Britain is about to witness a landmark in popular culture with the 1,000th number one in the UK pop chart. Gazette reporters spoke to Wiltshire musicians who have reached that giddy height.

MUSICIANS and singers across Wiltshire were taken on a trip down memory lane this week as the pop world prepares to celebrate.

There have been 999 Number One songs in the UK since the Official Charts began in 1952, which means Sunday could see the 1,000th record at the top.

For the time being Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock is back at the top of the UK singles chart with his 19th British number one. It was last at number one in January 1958. RCA records intend to re-release all his number ones.

Superstars such as Madonna and Sting have homes in Wiltshire while other chart toppers such as Pink Floyd's Nick Mason. Peter Gabriel from Genesis and Midge Ure have become part of the community.

Teen sensation Billie grew up in Swindon and went on to have three number one hits. Simon May, who was born and raised in Devizes, found fame as the writer of many TV theme tunes including those for EastEnders, Howard's Way, Eldorado, Trainer and Pet Rescue.

In the 1970s he wrote many songs that made it to the charts, but did not have a number one in Britain until 1986, when Every Loser Wins, sung by then EastEnders heartthrob Nick Berry, went to the top.

Confined to the house with flu this week, he said: "I hadn't realised there had been only one less than 1,000 number ones. It is nice to be the member of such a small club.

"I had had a number one hit in America before but having a number one in your own territory is much more fun as everyone knows it is you. It was a very special day when I heard Every Loser Wins had got to the top of the charts."

Mr May, who was a pupil at Dauntsey's School and a student teacher there and at Lavington School, is still writing hit songs. One of his latest, Fragile Not Broken, sung by Natalie, made it to number one in the Belgian charts just before Christmas.

He said: "It was my wife Rosie who gave me the idea for the title. She had dropped an antique plate that had been given to her by a favourite aunt. I asked, is it broken, and she replied, fragile not broken. I said, what a wonderful title for a song."

No one would dare call The Sweet a one hit wonder but it is surprising to note that the archetypal 1970s Glam Rock band only ever had one number one, with Blockbuster in 1973.

Andy Scott, who joined the band in 1970, now lives on the Marlborough Downs between Devizes and Pewsey and remembers the day when it hit the top spot like it was yesterday.

He told the Gazette: "We had six number twos, four number fours but only one number one. It is nice to have that little bit of fame. Blockbuster was the biggest selling record of the year.

"I remember the week we got to number one very well. We had been booked to fly out to the Seychelles to play at the Miss Seychelles competition and we had to go straight to the airport from the BBC studios where we had been recording our appearance on Top of the Pops.

"We were still wearing most of our costumes and all of our make-up as we went on to the jumbo jet and got a lot of very funny looks from the other passengers.

"We had a glass of champagne each and then, very quietly, crept off to the loo to take off the slap."

The following Christmas the band hit the headlines again with their appearance on a TV Christmas special. Bass player Steve Priest appeared as a camp Hitler figure, complete with small moustache and a spiked Second World War German

helmet. Mr Scott was dressed in a zebra suit with three legs.

He said: "There are moments when I find myself giggling away to myself over the antics we got up to in those days. I really miss the guys who are not around any more."

Vocalist Brian Connolly died in 1997 and drummer Mick Tucker in 2002.

Mr Scott moved to the wilds of Wiltshire about 15 years ago and would not swap it for anything. He said: "This is God's own country. I could never go back to living in a town. I look out of the window each morning at the Pewsey Downs and the Marlborough Downs and I thank my lucky stars."

Some would say that reaching number one today is not what it was back in the 1960s. Michael Woodwards, manager of Falcon Records in Chippenham, said he stopped stocking singles over a year ago because the sales were so low.

"Years ago it took hundreds of thousands of sales for a single to get to number one, now figures can be as low as 25,000," he said.

"I heard on Radio Five Live that supporters of Brighton Football Club have released a single to raise money for a new stadium. It had reached number 10 in the midweek charts but had only sold between 1,600 and 2,000 copies."

Mr Woodwards blamed the high cost of singles compared to albums and the fact that music is more readily available for the slump.

"Singles are far too expensive," he said. "The cost should have been reduced to £1.99 years ago but they still cost £3.99 now, and you can get an album for under £10.

"When I was younger there were only a couple of radio programmes and to listen to a song you liked you had to go out and buy it. Now there are umpteen dozen radio shows and music channels like MTV playing constant music. There are so many ways for children to listen to music.

"Years ago singles used to enter the charts at number 20 and build up to number one, but now they are in one week and out the next."

Darren Haynes from The Official UK Charts Company said this week's number one, Elvis's Jailhouse Rock, had sold just 21,000 copies. He said it was the lowest-selling number one single since the 1970s, and maybe in the chart's history. It is not known how many copies it sold when it first entered the charts in the 1950s.

He said Elvis's biggest seller, It's Now or Never, sold 1.2 million copies when it was released in 1960 and was in the top 100 best selling singles of all time.

"The average single which gets to the number one spot sells between 60,000 and 75,000 copies," he said.

The stars with connections to the county

AMONG those in Wiltshire's pop hall of fame is rock artist Peter Gabriel who has a recording studio called Real World Records, based in Box.

In 1986 his single Sledgehammer reached number one and the music video for the song became an award-winning classic, because it featured stop-action animation with live action.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number one in video history in the 100 top music videos in 1993.

It also won nine MTV awards including best video and the prestigious Video Vanguard Award for career achievement in 1987.

Speaking on behalf of Mr Gabriel, who is abroad on holiday, his publicist Caroline Turner said like every artist he wanted another number one.

Ms Turner said: "He has just had a very successful DVD called play and last year he had a world tour with his album Growing Up. Like every artist his aim is to reach number one."

Richard Beck, the former manager and publicist of ex-Ultravox frontman Midge Ure, who went to number one with the original Band Aid release, said promotion for his records could take anything from six weeks to two-and-a-half years worldwide.

Beck said everything was set up in advance for Ure so singles and albums would coincide with a tour.

"We would book a tour so he was touring around the record release, the TV would then happen a month to a week before release.

"You would ideally want the show to run two weeks before release so you would go on Parkinson two weeks in advance before doing magazines. Radio is then very much a last minute thing."

Midge Ure was recently involved in the biggest selling single of 2004, the re-recorded hit Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid 20.

It landed straight in at the top of the charts and repeated the feat of the original single, 20 years earlier, by becoming that year's Christmas number one. Outside of the Band Aid, he recorded a solo number one in 1985, entitled If I Was, and his band Slik were at number one on February 14, 1976 with Forever And Ever.

Corsham-based Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason celebrated the band's sole number one single, Another Brick in the Wall in 1979.

The five-week chart topper was the last number one of the 70s and first of the 80s.

Released on November 16, it had been Pink Floyd's first single release in the UK for 11 years, and first hit single for 12. The anti-educational system diatribe, Another Brick in the Wall, restored the group to the British singles chart.

Swindon singer turned actress Billie Piper took the record world by storm with her arrival on the pop scene in 1998.

Her first single, recorded at the age of 15, titled Because We Want To went straight to number one and in the process made her the youngest solo artist to debut in the UK charts with a number one.

Since then the former Bradon Forest pupil, now 22, has had two further number ones Girlfriend and Day and Night although she has more recently taken to acting.

In March last year she was picked for the role of Dr Who's companion Rose Tyler in the new series which is currently being recorded in Cardiff and is due to be shown later this year.

Born Gordon Matthew Sumner In Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1951, Sting took his performance name from a striped sweater which he favoured in the 1970s.

After launching his career with the Police, recording number one hits like Message in a Bottle, Walking On The Moon, Don't Stand So Close To me, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic and Every Breath You Take, he embarked on a highly successful solo career. Sting owns a Jacobian castle in Wilsford cum Lake near Amesbury, where he records his albums.

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was born into an Italian family in Michigan.

Holiday became her first Top Ten hit, and since then she has had nine number ones, her most recent Music in 2000.

She has a home on Ashcombe Estate in the village of Tollard Royal on the Wiltshire, Dorset border.