Studio on wheels just keeps rolling

A rolling piece of rock history goes under the hammer next week when the Rolling Stones' mobile recording studio comes up for auction.

The first of its kind, the fully equipped studio, built into a lorry trailer, was first used by the Stones in 1970 to record the band's European tour. It was later used to record tracks for the Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street albums.

Because of the band's notoriety, the truck was scrutinised by the authorities wherever it went. It was followed by police helicopters and impounded by customs officers hoping to find drugs secreted in the sound proofed trailer. The mobile was hired out to artists ranging from Led Zeppelin to Bob Marley and the Wailers.

Deep Purple took inspiration from a fire which gutted a casino in Montreux, Switzerland, where they were recording with the mobile. The result - "Smoke on the Water" - became a rock anthem.

The truck is air-conditioned and soundproofed and its equipment remains intact, although it has been superseded by modern digital recording technology. Notwithstanding that, the mobile is expected to raise between pounds 15,000 and pounds 25,000 next Thursday.