Image: Atlantic Records
The untitled fourth album from Led Zeppelin dropped 52 years ago today, with the band eschewing their name – or any other details for that matter – on the jacket, which bore a picture of a grey-bearded man stooping over with a bundle of thatch on his back and a walking stick propping him up. The identity of that bloke has been a rock mystery – until now.
The gentleman is a Wiltshire thatcher by the name of Lot Long. He was born in Mere, Wiltshire in 1823, and passed away in 1893.
The Guardian reports that Brian Edwards, a visiting research fellow at the University Of The West Of England, discovered the original image while he was curating a Wiltshire Museum exhibition – and of course he knew what it was right away: “Led Zeppelin created the soundtrack that has accompanied me since my teenage years, so I really hope the discovery of this Victorian photograph pleases and entertains Robert, Jimmy and John Paul,” he said.
Apparently Robert Plant bought a copy of the photograph from an antique shop down the road from Jimmy Page‘s house in Pangbourne, Berkshire. Lot Long was believed to be a widower when the photo was taken, living in a wee cottage in Shaftesbury Road, Mere. It later turned up in album called Reminscences Of A Visit To Shaftesbury. Whitsuntide 1892. A Present To Auntie From Ernest. Ernest was the photographer, Ernest Howard Farmer, who died in 1944.
Love, Dr. Scott James
