If Elvis Presley were alive - which many believe him to be - he would be 70 years old today. And tonight, all over Britain, America and elsewhere, those who adore and those who impersonate “the King” will be gyrating, rocking and rolling.

It is a milestone night in the world of global Graceland, a night for what the faithful call Elvents, starring people like the Chinese Elvis, the Calypso Elvis, the Jewish Elvis, El Vez in Mexico and Emerald Elvis in Ireland.

Meanwhile, the British pop charts are due to be dominated - maybe even topped - by Elvis all over again: every one of his 18 number one hits is to be re-released between now and the end of April as collectors’ pieces for converts and in pursuit of a new generation of fans. Twenty-seven years after Elvis’s death, Jailhouse Rock could go to number one.

And in a move which has infuriated many fans, Allied Bakeries is selling special-edition loaves of Kingsmill bread in the shape of Elvis’s profile, quiff and all.

Britain’s leading Elvis impersonator, Paul Lillie, will be headlining at the Jailhouse Rock restaurant in Woodford on the outskirts of London. Lillie, who trained in classical bassoon and guitar, insists he is “from a rather different background to the average Elvis impersonator”.

“If you met me in the street,” he says, “you would not think that is what I do. I like transforming myself when I perform, I like the theatrical element.”

Elvis, he says, “had something in his physical presence - he had this androgynous thing, the perfect human being. It’s a tall order to impersonate.”

Last July, Lillie shared first prize in an Elvis impersonation competition, organised by the Elvisly Yours tribute organisation, with Ireland’s Emerald Elvis, aka Mark Leen. Mr Leen runs the Memphian guesthouse in Cork, which has themed Elvis rooms, and will be performing Elvis’s music at Cork opera house tonight to raise money for the tsunami disaster.

“It’s not enough just to perform the songs,” says Leen. “You have to enter the spirit of Elvis, who sang a lot for charity.”

Leen owns £35,000-worth of Elvis clothing - made by the tailors who dressed the real Elvis - and a pair of gold sunglasses modelled on Elvis’s.

Elvis Shmelvis, aka Martin Dias, calls himself Britain’s only Jewish Elvis. “There’s a black Elvis, a Chinese Elvis and so on, so I wanted to be the Jewish Elvis,” he says. “But I got very little Jewish work - just a couple of barmitzvahs. However, the name stuck.”

Tonight, Dias will appear at a “very large party in a hall. It’s a very special day and a chance to renew people’s interest in Elvis - it puts Elvis to the forefront again.” He says that “before anyone did anything, Elvis had done everything”.

The impresario of Elvis-mania in Britain is Sid Shaw, who runs Elvisly Yours, which started out as a memorabilia shop in London’s East End and ended up in Baker Street as a global Elvis institution. Shaw - a former teacher - has a remarkable history of legal battles with the Elvis Presley estate for the right to sell his products - clocks, calendars, sunglasses - on both sides of the Atlantic. He lost battles in America, but won a landmark case in Britain in 1997, when a judge, Hugh Laddie, ruled that the estate could not own Elvis’s name and image.

“Elvis is the man who changed the 20th century, and will still be an icon in the 21st century,” says Shaw, who wants to open a chain of restaurants called Elvisly Yours, with live tribute music.

“I think if Elvis had lived he would still be doing the occasional concert,” he says. “This guy changed the world; when you listen to his songs, they sound brand new each time, whereas after you listen to a Spice Girls song four times you’re banging your head against the wall.”

The rerelease of singles began this week with All Shook Up and Jailhouse Rock, and will end with A Little Less Conversation on April 23. There is every chance that one of them will become Britain’s 1,000th number one.

Last month was an eventful one in Elvisland, with Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’s daughter, selling an 85% controlling stake in the business that manages her father’s music rights and the Graceland mansion to the music promotion tycoon Robert Sillerman for $100m (£53m).

The world of Elvis is a sometimes wayward one in which many devotees believe that he still lives. If you key the words Elvis Presley into Google, nearly 3m sites come up, of which one third answer to the key words “Elvis lives”.

You can take your pick: Aidan Morgan of Winnipeg, Canada, thinks “my graphics teacher is none other than the King”. Elvis has been spotted working at a branch of McDonald’s in Hawaii. Elvis is “alive and well and living in north Moldova”. Some believe that a wax image of Elvis went into the grave in 1977, while the man himself bought a one-way ticket to Argentina under the pseudonym John Burrows.

Perhaps most exciting of all this birthday weekend is news in the current edition of the Impartial Reporter in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. According to the paper, Elvis is to stage “the most sensational comeback of all time” at the Lady of the Lake music festival in Irvinestown.

“The Elvis Presley comeback concert is scheduled for Wednesday July 19th,” says the Reporter, “when the man himself will arrive in Irvinestown, where a fleet of Cadillac limousines will escort him to the concert venue ... “

“Any lingering doubts [that Elvis lives] will be quashed,” says festival organiser Jimmy Dundas, who nevertheless acknowledges “that people might dismiss the Elvis comeback as ‘just another silly stunt’, especially after the ‘live leprechaun’ business two years ago.”

A life in facts

· Elvis Aaron Presley was one of twin boys. His brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn

· There are 22 Elvis Presleys on the UK electoral roll

· According to his school records, Elvis had an IQ of 70

· Elvis was naturally blond but dyed his hair black to copy singer Roy Orbison

· According to an FBI report, Presley believed the Beatles had led young people astray “by their filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music”

· Except for five shows in Canada in 1957, he did not perform in concert outside the US

· In March 1960, Elvis spent an hour at Prestwick airport, his only known visit to the UK

· The famous phrase “Elvis has left the building” reflects the fact that Presley never performed an encore

· Some of Presley’s jewel-encrusted jumpsuits weighed more than 30lb

· For a two-year period, Elvis ate nothing but meatloaf, mashed potatoes and tomatoes

· Elvis became a black belt in karate in 1960

· Elvis wore a cross, a star of David and the Hebrew letter chai. He said: “I don’t want to miss out on heaven due to a technicality”

· In Switzerland, it is illegal to mow a front lawn while dressed as Elvis

Linda MacDonald