QUIRKY WORLD ... Millennium of music for sale to tune of €350k
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.
The music is being sold as one lot at an online auction held by London-based CooperOwen auctions and is estimated to fetch £300,000 (€356,719) .
The breadth and detail of the collection means it is possible to hear more than 1,000 years of western civilisation through the medium of music.
The entire collection spans from as early as 400AD and runs to 1900, but it is the period between 800AD and 1700 which is exciting curators.
Louise Cooper, owner- managing director of CooperOwen Music Media Auctions, said: “This is simply a staggering collection compiled by an expert who attempted to get to the authentic sound of music since 400AD.
“The eras are broken down into ‘antiquity’, up to the end of 700AD; the ‘middle ages’, from 800 until 1300; ‘renaissance’, from 1400 to 1500 ; ‘baroque’ from 1600 to 1750; and ‘classicism’, from 1750 to 1830.
“It clearly would be of much interest to academics studying music who might wish to digitalise it.
“Andrea, who owns the collection, is putting it up for sale because he is concentrating on new projects.
“We anticipate interest from around the world.”
Another lot is Sir Elton John’s piano on which he wrote some of his most popular songs including Yellow Brick Road and Blue Eyes.
The 19th century instrument has a starting price of £75,000.
The auction also includes a guitar that Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain used and smashed during the American leg of his last tour before he died. It has a guide price of £100,000.
A driver speeding at 154mph (250km/h) has been banned from the roads for 56 days, Suffolk police said.
Louie Howlett, 21, was caught on the A11 at Icklingham, Suffolk, by a roads policing officer with a laser speed detection device on April 18, 2016. Howlett, of High Street, Lakenheath, admitted exceeding the 70mph limit and was sentenced at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday. Hewas driving a Seat Leon.
Inspector David Giles, of Suffolk & Norfolk’s roads policing team, speaking after the hearing, said: “This speed is truly staggering and shows a complete disregard for other road users.”
One of the most endangered species of big cat has given birth to two cubs.
It is believed there are only 70 Amur leopards in the wild, with Twycross Zoo saying the new arrivals could help ensure the long-term survival of the species.
The birth of the cubs five weeks ago to parents Kristen and Davidoff was captured on camera — with the cubs already making an appearance in public at the Leicestershire zoo. Director of life sciences Dr Charlotte Macdonald said: “Amur leopards are so precious - there are so few left in the world.”
Police in New York City are searching for two men who broke into an unlocked apartment and made off with a pet rabbit.
The men also took a bracelet and a passport from the Bronx residence.
A CCTV photo shows the men walking down the pavement, one of them carrying the rabbit cage.
A dog in New Jersey saved its owner by breaking glass and barking for help, police said.
Northvale police chief William Essmann said the dog broke a pane of glass and started barking to get attention. Two women who were walking by called police.
Police were able to enter the home, where Mr Essmann said they found the dog’s owner with an unknown medical condition that she may have suffered for an extended period of time. She was taken to hospital for treatment and the dog sustained a minor injury to one of its paws.
Police in a New Hampshire city are trying to find out who spray-painted “I’m drunk” on the side of their station at the weekend.
Portsmouth police sergeant Chris Kiberd said officers noticed someone had spray-painted the message at some point during the night. Mr Kiberd said surveillance cameras are placed around the municipal complex but none were recording in the area where the graffiti was discovered. Other cameras reportedly captured two males with hoods covering their heads fleeing from the scene at around 1am.
