First to respond to our recent call for anyone who can beat Wolverhampton solicitor Stuart Rose's claim to musical fame - he once backed Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin on keyboards in a gig (for want of a better word) at Much Wenlock Village Hall in Shropshire - was Colin Adamson.

His claim, to be honest, is a little tenuous. Before qualifying as a solicitor, he was a music teacher and for a year or so had the privilege of teaching Paul Allender, the guitarist in a delightfully named death metal group called Cradle of Filth. 'I understand that their album, Nymphetamine, sold rather well last year,' Mr Adamson tells us.


He continues: 'It's a cliche, I know, but Paul was a nice, quiet boy when I taught him, and the rumours of him sacrificing a virgin every full moon were completely unfounded.'


He then gets even more tenuous by recalling that he has also taught at the Basildon comprehensive where most, if not all, of Depeche Mode were educated. When not teaching budding goths how to play heavy metal, he is a litigation solicitor at Kerseys in Ipswich.


Next up was Jeremy Levison of central London family law practice Levison Meltzer Pigott. Back in the late 70s, he was representing Mick Jagger in his divorce from Bianca, a role which apparently took him around the world. 'Although I would not begin to suggest that Mr Jagger and I ever became friends, we got on well enough,' he explains. 'There came a moment when I found myself sitting, surrounded by various of his guitars, on the sofa of the great man's living room [in London]. My guitar-playing skills, put at their highest, are extremely modest - no more than a few chords. Undaunted, I asked Mr Jagger if he minded (he didn't) if I performed my repertoire on one of his guitars so that, for the rest of time, I could say: "I played Mick Jagger's guitar."'


And here he is, 28 years later, doing just that, which would perhaps be a tad more impressive were old snake hips himself an internationally renowned player of that instrument.


But they have both been trumped by David Small, a partner in the Hungerford office of Charles Lucas & Marshall.


From 1973 to 1976 Mr Small was a full-time professional keyboard player, recorded two LPs, toured with Tim Rose - whom he describes as a 'long-forgotten American singer-songwriter' and we assume is not related to Wolverhampton's Stuart - and then did a UK tour with Nils Lofgren, who is still quite well known as a guitarist and made his name playing with Neil Young.


After that he was Joan Armatrading's keyboard player for about nine months, helping to put together her million-selling hit 'Love and affection' in the rehearsal studio. He gigged (definitely the correct use of the word this time) with her around the UK, plus a short tour in the US, following which they joined up with Supertramp for another UK and Europe tour. Mr Small says: 'My career ended on a high note with the last two gigs being two nights at the Albert Hall (supporting Supertramp again) and then a week at Ronnie Scott's.'


He then felt the need for a more conventional lifestyle and decided to become a solicitor (backtracking to an earlier existence as a law student at Cambridge). He gave up music for 20 years before being tempted back into the fray as bass guitarist for a local rock and soul band. He has got more and more into it in recent years, now playing jazz in small venues in the Newbury/ Hungerford/Reading area; he has also recorded a demo CD and hopes to perform at the Marlborough Jazz Festival in July.



Mr Small has lifted the bar impressively. Can anyone beat that?