Rankin pays tribute to the late producer known as the fifth Beatle on his TeamRock Radio show, due to be aired at 11am on Saturday (March 12). He met Martin, who died this week at the age of 90, at the producer's Air Studios in London. But it was Nazareth's antics at Martin's Montserrat studio that were playing on his mind.

Rankin says: "The main memory I've got of George Martin was the first time that I met him. I was in Nazareth at the time and I dropped in to Air Studios to meet with Chris Glen, who was with the Michael Schenker Group at the time.

"Of course Chris wasn't in as he wasn't up yet, and who wonders in to the room but Paul McCartney. He comes over to me and and he said, 'Chris will not be in for hours, do you want to pop into the studio with us.'

"McCartney was doing his solo album at the time, produced of course by George Martin. Linda made me a cup of tea, which I famously didn't drink because I hate tea, and George passed around the biscuits and I had a good blether with him.

"I couldn't tell him who I was because months before that, I was recording at Air Studios Montserrat and apparently Nazareth spilled more drink than Sheena Easton's entire entourage had drank while they were there.