June 18 1575:

LONDON: Thomas Harking, a courtier of her majesty Queen Elizabeth I, has amazed his peers with an incredible lute solo.

Mr Harking, already known as "the fastest fingers in all of Buckinghamshire" was playing a merry tune for his Queen's entertainment when he began peeling off some amazing riffs.

He leapt in the air, his stockinged legs apart, and came down on one knee during the sudden solo.

"Mr Harking's fingers did fairly fly over the wooded instrument at his hand," Lord Chisholm of Surrey said.

The lute solo went on for around three minutes, before Mr Harking retired to his quarters with a chambermaid.