IN the year that Fleetwood Mac sold Benifold House in Headley two new members joined this legendary rock band.

And it is these newcomers, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, and their tumultuous relationship, that are now putting the band back in the spotlight.

In 1974 Fleetwood Mac sold Benifold - the Victorian country house where they had spent four years, on and off, and recorded the two albums Penguin and Mystery to Me. The group, led by Mick Fleetwood whose then wife Jenny Boyd hailed from Guildford (and whose brother in law was The Beatles’ George Harrison), had bought Benifold for £23,000 in 1970.

The sale of the house, which Mick Fleetwood loved (as detailed in his autobiography Play On), coincided with the band’s growing success in the United States and the 1974 admission of the American Nicks and Buckingham to the group, which also consisted, at that time, of Brits John McVie, Christine McVie and American Bob Welch.

Now the Fleetwood Mac soap opera, which has seen the band’s 100 million album sales over 51 years often forced out of the spotlight by its continual feuding, is attracting national and international media attention once again.

“The British-American group has finally imploded as one of its key members is suing the others for sacking him,” wrote Tom Leonard in the Daily Mail on Monday.

Buckingham - singer, songwriter and lead guitarist since 1974 - is seeking millions of dollars in compensation from Fleetwood, Nicks and the McVies in a lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, over income from a forthcoming tour in which he will not be taking part. Buckingham has hinted that the problem lies between him and ex-lover Nicks.