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he’d put these records on one after the other, you know, by [groups like] Fist and Sledgehammer and Witchfynde and god knows what. We’d say, “Ooh, that’s good” and “Don’t like that bit there”. We’d sit and dissect these albums. Anyway, after a week he went to Sean’s and stayed for a whole month apparently, and slept on his couch and raided the fridge. Sean said [Lars] used to stop up all night listening to “It’s Electric” on the headphones.’ He chuckles. More significantly, Tatler recalls how the young Ulrich would ‘watch us [when] we’d rehearse. I’d go to Sean’s and be writing songs and [Lars would] be sat in the corner watching, just observing…Sean had got a little four-track, a TEAC, and we’d be making demos as we’d go. And probably [Lars] was picking up on the vibe, and this is how you write songs and this is what you do.’

He never mentioned that he played drums, though?

‘He didn’t mention that at all. He never once said, “I’m a drummer,” or “I’m gonna form a band” or “Can I have a go on your drums?” Maybe he didn’t think he was very good, or didn’t think he was up to Duncan [Scott]’s standard, I don’t know. He was just a good kid [and] he had that very strange accent. That amused us for weeks.’

According to received wisdom, Lars Ulrich ended his summer sojourn in the UK by somehow finagling his way into Jackson’s Studio in Rickmansworth, where another of his favourite bands, Motörhead, were in the process of recording their Iron Fist album. Speaking now, though, Motörhead leader Lemmy says he has ‘no recollection at all of Lars being there in the studio when we were recording the album. I’m not saying he wasn’t, but it’s so long ago my memory is very hazy of that period.’ Before adding, benevolently, ‘But if Lars says he was there, then I won’t contradict him.’ What Lemmy does recall, however, is a very young and fresh-faced Lars Ulrich turning up at several gigs during the West Coast leg of the band’s first tour of America supporting Ozzy Osbourne, earlier that same year, just weeks before Lars left for the UK. This would tally with Brian Tatler’s recollection of Lars taking him to see Motörhead during his stay that summer when the band headlined Port Vale football ground, where, in a reverse of the situation in America, Ozzy Osbourne was now the opening ‘special guest’ act. ‘[Lars] told me he knew Lemmy and would be able to blag a couple of passes,’ says Tatler. So they took the train to Stoke-on-Trent where Lars did indeed see Lemmy and got both himself and Brian backstage passes for the show.

‘I first met Lars in about 1981,’ confirms Lemmy. ‘It was definitely before Metallica were even together. That first occasion was in my hotel room in Los Angeles. He introduced himself as the guy who ran the Motörhead Fan Club in America – well, it turned out that this was an unofficial branch of the Motörheadbangers, and he was the only member. He never actually had anything to do with the official fan club, although he obviously loved the band. The meeting will always stay in my mind, because he wanted to have a drink with me, and clearly wasn’t used to drinking my measures, so he threw up. It wasn’t that bad, and I didn’t make him clear up or anything like that, but I did insist that he wore a bib for the rest of his time with me in the room.’ He adds with a smirk: ‘Oddly, he threw up the next time we met as well. He hadn’t got any better at this drinking lark. Maybe I should have offered to give him lessons. Or perhaps it’s a strange Danish greeting. I do recall one night – it must have been in about 1985 – when I met up with Lars at the St Moritz Club [in central London]. Anyone who knew anything about me would always know I’d be down there on the fruit machine. Lars came down, and insisted we go drink for drink – and I think he paid for most of it. So, okay we did it, and he ended up virtually passing out. Give the kid credit, though, he kept coming back for more…’

One other band Lars Ulrich definitely did hook up with in the summer of 1981 was Iron Maiden – though not in Britain but at a small club show in Copenhagen,