All of us at Brain Damage offer our heartiest best wishes to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, who celebrates the very special occasion of his 70th birthday today, January 27th.

The cornerstone of the band, he had his first drum kit at the tender age of 13. A member of Pink Floyd since the earliest iterations, he is the only one to have appeared on every one of their albums. Thanks to his late father Bill, he has been a "petrol head" from a young boy, and cars have been - and remain - one of his major passions in life. His most recent book, Passion for Speed, is worth checking out, as is the first of a series of DVDs focusing on his cars (with Nick heavily involved). Hopefully more of these DVDs are in the works!

Nick has contributed to a number of magazines on motoring issues over the years (including a fascinating monthly column in Octane Magazine), and four years ago became president of the Guild of Motoring Writers. He is a trustee of the Beaulieu National Motor Museum, and a life member and Guardian of the BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club). He has been involved in motor racing since the early 1970s and has entered Le Mans five times.

Nick - keeping himself busy as ever - has recently been going through some newly discovered unseen footage of the band. He said the black and white clips show himself backstage with band members David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright and Syd Barrett at some gigs in the late-60s. "There are some unseen bits and pieces. We have got a bit of backstage black and white footage – 8mm film – that we took ourselves."

Many happy returns, Nick - hope you have a great day!