Steve was getting all emotional the other day after reading a lovely book about Brian May's Red Special guitar. The book goes into amazing detail about how he and his dad designed and built the instrument using amongst other things a fireplace and the valve springs from an old motorbike, which ended up being one of the most recognisable guitars in the world.
There is a lovely account in it by the man himself (Brian, not Steve!) of the performance of God Save the Queen on top of the Palace to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Steve was feeling a little dewy eyed over the thought that out of all the musicians and instruments in the world, her Majesty chose a guitarist, or in Steve's words, 'one of our own.' There is a lovely quote where Brian says 'I felt I was doing it for every kid who ever picked up a guitar and felt the urge to conquer the world.' And that includes, it seems, a certain acoustic guitarist playing in your local village hall...