Economy-class hero

Not least since a recent post's title was partly meant to evoke a particular Led Zeppelin song, I was pleasantly surprised by something that appeared in today's Telegraph and has just this moment reached me thanks to The Wife.

In it, Obscene Desserts idol Robyn Hitchcock (beloved not least since he sings songs about trilobites and various other, as Leviticus puts it, 'creeping thing[s] that creepeth upon the earth') comments on his own Led Zep connection.

Which is an intriguing one: apparently, John Paul Jones has been touring with Robyn (at least in Italy, Norway and, um, Dorset) and playing the mandolin.

'These days,' Robyn observes, 'his musical compass points to bluegrass.' Who'd have guessed?

And he offers a nice anecdote:

Like true Englishmen, we eyed each other suspiciously at first, but, after about five years, rang and arranged to meet for coffee. Hot drinks being the catalyst they are, within another two years we flying, economy class, to Italy to perform as an acoustic duo.

Alitalia having missed our connections and lost our gear, John looked surprisingly unwistful when a fan asked him to sign a photo of Led Zeppelin standing in front of their private jet.

A lesson in true humility were there ever one.