Our very best wishes, and many happy returns, to David Gilmour today, who will be celebrating his 66th birthday!

Born and raised in Cambridge, David became involved with various bands in the area, principally Jokers Wild who were a popular draw when they played, before joining Pink Floyd in 1968. More recent years have seen David concentrating on his solo career, and helping out chums on their musical projects on an ad hoc basis - most recently, appearing on stage with Phil Manzanera at the legendary Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, with Amadou & Mariam at the Crisis "hidden" charity show, and with Jeff Beck at the Royal Albert Hall.

With it being now an incredible six years (time flies!) since the release of his last solo album, On An Island, many people's thoughts are on whether we might see a follow up to that. A little while back, Polly Samson revealed that one of the things she will be working on are some lyrics for David, so we're hopeful that one day that might result in some more new music from him.

In the meantime, as a gift from him (isn't it normally the other way around on birthdays?) David has put his track 'A Pocketful Of Stones' from On An Island available to download (or stream) free from his website for 48 hours. Go to DavidGilmour.com to get this (if indeed you don't already have it).