Famous Faces

The man responsible for one of the most successful albums of all time recently spoke to us here at BBC Wiltshire.

Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' opus released in 1973 has sold over 16 million albums, launched Richard Branson's Virgin Records label and spawned two sequel albums.

Mike Oldfield in his 70s heyday

The memorable musical motif of the title track was also used to great effect in legendary horror movie The Exorcist.

Multi-instrumentalist Mike had further success with later albums such as 'Hergest Ridge', 'Ommadawn' and his soundtrack to director Roland Joffe's acclaimed 1984 movie The Killing Fields.

Hit single success in the eighties came in the form of 'Moonlight Shadow', 'Pictures in the Dark' and his updated theme for childrens TV show Blue Peter.

Middle age certainly hasn't slowed Mike down as he is still producing well-received albums. His latest, 'Music of the Spheres' is his first classical work and reached number nine in the UK album charts shortly after its release in March.