Smurf record

Southampton turned blue last night as more than 700 students dressed up as Smurfs to break an obscure world record.

More than two months of organisation by four students from the University of Southampton came to fruition as 720 people dressed as the cartoon characters filled The Cube nightclub at the university's Highfield campus.

They smashed the record of 451 people dressed as Smurfs held by Warwick University.

James Duncan, Anthony Johnson, Dominic Pitt and Tom Saunders organised the event to raise cash for the Prince's Trust as part of the charity's World Wealth Creation Challenge. James said: "We were really driven to break the record and it's paid off. We feel even more proud to be Southampton University students now."

The Prince's Trust challenge sees students from ten UK universities try to raise as much money for the charity as possible from November until the end of March. The prize for the team that raises the most cash is a gala evening at a top London restaurant.

Organisers have applied to the Guinness World Record Company to make sure the record attempt is official.