If you ever felt sorry for the poor branch-carrying dude on the cover of the Led Zeppelin IV album but took comfort in thinking it was simply a painting of a fictional character, get ready to feel a little uncomfortable. Turns out the “Stick Man” was a real person, that’s a 19th-century photo of him on the UK rock band’s 1971 album cover, and his identity has just been revealed. CNN reports that the mystery man was a roof thatcher named Lot Long, aka Longyear, according to Britain’s Wiltshire Museum—a discovery accidentally made when a researcher found what’s believed to be the original black-and-white picture of Long in an old picture album.
The New York Times reports that Brian Edwards, a visiting research fellow at the University of the West of England, was on the internet in March seeking out upcoming auctions when he came across a Victorian-era photo album filled with about 100 ordinary-looking pictures. However, the album, entitled “Reminiscences of a visit to Shaftesbury. Whitsuntide 1892,” featured one photo that gave Edwards pause. “There was something familiar about it straight away,” he says. When he realized where he’d seen the photo before, Edwards dove further into the picture’s history, discovering that Long, born in 1823, was a 69-year-old widower at the time the photo was taken by a teacher named Ernest Howard Farmer. Long is said to have died in 1893. Edwards called the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, which scooped up the album for just over $500.
Well, that should break the levee!
That is a good album. I’m glad to know the story of the Stick Man.
But do we know why he took a faggot with him everywhere he went?
@Immortal Fish — Well, as a fixer of roofs, it was either faggots on or sod off.
It’s me Da!
I surprised Brian Williams hasn’t claim to have taken the original photo then did an oil painting from it that he gave to Jimmy Page in exchange for a guitar lesson.
I like the real story better.
Not a younger Joe Biden?
Actually, I DID take the original photo and DID the oil painting, but Jimmy took guitar lessons from me. I gave the photo to Bobby Plant because he claimed it looked like his granddad.
And I am a generous guy, if I may say so myself …
That album was just released on 180gr clear vinyl. Like I needed another Zeppelin album. Kidding, Led Zeppelin albums are like ammo, you can never have enough.