An eight-year-old boy has achieved outstanding musical success with exam results in the top 17 per cent in the UK.

Oliver Islan, has just received a distinction in his grade five music theory, with 92 per cent.

The exam is considered equivalent to a GCSE and is typically taken by students who are 14 or over.

Oliver was just seven when he began teaching himself music theory - and he has gone from strength to strength after enrolling for classes at Horsforth Music Centre.

The talented youngster also takes classes in keyboard and clarinet at the centre, and is learning to play the guitar at West End Primary, where he is a pupil.

As though that wasn’t enough he is also teaching himself the piano and ukulele.

His proud mum Helen, who plays the cello, said: “When it was his seventh birthday my brother got him some music theory books. He just took them upstairs and started reading them.”

In September last year she enrolled Oliver and his sister Eleni, 10, at Horsforth music centre Despite having two hours in which to sit the ABRSM exam he left after just 45 minutes.

With so much ability a career in music could well be on the cards.

“He wants to be the next Paul McCartney,” Helen said. “He loves the Beatles.