also preaches at his local church.

“Body, mind and spirit are absolutely vital. They are the three legs of the tripod.”

His love of puzzles started when he was just 11. More than four decades on, he can still remember his first one clearly – it was a sliding block game called ‘Move the Mountain’.

“I had no money so I would only buy a puzzle if I couldn’t solve it in the shop,” he says.

“It’s now a great regret because it means I didn’t buy many puzzles. You can’t get them now and if you do manage to find them, they cost quite a lot.”

The dad-of-four’s collection grew slowly over the years, pocket money permitting.

By the time he was at university he had managed to build a fairly sizeable haul. “It’s been a steady tirade ever since,” he jokes.

Travelling the world with the Navy meant his collection went global, adding puzzles from as far afield as Japan and Russia.

Now with his house crammed full, you might think there would be few left for him to crack.

But Laurie still does at least one new puzzle a day and always takes some of his “work in progress”

with him wherever he goes.

His purposebuilt puzzle room (complete with a maze on the ceiling) is like a mini museum.

With glass cabinets displaying all manner of puzzles, they range from the tiny and intricate to the large wooden variety.

There are the brightly coloured Rubik’s cubes in every size and shape and optical illusion pictures propped up against the wall.

Upstairs there is another room stacked to the ceiling with cardboard boxes, labelled “dexterity”, “mazes” and “puzzling objects” to name just a few.

Laurie admires a decent puzzle like an art aficionado might view a beautiful painting.

“Even if it’s been there for years you can still appreciate it,” says Laurie, who has been a member of the Magic Circle for 30 years. His favourite are minimalist, “simple and elegant”

but crucially very difficult.

A foster carer for the past 12 years with his wife Ethel and chairman of his local scout group, Laurie more than has his hands full.

It’s just as well then that it takes him just ten minutes on average to solve a new puzzle, stretching to an hour if it’s a really hard one.

“People say to me how do you do puzzles so quickly?

And I say to them, I don’t have time to do them slowly.”

Every year Laurie and Ethel attend an international puzzle convention, this year’s is in San Francisco (they will be cycling there during the next stage of their global bike ride).

Luckily for Laurie, his wife of 29 years doesn’t mind his obsession, which he has spent thousands of pounds on over the years.

“I found out about it when I first went to his mum and dad’s house,” says Ethel, 54.

“He pulled out a box of puzzles from beneath his bed.

I thought that’s very nice, there’s no problem with a box of puzzles but it escalated!”

■ For more information on the Portsmouth to London ‘Magic Trek’ that Laurie will be completing in May with fellow local magicians, visit magictrek.org.uk