Tim Vine wins funniest joke at Edinburgh Fringe

Ian West/PA

Tim Vine has won the award for the funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe.

His winning one-liner was: "I decided to sell my Hoover...well it was just collecting dust."

Vine, 47, is the first person to win the award for a second time, having last won the award in 2010.

That year he won with the joke: "I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again."

He was also runner-up in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

This is the seventh year of the competition is run by comedy television channel Dave.

Vine, a Christian, generally keeps his acts clean, but he told the Telegraph in 2012 that's because "I want my mum and dad to watch it, and they're not crazy about effing and blinding."

Responding to his success this year, Vine said: "I'm a little bit surprised but very delighted. This is the second time I've won this award but I guess nobody loves a repeat more than Dave."

Nominations for best joke from the Fringe were put forward by a panel of judges and were then put to a public vote of which Vine won almost 20%.

Vine's stand-up show Tim Timinee Tim Timinee Tim Tim to You was not a total success – one of his other one-liners was among the worst of the festival according to the same panel.

Other favourites included Masai Graham's joke: "I've written a joke about a fat badger, but I couldn't fit into my set." And Mark Watson's: "Always leave them wanting more, my uncle used to say to me. Which is why he lost his job in disaster relief."

Vine is known for his roles in the BBC TV shows Blandings and Not Going Out. His stand-up routines are often comprised almost entirely of one-liners.

In an interview with Premier Christianity magazine earlier this year he said that joke writing is "a bit of a mystery [...] You just have to write, and now and again one of them is funny."