The night my hero handed me his Fender

THE first gig I was allowed to go to with friends was to see my favourite band, The Yardbirds. I was 13 and thrilled because my guitar hero was Eric Clapton. Then disaster. We heard that Eric — or God as he was known then — had left the band.

So, wondering if the new guy was any good, we went to Staines Town Hall anyway. And what a revelation! Jeff Beck was not only good, he was sensational — even better than the saintly Eric. My life-long love affair with his guitar playing was kindled. I was lucky in those early years to have pushed a stage door at one club and found myself in The Yardbirds’ dressing room. They were all very friendly as I stammered a few words of praise.

Leaning against the wall was the old Fender Esquire guitar Jeff used then. ‘Can I hold it?’ I asked. ‘Sure,’ he said, handing it to me, ‘do you play?’ I tried a few notes but my fingers were trembling.

Years later I saw that guitar again in a glass case at London’s Hard Rock Cafe.

When Jeff did a retrospective of his music with The White Stripes making up his band, he even played Hi Ho Silver Lining, the dad-dancing classic that dogged his career. He was haunted by the thought his obituary would be headlined: ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining man dies.’

When I left my last newspaper they presented me with a white Stratocaster like Jeff’s and got it signed by him. After my wife Sally, it would be the first thing I’d save from a fire. And Sally’s not entirely convinced it would be in that order.

There’s a photo of guitarists with the Queen in 2005. After meeting Brian May, Jimmy Page and Clapton, she is shaking hands with Jeff. It is captioned ‘. . . and do you play an instrument, too?’.

Yes, Ma’am, he did. And, despite today’s sadness, we’ll always have his music.