QUIRKY WORLD ... Millennium of music for sale to tune of €350k

ENGLAND: One of the most important record collections to catalogue the history of music from 800AD until 1700 is to go under the hammer at auction.

Compiled by Italian musicologist Andrea Vitali over his lifetime, it comprises 6,242 CDs, 728 LPs, hundreds of singles plus DVDs, VHS videos and audio cassettes.

The authenticity of the recordings including the specific instruments used to re-create the sounds of past centuries was of crucial importance in putting the collection together.