The 70 year old was taken into custody in London as part of an ongoing police investigation, named Operation Ravine, into claims youngsters were abused during visits to the Walton Hop disco in Surrey, England, where King and several other famous faces from the pop industry were regular guests.

The Everyone's Gone to the Moon hitmaker was held by officers on suspicion of sexual offences with boys under the age of 16.

Two other men, aged 77 and 86, were also arrested.

All three have since been released on bail until 9 March (16).

Detectives have revealed they are pursuing "a number of lines of inquiry" and have appealed to the public to get in touch with any other information which may aid their investigation.

King isn't the only veteran U.K. celebrity to face investigation over decades-old incidents - high-powered publicist Max Clifford will stand trial in February (16) for allegedly indecently assaulting a 17-year-old girl in the early 1980s, while disgraced Australian entertainer Rolf Harris was sentenced to more than five years behind bars last year (14) for sexually abusing young girls over a 20-year period.

Their arrests were part of a number made in the ongoing Operation Yewtree investigation, launched in the wake of the sex scandal linked to late BBC broadcaster Jimmy Savile.