ACHILLES LAST STAND from the 1976 LP Presence, is a proggy epic in which, with characteristic modesty, singer Robert Plant used the supposedly invincible mythological Greek warrior as a way of reflecting on a recent car accident in Rhodes in which he broke an arm and both legs. The smash was an example of the so-called "curse" of Led Zeppelin, said to have affected them as a result of guitarist Jimmy Page's interest in the occult. Whatever the truth of that, Achilles Last Stand was probably the final great track Led Zep recorded, and certainly the last on which they achieved, to use Woody Allen's splendid phrase, "maximum heaviosity".

BONZO is the nickname of John Bonham, Led Zep's extraordinary drummer, also known as The Beast, who died on September 25, 1980, choking on his own vomit after drinking an estimated 40 measures of vodka. Bonzo's signature piece was Moby Dick, an instrumental which in its live incarnation featured a drum solo lasting up to half an hour. It's not much to listen to, but you can see some exciting footage from the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 at http://tinyurl.com/qz6wm. The band wisely decided not to carry on without him. Bonham's son, Jason, will drum during Led Zep's forthcoming show at the O2 arena in London.

CROWLEY, ALEISTER, AKA THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD fascinated Jimmy Page so much that, in 1971, he purchased Crowley's former residence, Boleskine House, on the shore of Loch Ness, and claimed that it was haunted by a decapitated head. His interest fuelled rumours that Led Zeppelin had sold their souls to the devil.

DENNY, SANDY: duetted with Robert Plant on The Battle Of Evermore. The English folk singer, formerly of Fairport Convention, was the only guest vocalist ever to perform with Zep.

EXCESS is a word synonymous with Led Zep thanks, in part, to Stephen Davis's unauthorised biography Hammer Of The Gods. One of the all-time great rock 'n' roll sleaze-tomes, Hammer does not skimp on the dirt. In some ways, you only need to read the index: "Bonham, John - violent behavior of"; "Page, Jimmy - heroin use"; "Plant, Robert - sheep farm of".

FINGER Led Zeppelin's November 26 show at the 02 arena has been postponed until December 10 as a result of Jimmy Page falling over and breaking the little finger on his left hand. According to a 1975 interview, Page broke his left ring finger in a train door one week before Zep's US tour. Jack Daniels and Codeine got him through, and the complicated Dazed And Confused was dropped temporarily from the set.

GRANT, PETER was the band's legendary manager. A former wrestler and actor, he appeared in both Guns Of Navarone and The Benny Hill Show. You don't get that with Louis Walsh.

HURDY GURDY MAN In his biography, Scots troubador Donovan reports that Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham all worked as hired musicians on his 1968 single Hurdy Gurdy Man, and speculates that they may have been inspired to form Led Zeppelin by its "metal-folk" sound.

I AM A GOLDEN GOD! It's often written that Robert Plant yelled this from the balcony of the Hyatt hotel, Los Angeles, but the man himself has admitted proclaiming it while atop a palm tree at John Bonham's birthday party in 1972. Cameron Crowe later gave the line to a character in his film Almost Famous.

JOHNSON, BLIND WILLIE One of the many bluesmen on whose work Led Zeppelin have drawn, sometimes controversially. The Lemon Song, for instance, drew upon works by Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson and Albert King, but was credited solely to the band, prompting a lawsuit.

KASHMIR The greatest song on the greatest Led Zeppelin album, 1975's Physical Graffiti, Kashmir showcases Robert Plant's fascination with eastern music and is almost nine minutes of building intensity, which even Puff Daddy could not sully when he sampled it for Come With Me.

LEAD ZEPPELIN What Zep were called until Peter Grant changed the spelling so it wouldn't be mispronounced by Americans. The name is said to have been coined by The Who's Keith Moon.

MOTHERSHIP The new Led Zep best of is released tomorrow and comprises 24 songs from throughout their career. But as you can pick up each of their eight studio albums for about a fiver each, why not do that instead?

NO QUARTER The strongest song from Led Zep's 1973 album Houses Of The Holy, the one with the sleeve showing naked children climbing the Giant's Causeway. In the 1976 concert film The Song Remains The Same, a live version provides the soundtrack to a disturbing/hilarious fantasy sequence in which bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones wears a scary mask and rides a horse.

O2 ARENA When it was announced that Led Zep were to play a one-off charity concert at the venue formerly known as the Millennium Dome, more than a million fans applied for 20,000 tickets. The concert is a tribute to Atlantic Records boss Ahmet Ertegun, who died late last year. In recent interviews, Jimmy Page indicated the show would last for over 90 minutes, while John Paul Jones suggested that they might well play Stairway To Heaven, a song Robert Plant is said to regard with as much fondness as the Ancient Mariner had for his albatross.

PERCY The nickname of Robert Plant, deriving from Percy Thrower. Though Plant is more associated with preening than pruning, there is something about the name that suits, his flamboyant, bombastic, ridiculous side. "Six months goes by in a flash when you're a genius," he once said, Percyishly.

QUIET ONE, THE The nickname of John Paul Jones, a former public schoolboy and chorister who spent over a decade in the eye of the Led Zep storm. In a recent interview Jones explained the story behind the song Royal Orleans: he and a transvestite called "Stephanie" got stoned together in his hotel room; when Jones fell asleep, a joint set the room on fire and he woke up surrounded by firemen. Oh yeah, he was the quiet one.

RAISING SAND Robert Plant's current album, made in collaboration with the country singer Alison Krauss, and featuring rootsy performances of songs by Gene Clark, Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt among others. In an age when singles and downloads seem more significant than collections of songs, Raising Sand is a powerful counter-argument and a late contender for best album of 2007.

STARSHIP, THE Led Zeppelin's private jet ferried them across America during their 1973 tour. There was an electric organ on board and a double bed. Robert Plant's favourite memory of The Starship? "Oral sex in turbulence."

TOLKIEN, JRR Robert Plant is a big fan of the fantasy author and has incorporated references to his books in a number of songs. YouTube has a fantastic homemade video in which Led Zep's Ramble On plays over footage from the 1977 animated film of The Hobbit. http://tinyurl.com/37v5s2 UNDRESS in a partial state of which Robert Plant spent an entire decade. Archive footage suggests that for the whole of the 1970s he didn't once do up his buttons. Asked recently what would be the main difference between the O2 Arena gig and Led Zep's last British performance at Knebworth in 1979, Plant replied: "I won't have my shirt quite that open this time around."

VALHALLA In Norse mythology, the home for those slain in battle. Mentioned in Led Zep's Immigrant Song, a tale told from the perspective of Vikings spoiling for a fight. Word reaches the Sunday Herald that a primary three class in Glasgow recently used Immigrant Song as part of a lesson on Vikings. The kids, apparently, were rocking out. "Valhalla, I am coming!"

WHOLE LOTTA LOVE The former theme tune to Top Of The Pops is the archetypal Led Zep number. When Robert Plant performed it at Glasgow Barrowlands in 2005, he introduced it as "a Max Bygraves song that Phil Collins also does".

X-RATED Led Zeppelin, more than any other band of the period, were associated with sexual debauchery, and the stories about them have passed into legend. When it was reported that a groupie had been whipped with a live octopus, John Paul Jones gave a placid denial: "I don't think that's entirely true. As far as I can remember it was a dead shark." Ellen Sander, a journalist who went on the road with Led Zep in 1969, was sickened by their treatment of women. "If you walk inside the cages of the zoo," she wrote, "you get to see the animals close up, stroke the captive pelts and mingle with the energy behind the mystique. You also get to smell the shit first hand." Pamela Des Barres, the self-styled queen of the groupies, isn't complaining though. "When you saw Led Zeppelin play," she writes in her new book, Let's Spend The Night Together, "it was all over bar the orgasm."

YARDBIRDS, THE The band that begat Led Zep. Jimmy Page joined The Yardbirds in 1966, and the following year Peter Grant took over as manager. When they split, Page went looking for a new singer and bonded with Robert Plant over a shared love of American blues and Scotland's Incredible String Band.

ZOSO Taken from a symbol on the cover, Zoso is one of the names used regularly for Led Zep's untitled fourth album. The American journalist Chuck Klosterman has argued that this record spawned all forms of heavy metal, "except maybe Metallica and that sludge from Scandinavia". Since 1971, it has sold 23 million copies in the US alone.

Mothership is released tomorrow and reviewed on page 38. The Song Remains The Same DVD is out on November 19. Led Zeppelin play the O2 Arena, London, on December 10