CHAPTER 6 PAGE 25 LINE 24'It was at the Kidderminster Town Hall that I first met Robert Plant. I am sure at that time he was playing in Gulliver’s People but I could be wrong it was probably The Band of Joy. Even then he was popular and I remember being extremely impressed by the large number of fans the band brought with them. I also remember thinking what a good voice he had, but I don't think at that time he showed any signs of the incredible charisma he had with Led Zeppelin. He was always in later years reminding me of these early gigs. The one thing that I feel he never got over was the fee I used to pay them, he would often, say shaking his head in disbelief a tenner for the whole band, actually Robert, it was quite a lot more than I paid the other local groups. Robert obviously remembered these gigs with great affection as I was shown when shortly before Christmas 2002 he phoned me.
‘Hello’ said a familiar voice ‘This is Robert Plant I don’t know if you remember me I used to play for you at Stourbridge Town Hall?’
It seems he had heard about the Bath and Knebworth Commemorative sets my daughter had produced and wanted to buy two of each. I obviously wasn’t going to accept money from him and he ever the nice guy insisted on paying and a long argument ensued which was finally ended when I played my trump card.
‘For God’s sake Robert,’ I said. ‘There wouldn’t have been anything for me to write about if it wasn’t for you and Zep.’
Not quite the truth but it finally convinced him to accept the sets as a gift'.____________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 48 PAGE 205 LINE 1Once we got on site, in preparation for the event, the fun started. The first thing that happened was 10cc, feeling a little upstaged by the Stones extravagant structure, decided to hang an enormous nose complete with a Zapata style droopy moustache over the representation of Jagger's lips. How they thought they could get away with it, I'm not really sure, as they had brought a sixty foot crane on site to help hang it - hardly the sort of thing you could overlook. They seemed really put out when we asked them to take it down, arguing that it was their way of paying tribute to the Stones. In their opinion, they said, it was a great improvement on the original concept.
On the Thursday before the Festival, the Stones came along for a sound check. While we were all hanging around waiting for some problem or other to be sorted, a large limo arrived and Michael Lindsay Hogg, who was directing the film of the concert, stepped out. I happened to be standing next to Mick, who, along with the other Stones, was undoubtedly footing the bill for this extravagance, when the director made his entrance.
'Fuck me,' Mick exclaimed looking at the limo. 'The cheeky bugger - I drove up in my mini'.