* We are using to a sprinkling of musical madness, particularly in the midst of festival season, but some of this weekend’s bookings seem more incongruous than ever.

First, we have the prospect of the world’s greatest guitarist playing a show at a tiny village cricket club this Saturday.

Rumours that Eric Clapton was playing a set at Wormsley, near Watlington, as a birthday treat for Ian Botham had us scoffing initially, until a message from the all-rounder and charity-fundraising legend’s daughter, Sarah, did indeed confirm that it was the case.

The event promises to also be a magnet for cricket-lovers, with Sir Viv Richards, Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard, Wasim Akram and Shane Warne expected to be among the revellers.

Tickets start at a very reasonable £45 from tickets.sky.com/seats/Beefys-Big-60th-Birthday-Bash

* Drinkers popping along for a quiet drink at The Swan, in Ascott-under-Wychwood, could also be in for a surprise, with the hostelry playing hosttoWest End star Barbara Dickson. The Olivier Award-winning singer headlines the pub’s Swanfest, alongside her keyboardist Nick Holland, from Middle Barton.

“We will be playing our usual mixture of traditional music, 20th century songwriter material and one or two old songs from my pop repertoire of the 1970s and 80s.”

Tickets are £22.50 from swanatascott.com or 01993 832332

* Perhaps the most incongruous event of all, though, takes place in Wiltshire, where artists from all parts of the planet converge on a stately home from tomorrow to Sunday, for a feast of world music.

WOMAD (The World of Music and Dance) is one of the loveliest festivals of the summer; and the sigh of African drummers, Mongolian nose-flute players, Indonesian gamelan artists and Brazilian samba bands playing in the quintessentially English surroundings of Charlton Park is one to gladden the heart.

Tickets and more details from Womad.co.uk