Bill Drummond: A life on the edge

1955 – Born in the Transkei, South Africa, on 29 April, the son of a Scottish Presbyterian missionary and mission school teacher.

1978 – Co-founds the Zoo Music label with Dave Balfe and releases records by bands made up of friends and rivals on the Zoo label, including Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. A year later he becomes the manager for these bands.

1985 to 1987 – Meets the artist and designer James (Jimmy) Cauty, with whom he forms The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (JAMs).

1988 – Resolves to become a one-hit wonder and releases the novelty single 'Doctorin' the Tardis', under the guise of The Timelords. It goes to No 1.

1990 – Caulty and Drummond form KLF and release 'What Time Is Love', '3AM Eternal' and 'Last Train to Transcentral'. The singles become worldwide hits.

1991 to 1993 – Enlists Tammy Wynette to provide vocals for the single "Justified and Ancient". It makes No 2 on Christmas Day. The KLF are the biggest-selling singles act in the world for 1991. Nominated for four BRITs, they fire machine-gun blanks and slaughter a sheep at the award ceremony. They then retire, deleting their entire back catalogue.

1994 – On 28 August, the duo burn £1m on the Scottish island of Jura. The resultant film, 'Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid', tours the UK.

1998 – Turns down an invitation to write the official song for Scotland's 1998 World Cup campaign.

2002 – Drummond is one the artists, who also include Tracey Emin, involved in a controversial exhibition at the deconsecrated St Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Liverpool. His contribution is a guestbook which asks visitors "Is God a C***?".

2003 – Decides to form a choir called The17.

2008 – Publishes a journal, '17', detailing the project.