[1] Topham left the band before they achieved mainstream popularity and was replaced by Eric Clapton, the first of three lead guitarists from the Yardbirds to gain an international reputation (the other two being Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page).
Topham recalled, "I was only 15 then, three or four years younger than the rest, and there was no way my parents would let me go out five or six nights a week to play music, even though I was already bringing home double what my father was earning.
Upon his recovery two years later, he entered the fine-arts business, but a chance meeting with Jim McCarty led Topham to return to the blues in 1988.
As a session musician he played 12-string guitar on "Broken Waltz Time" on the Bill Morrissey album, Night Train (Philo Records).
Later, Topham and Jim McCarty teamed up again to contribute the track "Drifting" for the double album Rattlesnake Guitar: The Music of Peter Green.
In the 2000s, Topham guested with the latest edition of The Yardbirds under the co-leadership of McCarty and Dreja, and performed with John Idan in sporadic concerts of his own.