British fans, he said, would have to content themselves with the 90 minutes Elvis spent on UK soil during his 1960 stopover at Prestwick Airport. But it did not stop them loving him.

Last night more than 1,000 members of the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain joined a crowd gathering in the darkness outside Graceland in Memphis to remember his death in 1977.

Later today the British contingent - the largest non-American representation there - will be among the first of some 20,000 devotees from as far afield as Japan and Togo to tour the singer's old mansion at 3724 Elvis Presley Boulevard.

For UK fans, today marks a double anniversary in the life of Elvis Aaron Presley. Not only is it 30 years since he was declared dead in the emergency ward of Memphis Baptist Hospital, it is also half a century since the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain was formed.

Leading the party is Todd Slaughter, a 62-year-old mechanical engineer from Leicester, who has been at the helm of the fan club since 1967.

Speaking from a hotel room in Pigeon Forge, Mississippi, before starting the long pilgrimage to Graceland, he insisted there was nothing risible about the on-going love affair so many people still have with the long-dead singer. It is a kind of devotion now gone from popular music, he says.

"Our group is a collection of very normal people, all united by respect for a man and love for his music," he said. "You won't see our kind, decades from now. That is because music has changed, and with it what it means to be a fan."

Some of those attending today's events have paid up to £3,500 to make the journey to the United States. Their odyssey began, naturally enough, in Elvis's hometown of Tupelo where 20 coac loads of fans congregated at the Ramada Inn before being given a motorcycle outrider escort through the city, a full civic welcome and an evening banquet with local dignitaries.

Then they made their way to Memphis to see "Britain's Best Elvis", Simon Patrick, perform at the singer's personal cinema, the Memphian Movie Theatre. The trip culminates at the Heart of Rock'n'Roll party on the roof of the Gibson Guitar Factory overlooking the Mississippi River on Saturday.

In an unexpected break from tradition, it is the first time that the commercial keepers of the Elvis legend have opened the gates to impersonators with an officially sanctioned Ultimate Tribute Contest.

Mr Slaughter is unconvinced, however, by this innovation, which followed the sale of Elvis Presley Enterprises two years ago to CKX, owner of the American Idol TV show.

"True fans don't do impersonations," he says. "For decades Elvis fans have been portrayed as a bunch of weirdos who dress up as him, or conspiracy theorists who think the King is still alive. But we've got more dignity than that."

Paul Larcombe, 36, a former Naval officer from Crewe, will be flying the flag for Britain in the final of the contest where he will take on nine other impersonators.

Mr Larcombe is part of a very broad church. There are female Elvises, black Elvises, at least one Sikh Elvis, and a dwarf Elvis. One of Britain's top Elvis tribute acts is the Chinese Elvis, Paul Courtenay Hyu.

Yet at heart all share the same philosophy. "I have the utmost respect for the king of rock'n' roll and will always try to do him justice by celebrating his music in the best way I can," Larcombe says. Elvis, it seems, has yet to leave the building.