It’s quite a shock when you discover the woman you love is secretly The Queen of the Plinky-Plonkers.

Then again, we shouldn’t be too surprised that this otherwise hellish year turned out to have one more twist and silver lining up its sleeve.

I confess that my heart sank when my wife said she was going to learn to play the ukulele, or plinky-plonking, to give it its proper name.

I can’t say I am a great fan of the instrument, except in small doses and especially when you have to nod politely and think up encouraging things to say to a beginner asking you if it sounds nice.

So I am relieved and a little bit ashamed to report that, actually, she is really rather good at it, and even a natural.

She’s only had a few online lessons, but is already making it look and sound easy.

And that’s only half the story.

One of the reasons I have no desire to play the ukulele myself is I have worked out that the instrument is really only a front.

Most ukulele players probably start off thinking it’s about playing, but pretty soon it becomes a mere accompaniment to, and excuse for, singing.

Indeed, if you did try to play it without singing along, I’m pretty sure you would have the ukulele police knocking on your door.

So imagine my horror when my wife emerged from lesson number two to ask if I wanted to listen to a recording of her playing but also singing Let It Be.

Saying no was out of the question for a lot of reasons.

And I was already half-way through rehearsing my encouraging but insincere response when I was distracted by the sound of someone singing sweetly.

That sounds good, I thought, and the funny thing is: it sounds a bit like…

“Hold on! Is that really you?”

It was.

For years she has been reminding us of that year in her childhood when she entered the Swindon Music Festival, won an award and was referred to, in this very paper, as “the little girl with the big voice”.

But none of us suspected she could actually still sing, least of all herself.

And here's the thing: if it wasn’t for lockdown, she would never have got round to learning the ukulele.

And if she hadn’t got round to learning the ukulele, she never would have sung.

So there are a few lessons to be learned here, including for me.

And I still say a lasting legacy from 2020 should be how it freed up many of us to learn and master new things that we didn’t have the time or inclination for, before - especially in arts and crafts.

Now my plan is to enrol on a course to learn how to be a theatrical agent and manager.

Because I have visions of singles, albums and a concert tour in 2021.

This time next year, we could be plinky-plonky millionaires.