Alan Callan (Swan Song Records, 1977-79): In 1977 I was at the Plaza Hotel in New York with Jimmy Page, and we were going out somewhere. It was absolutely pissing down as we walked out through the side of the door of the hotel to where the limo was waiting.

As the doorman takes us to the car, a woman standing in the doorway in a fur coat says: «What do I have to do to get some attention here? Look at these two with their jeans and long hair – how come they got a car immediately?»

The doorman says: «Well, ma’am, it’s like this: the first guy there, he’s been practising what he’s good at since he was six years old. If you went home and did the same, you’d probably get a limo when it rained.»

Barney Hoskyns, Trampled under foot: The power and excess of Led Zeppelin