It’s almost 50 years since the day in August 1968 when Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Robert Plant gathered in a cramped room in London’s Chinatown for their first rehearsal together.

Led Zeppelin went on to become the biggest band of the 1970s, selling tens of millions of albums and packing out stadiums across the globe. They were revered and reviled in equal measures.

Although they only played seven concerts north of the border, the group had some unusual ties to Scotland. To mark their 50th anniversary, here are 50 facts about Led Zeppelin in Scotland.

1) Prior to forming Led Zeppelin, guitarist Jimmy Page played Scottish gigs with The Yardbirds, including in Elgin, Kirkcaldy, Cowdenbeath Palais de Danse, Perth, Ayr Ice Rink, Dunbar and Glasgow.

2) In August 1967, Robert Plant’s Band of Joy played the Top Storey Club in Edinburgh, on the site of what became the St James Centre. The show marked the closure of Radio Scotland pirate station – support came from Cameron’s Mustard and The Stud.

3) In October 1967, the Band of Joy played at the Rosewell Miners Institute in Midlothian, supported by the Bay City Rollers.

4) At a concert in Melrose, the Band of Joy shared the bill with Borders band Ceiling Light Machine. Their singer Loudon Temple recalls how Band of Joy and future Zeppelin drummer John Bonham “said he enjoyed our set so much that if we were ever looking for a drummer, he’d be keen to put his name forward for consideration!”

5) Nazareth’s vocalist Dan McCafferty told Classic Rock magazine that they were once supported by the Band of Joy at a gig at Kirkcaldy YMCA and lent them £15 for petrol money. “We never got that £15 back,” recalled Dan.

6) Among the influences cited by Plant were Scots folk psychedelics The Incredible String Band. Plant told Q magazin: “Some of the best times I’ve ever had was at a String Band show just being carried away by the whole experience.”

7) Page held Scots guitarist Bert Jansch in high regard. He told the NME: “Probably my greatest influence on acoustic guitar is Bert Jansch, who was a real dream-weaver. He was incredibly original…his first album had a great effect on me.”

8) Another more left-field influence on Page was the renowned Kilsyth-born violinist David McCallum, who advised the guitarist to experiment with the violin bow. Page used it to great effect during live performances of Dazed and Confused. McCallum was the father of Man from Uncle actor (also David).

9) Zeppelin’s bassist John Paul Jones worked as a session player, alongside Jimmy Page, on Hurdy Gurdy Man by Maryhill minstrel Donovan in 1968.

10) There is some debate over whether John Bonham played on that session too. But Donovan in his biography suggests the session was an inspiration for Led Zeppelin.

11) Led Zeppelin’s first gig north of the border was to have been at the Edinburgh Usher Hall on February 7th 1970 but was cancelled after Robert Plant suffered facial injuries when his Jaguar car spun off the road after a concert in Birmingham by the American band Spirit.

12) The Usher Hall gig was rescheduled for February 17, with English prog-rockers Barclay James Harvest supporting. It was a Heriot Watt University Promotion.

13) In the concert programme, fans were told that the group turned down six other offers to appear in Edinburgh. “You are watching the most expensive live action group in Britain and the top ticket price is 22 shillings.”

14) Led Zeppelin were paid £1,150 for the Usher Hall show. Management provided and paid for microphones and a grand piano.

15) In 1970, Jimmy Page bought Boleskine House, a Georgian villa at Foyers by Loch Ness, the former home of the occultist Alastair Crowley. The house telephone number was Gorthleck 202.

16) When Jimmy Page heard of the Hydro-Board’s proposal to erect 96-feet high power cable pylons across the southern shore of Loch Ness, he took out adverts in the local paper, decrying the plans as “The New Loch Ness Monster.”

17) On December 22 1970, Page attended a protest meeting against the pylons held at Rose Street Hall in Inverness. The guitarist argued that the cables should be laid underground.

18) Page once told beat writer William Burroughs that the supposedly haunted Boleskine House “had very good vibes for anyone who is relaxed and receptive”

19) Looking back on the pylon campaign, Jimmy told the NME in 1974, “I just was upset that they wanted to put up all those pylons in this magnificent countryside, and I really got involved – doing up petitions and all that…It did do some good, although they ended up doing what they wanted anyway…basically... it was a very good experience for me. I feel very strongly about preserving the countryside.”

20) Glasgow band Stone the Crows supported Zeppelin at a showcase gig at Wembley in November 1971.

21) Zeppelin’s second Scottish show came on Saturday November 13 1971 at the Caird Hall in Dundee as part of a 16-date UK tour tie in with the release of the band’s fourth album.

22) By now Zeppelin were the biggest band in the land and fans queued for up to twenty hours to get one of the £1 tickets. David Morison of the Caird Hall praised the fans for behaving so well “We were absolutely amazed at the sensible way the people in the queue conducted themselves. For most of the morning, the queue stretched along Exchange Street, Castle Street and into Dock Street.”

23) The Dundee Courier hadn’t quite caught up with the Zeppelin phenomenon and reported how “Two thousand young people invaded Dundee from all over Scotland to have a chance of seeing the American ‘underground’ pop group who play ‘progressive’ music.

24) An Evening Telegraph reporter told readers: “As the house lights dimmed, the power amplifier system of the band staggered the fans with its enormous volume.”

25) At the end of the Dundee show, Plant told the ecstatic capacity crowd of 2,560 “You’ve got a great little world of rock appreciation here.”

26) There was more ticket frenzy when dates were announced for Glasgow concerts in December 1972. The Evening Citizen reported that “more than a thousand teenagers, many of whom slept out in the street under hail and sleet showers were still queueing in Sauchiehall Street today for tickets for a pop show.” At one point the queue stretched 600 yards from the Clydesdale record store on Rose Street winding along Cambridge Street and Renfrew Street. Some fans slept on mattresses, drank tea, hot soup and even lit fires in the street to keep warm on one of the coldest nights of the year. One fan, Saundra Divers, 18, of Bishopbriggs told the paper: “I came here at 11pm last night. I would have waited a week for these tickets.”

27) The band used the Central Hotel as a base for their two shows at Glasgow’s Green’s Playhouse on Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th December 1972.

28) After the first show, the group’s publicist BP Fallon got beaten up outside the venue when he approached ticket touts who were selling fraudulent tickets. Fallon sustained cuts and bruises but told reporters: “Frankly, I’m glad I didn’t get a knife in my back.”

29) Zeppelin minders later took out revenge on the ticket touts in another brawl outside the venue.

30) Some of the band’s road crew were refused food in the Central Hotel restaurant and moved to alternative accommodation.

31) On their second night at Green’s, Plant dedicated the song Misty Mountain Hop to staff at Central Hotel.

32) There’s a very good bootleg recording of the second Glasgow show. The audience sound quite feral at times. Zeppelin expert Dave Lewis wrote: “Glasgow audiences are renowned for being very receptive, but tonight they are ecstatic!”

33) When Zeppelin refused to do more than one encore, one irate punter supposedly tried to light a bonfire up in the balcony.

34) The Playhouse gigs were the backdrop for the acclaimed 2002 novel Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me by Martin Millar.

35) Zeppelin apparently wanted to play Ayr Ice Rink on this tour but were told the venue was unavailable.

36) After a break for Christmas, the band were back on the road – playing Aberdeen Music Hall on January 25 1973 after a 490-mile road trip.

37) The Press and Journal reported that the 1490 tickets sold out fast but said forecasts that black market tickets would fetch ‘astronomical prices’ failed to materialise. One tout said canny Aberdonians were refusing to pay £5 for the £1 tickets. “I can’t even get the asking price for the tickets,” he complained.

38) Two days later, Zeppelin played at the Caird Hall in Dundee. Nick Kent reported in the NME that after the show, the band – who had an infamous reputation for hedonism – watched an Edward G Robinson movie in John Paul Jones’ hotel room and then went to bed.

39) Their final gig in Scotland saw the band play at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh on Sunday January 28 1973. It was the first rock concert at the venue. King’s manager Stewart Murray said: “Knowing Led Zeppelin’s reputation for spirited rock, we were just a little apprehensive…but we had next to no trouble.”

40) John Gibson of the Evening News told readers: “Led Zeppelin lashed the crowd up to a two-and-a-half hour performance….The King’s was bombed out of its mind…(but) there was no structural damage.”

41) There were 1,472 fans at the King’s Theatre. A few months later Zeppelin played to 56,800 in Tampa, Florida. They never returned to Scotland.

42) Page filmed his fantasy sequence in the much-maligned film The Song Remains the Same on a Boleskine hillside. Over two cold December nights in 1973, the exhausted star had to repeatedly clamber up the hillside until the scene was finally captured.

43) Glasgow’s Maggie Bell was one of the first signings to Zeppelin’s Swansong label in 1974. Zeppelin’s manager Peter Grant was also manager of Bell’s former band Stone the Crows.

44) The lyrics for Led Zeppelin Four’s Battle of Evermore were written by Plant after he read a book on the Anglo-Scottish Wars.

45) Boogie with Stu on Physical Graffiti and Rock and Roll on Led Zeppelin Four feature Pittenweem’s Ian Stewart on piano.

46) The ex-Rolling Stone was one of only three people to guest on Zeppelin albums – the others being Sandy Denny and Viram Jasani.

47) Over 2000 fans from Scotland bought tickets for Zeppelin’s shows at London’s Earls Court in May, 1975. Many travelled south on special trains from Glasgow dubbed the Zeppelin Express.

48) In 1979, Jimmy Page opened a refurbished harbour in Caithness.

49) In 2007, Page gave evidence at the trial of an alleged music bootlegger in Glasgow.

50) Robert Plant is a regular visitor to the Hebrides. He once bought a fan a pint in the public bar of the Rodel Hotel on Harris.