Musical mysteries

Led Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album has always exerted particular fascination. Commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV, it has also been dubbed “Zoso”, after the occult runes on the cover. 

The old man in the centre, bent double by his cargo of bound branches, resembles a sinister apparition from an MR James ghost story. 

 Now the historian Brian Edwards, having chanced upon the original photograph while researching another topic, has seemingly identified the man as Lot Long, a Victorian thatcher from Wiltshire, and the photographer as Ernest Farmer. 

Individual fans can decide whether this discovery enriches the artwork or spoils the enigma.

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