Artist Quentin Devine has gone nuts at the prospect of the World Cup and carved five faces of English football legends on a handful of Brazils.

Armed with a scalpel, a magnifying glass and a 99p bag of Brazil Nuts, he spent around four days on each one to perfect his portraits of Gary Lineker, Paul Gascoigne, David Beckham, Alan Shearer and current England star Wayne Rooney.

He said he worked through more than 50 nuts in the challenge, set by TV channel Dave to celebrate its World Cup coverage, before he got it right.

He said: "When Dave asked me to carve the faces of five of England's most loved football legends out of Brazil nuts I knew it would be a challenge. The nuts can be very oily and extremely brittle but I think I managed to successfully capture the essence of each these football heroes.

"My final piece, Gary Lineker, proved to be a tough nut to crack with his large ear span reducing the already tiny surface area I had to work with. After over 20 attempts, many broken ears and all hope lost, I finally perfected it.

"On another note, I know Dave is a comedy channel, but an Irish man carving English footballers into Brazil nuts is a real joke isn't it?"

The channel is showing a succession of shows around Brazil 2014 including specials on England's football heroes, its best goals and its worst gaffes.