Background

Bianca Lawrence and Jenni Carsons are two 28 year old girls from Epsom, Surrey in England (about 37 minutes away from London by train). Bianca and Jenni weren't life-long friends; Bianca had gone to Ewell Secondary Modern in Danetree Road, West Ewell, Surrey, while Jenni had spent most of her time avoiding classes and uniform at Epsom County Secondary School.

After Jimmy Page's third move in his childhood, he ended up at Ewell Secondary Modern and became fast friends with Bianca, who had supported his unorthodox guitar learning abilities. When he had told her he was going to join a band, Bianca did nothing but support him, although she had her reservations. She knew he had the potential to be great, and although they were the best of friends and nothing more, Bianca couldn't help but fall for his rebellious new-age ways.

Jimmy (or James, as the professors constantly referred to him as, even when he had stressed that is was "Jimmy") was infamous in school for getting scolded for his hair, which normally went about an inch past his collar. This was against uniform, but, as Bianca recalls on one account, he had shouted to a professor that, "Long hair frees us from these fucking awful uniforms."

When Page dropped out at the age of 16, Bianca wanted to do the same. However, being afraid of what her parents would think, she stayed in the prep school and finished it. During the rest of her years in Ewell, she and Jimmy wrote infrequently and he told her tales of his rising success in the music industry. A single letter in particular recorded his encounter with Jeff Beck, who had invited Jimmy to join his new band, The Yardbirds.

Meanwhile, Jenni had gotten kicked out of Epsom County for several accounts of destructive classroom behavior, refusal to except repercussions, and, in one case, indecent exposure. She, too was 16, alike Jimmy and Bianca, although the only trace of either she had gotten was when she had seen Page and his skiffle band on Huw Wheldon's All Your Own, a budding music variety show.

Jenni's parents later put her in Ewell Secondary Modern school where she finished her lessons with only minor outbreaks of inappropriate behavior. Bianca and Jenni shared the same music class; Bianca on clarinet and Jenni on cello. The two became great friends, and while Jenni had never heard from Bianca about Jimmy, he was still sending her letters and phoning her here and then.

When Jimmy came back to see his family, he caught up with Bianca and told her all about his new band, The Yardbirds. He told her of his new best friends, Keith Moon, Jeff Beck, and John Paul Jones, and even explained to her that they were secretly forming a supergroup. He told her tales of rising Pop artists, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones among them, who Jenni beyond adored.

After school, Bianca and Jenni finished their two years of college and moved into a flat on the outskirts of London. Now the year 1968, news came of the split of The Yardbirds and the formation of the New Yardbirds. This was about the time Jenni learned about Jimmy Page, after Bianca had gasped at a headline announcing the separation. 

In the year 1973, after years of writing, phoning, and sparse visits every now and then, Jimmy-- now in the popular rock band Led Zeppelin and the ripe age of 29-- and Bianca meet up again, this time with Jenni who is all but unimpressed by Page's long hair and superiority complex. Jimmy feels likewise, and even admits to Bianca that he thinks Jenni is intent upon stirring up destruction, much to his liking. There was a spark between them that definitely jarred more than a friendship between them.

It was about this time that Bianca and Jimmy began dating, although Jimmy was still avid on sleeping with sleazy groupies backstage. When Jimmy and band mates Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and Bonzo come back after their 1973 North American Tour, the band decides to by a mansion for the lot of them to live in and record in. Bianca, who had stayed faithful to Jimmy regardless of the amount of girls he had laid since the last time they had seen each other, was invited by Page to live with him in the Zeppelin Mansion. Bianca only agrees if her best friend, Jenni, can live with them too.

Now it is Jimmy's turn to have reservations.