The Beatles: John Lennon 'terrified' David Bowie when they first met

However, the meeting didn’t go as hoped, Visconti revealed, as he was asked by Bowie to help “buffer the situation”.

He said: “About one in the morning I knocked on the door and for about the next two hours, John Lennon and David weren’t speaking to each other.

“Instead, David was sitting on the floor with an art pad and a charcoal and he was sketching things and he was completely ignoring Lennon. So, after about two hours of that, he [John] finally said to David: ‘Rip that pad in half and give me a few sheets. I want to draw you.’”

This was apparently enough to relax everyone in the room, kickstarting the pair’s relationship.