Unfortunately for lovers of dust and beautifully over-engineered gear, the room-sized recording console is dying out fast, replaced by software and small, neat, racks of pre-amps and analog summing mixers.

ENGADGET: Music Thing: Frontier Alphatrack

Four-time grand slam champion Clijsters felt there was still room for improvement in her game despite recording a third successive straight-sets win.

CNN: Clijsters faces Li in Aussie final rematch

Immerse yourself in surroundings that evoke a more genteel era and watch treasures from the archives in the glass orangerie (modelled on Crystal Palace), silent films accompanied by live orchestration in the neo-classical drawing room or take part in a foley workshop (recording sound effects) in the crumbling stable block.

BBC: Ireland's most offbeat festivals

There was also an accordion performance, the playing of vinyl on a record player and, towards the end, an impressive piece of physical theatre cleverly set to a flickering light in a darkened room to give the impression of an old cine-film recording - a highlight for me in such a small space.

BBC: Review: It's Like He's Knocking at Pulse Festival 2010

Sue Thompson - a former newsroom assistant at BBC Leeds - also claimed she walked into the star's dressing room after a TV recording and found Sir Jimmy with a young teenager.

BBC: Jimmy Savile in 1974

There was no recording of the interrogation, no one else was in the room or watching from a two-way mirror, and Saldate said he threw away his notes shortly after completing his report.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS