Lord Sydney Ling was known as a European aristocrat with a Guinness World Record — but was any of it real?

There was no doubt the old man had an aura about him.

Maybe it was just the sun shining on the Parisian cafe, or his reputation as a forgotten film auteur and kind of underground celebrity.

Either way, Justin Parkinson, who operates bars and restaurants in Manchester, felt overwhelmed sitting in his presence.

Parkinson was a lover of the Spanish resort island Ibiza — so much so that he’d flown from England just to share a meal with this ageing star of old Ibiza, Lord Sydney Ling.

“I didn’t really know what to say. I sat down [at the cafe] and just actually cried,” Parkinson said of meeting Lord Sydney in 2010.

“I had gone off on this crazy mission to meet somebody and it was all connected with Ibiza. And I was actually sat there with this…