McCartney added: “I think the most amazing thing besides actually just meeting him was he had the first remote television channel changer that we’d ever seen, ’cause you know, it was that year when they came out.

“He was just aiming it at the TV, and the channels were changing and we go ‘Whoa! He is indeed the mighty God. He can turn the channels without approaching the television set!’ So we were very impressed by that.”

Lennon was far less impressed by everything he saw and Hutchins later recalled: “As we left and were walking down the drive, Parker called out after me: ‘Tell the fans it was a wonderful night’. John turned to me and said: ‘Tell them it was crap.’

“Elvis had prepared a little party for when we got there, but it was rather stilted and felt too obviously set up by me and Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. John was disappointed in Elvis, and was surprised at the level of control Parker had over him. 

“It was an awkward atmosphere, with John trying to lighten the mood by putting on an Inspector Clouseau voice, which just baffled Elvis.”