Lennon and McCartney may have grabbed the headlines but for many the greatest songwriter of the Sixties hailed from London not Liverpool.

Ray Davies led his group, The Kinks, to success on both sides of the pond through clever, catchy songwriting that was seeped in references to life in the capital.

Thirty years later, Britpop saw bands like Blur do something very similar. It’s no coincidence that Waterloo Sunset is Damon Albarn’s favourite song.

Now 65 but showing no signs of retiring, Davies headed to the HMV Apollo Hammersmith on Saturday night for an early bit of carol singing.

In front of a crowd that contained as many grandkids as it did grandparents, Davies began his set playing acoustic renditions of old classics.

Backed by brilliant guitarist Bill Shanley, he rifled through the riff-based rock of You Really Got Me and I Need You, encouraging the audience to clap their hands and sing along.

If his own voice was slightly rough around the edges, it only added to his everyman appeal. As the gentleman behind me put it: “Eez a bleedin’ musical genius – but eez a normal geezer”.

Dedicated Follower of Fashion was delivered in Davies’s finest Johnny Cash impersonation, before a full band appeared during the punkish Dead End Street to turn things up a notch.

Of his solo material, the country-rock of Vietnam Cowboys was a highlight – particularly when it segued into The Shadows’ classic instrumental Apache, complete with knowingly naff guitar poses from Davies.

After 20th Century Man brought the first half to a rousing finish, Davies’ returned backed by 43 members of the Crouch End Festival Choir.

Together, they re-imagined the Kinks classic See My Friends as a haunting a capella, and turned Victoria into near-gospel through a massive call-and-response section.

Waterloo Sunset still sounded like the greatest song ever written about London; Davies remains one of its finest songwriters.