But no matter how many cheery pictures of him appear, Morrison  suspects he will never lose his reputation for being a colossal grouch. “I think there’s been so much written about me being dead serious and never smiling and all the rest of it that the label’s never going to go away. Which is totally absurd because there’s a lot of humour in my work – at least I think there is – and as people who come to my gigs know, there’s a lot of humour there too.”

So are you saying that you’re actually more of a glass half-full sort of fellow, rather than a glass half-empty one?

“I would – yeah!”

Our time is up and as I pack up my recorder, something else unexpected happens. Van Morrison takes off his dark glasses and looks faintly puzzled for a moment before breaking into a grin.

“Do you know, I enjoyed that,” he announces.

No one reacts, not at first. And then a wave of astonishment – and relief – seems to sweep through the room.

Roll with the Punches, Van Morrison’s 37th studio album, is out on Sept 22; pre-order at vanmorrison.com