Drummer John Walker of Slaithwaite allowed himself a smile when he read that Johnny (of Johnny's Night Club) turned down The Stones when he ran The Catacomb Cellar Club in Huddersfield.

The Stones wanted £20 and Johnny would go no higher than £18.

John was in a 1960s band called The Orbits that later became Status Sound.

"We supported many of the second tier rock and pop bands, such as Herman's Hermits and Dave Berry," he said.

And he remembers their manager saying Johnny had offered them a mid-week gig at the club for a fiver. "We stuck out for £10. We never heard from him again."

At least, John's band were approached and asked to play, rather than being turned down.

"Just to think that the Stones were worth three and a half time more money than we were," he says.

What if the offers were still coming in on that basis? Particularly as the Stones are estimated to earn £221,000 a day.

I am useless at maths, but even I can work out that if The Orbits were still playing, and on the same percentage, they would be earning more than £50,000 a day, which is not a bad split for a four piece rock band.

That would make a nice pension, John.

Eddie Unsworth also had fond memories of times past.

The Catacombs was below the Top Ten night club. In the 1970s it was called Snoopy's and Eddie was DJ.

"The people who came were dressed hippy style with long hair, me included. It was open Friday and Saturday nights from 8pm until 2am and got very packed from 11 onwards when the pubs closed."

The club was a series of small rooms, some linked by a corridor with a roof so low that anyone over five foot eight banged their heads, and had access to the Top Ten club above.

"The Top Ten had famous groups playing, such as Mud, but in Snoopy's I used to play what was then called underground rock music - Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Cream, before they became famous.”

Appropriate really. Underground rock in the Catacombs.