RICHARD ORD: Brian Cox is all that stands between me and rock immortality

American singer and guitarist Jimi Hendrix performs on stage without the distraction of Netflix.

Our Bradley, on deciding he may become a rock star (how difficult can it be?), persuaded his nearest and dearest to buy him an electric guitar.

But after months of ceaseless toil he was dismayed to discover the guitar doesn’t play itself.

Strangely, no amount of posing in front of a mirror with the instrument slung around his waist or randomly wiggling fingers up and down the fretboard gets it to play Stairway to Heaven.

And with that, the guitar remained in his bedroom gathering all manner of dust - bar stardust.

On hearing his guitar was now redundant, I insisted he bring it round to mine so that, in my spare time, I could wrestle a tune out of the machine. How difficult can it be? There are no end of informative and user-friendly YouTube videos that will guide you step by step how to play almost any song under the sun.

As I pointed out to our Bradley as he contemplated the daunting prospect of playing the guitar, ‘Hey, there was a time when Jimi Hendrix couldn’t play. We’ve all got to start somewhere.’

Six months later and the guitar remained untouched. I, however, cannot be fully to blame for the guitar being unplayed. Ted Lasso has to shoulder some responsibility. Along with Black Summer, Servant, Derry Girls, The Boys, and whatever else has been streaming on TV.

About the only thing I did was move the guitar from the front room to my bedroom. I couldn’t face it taunting me as I clicked on a Netflix foreign language war film ‘I’ve heard good reviews about,’ before falling asleep 23 minutes later.

And so it came to pass, that Bradley insisted on taking the guitar away when visiting his old man a few weeks ago. ‘Between university work and the gym, I can start learning some songs,’ he said.

‘Hey,’ I said. ‘Jimi Hendrix didn’t get his first guitar until he was 15. Plenty of time to pick up a tune or two.’

What’s the bet that guitar will be back here, unplayed, in three months?

First guitar at 15 and a legend by the time of his death aged 27. I’ve got the same 12 years as Jimi, and I don’t even want to be half the guitar player he was. Then again, Jimi didn’t have Succession streaming on Sky. Guitar legend or couch potato? Jeez there’s surely only one choice. Yes. Brian Cox is just so good, isn’t he?