Michael and I were best friends throughout secondary school in Northern Ireland, but the incident I’m relating here happened when I was 13.
We were both mad keen on music and on this particular day, we were up in his bedroom listening to Presence by Led Zeppelin, which had just been released. We were both really into anything vaguely ‘proggy’ – Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis etc – as well as more straightforward rock bands like Led Zep. It was the age when it was incredibly cool to be seen bringing one of those band’s records into school under your arm, protected in a transparent plastic sleeve.