A mum went around the world in 50 days to become the first person to play the bagpipes on all seven continents - and she is not even Scottish, writes The Mirror.

Irene Robinson, 57, set out alone on the 50,000-mile trip even after the Guinness Book of Records warned they would not recognise it as a new feat.

Kilt-clad Irene began her musical marathon in the United States by playing in an empty concert hall in New York and a former prison cell on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

Then Irene went to South America gave a bagpipe blast at the foot of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Next she braved knee-knocking temperatures of -10C to pipe in front of penguins in Antarctica.

The mum-of-three then headed to the top of the 629-ft Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand before rocking up at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Stunned passers-by in Asia saw Irene pitch up at the world's busiest road crossing in Shibuya, Japan, and in Hong Kong.

Then she performed at a township in Soweto, South Africa, in front of children who had never before heard the bagpipes.

Irene completed her £15,000 journey in Moscow where she serenaded crowds outside the Kremlin in Red Square.

English-born Irene has played the bagpipes since the aged of 13 when she was inspired by a pipe band at a zoo.

Irene raised £5,000 for three charities during the trip and will be back at work on Monday.

bbabo.Net