A book covering Jimmy Page early life has been released by a childhood friend of the guitarist. David Williams, from Epsom, is the author of The First Time We Met The Blues, in-which he tells of his friendship with music icons such as Jimmy Page and Mick Jagger. David Williams and Jimmy Page grew up together in Miles Road, Epsom, in the late 1950s, where Page’s first-ever paid gig happened at the Comrades’ Club.

Williams said: “We just grew up kicking a ball around and doing the things kids do, but when we got into our teens we started to get into music. We were liked-minded souls but Jim was the musician. He practised all the time and was like a sponge.”

He later forged ties with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones.

Williams spent much of his working life abroad, from where he never followed Page’s success with Led Zeppelin, and ended up losing interest in the Rolling Stones.

He said: “I last saw the Stones in about 63 in Richmond. By then they were getting followed by a load of screaming girls. “I last saw Brian that same year when we had a drink together. I was very sad to hear of his death a few years later.

“I have heard from Jimmy now and again and he very kindly did the foreword to my book. I remember him popping round to see us in our last house many years ago in a Rolls Royce.”

Part-biography, part-history, “The First Time We Met The Blues” is packed full of great anecdotes and unique insights into the early British blues scene, Page’s formative years as a musician, the beginnings of the Rolling Stones, and much more besides. It culminates with a detailed account of a momentous expedition by van from London to Manchester to see the American Folk-Blues Festival in October 1962 – the first time ever that Williams and his friends had an opportunity to see legendary American bluesmen like T-Bone Walker, Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker in action – and an assessment of its far-reaching aftermath.

The First Time We Met The Blues is published by Music Mentor Books and can be ordered via Amazon.