Eric Clapton: Clapton Is God...The Cream Of Early Eric

A VIGNETTE from the days when "God" walked the streets of London: Mike Vernon and I are making our way down Wardour Street towards Shaftesbury Avenue when we become aware of a zone of excitement ahead of us. Pedestrians part and advancing toward us is a woolly-headed kaftan-and-bead-bedecked Eric Clapton and a girlfriend (Alice Ormsby-Gore, perchance?). Imagine the street-cred (decades before the phrase was coined) as Eric spots us and shouts "Mike! Neil!" and we all process to a nearby coffee bar. That may be as close as I ever got to fame. (Nods from the muttering squad, no doubt.)