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January 2003 to April 2003
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Paul was seen back in London January 29 after a month long holiday in Mexico with Heather.
When Sir Paul McCartney made an impromptu visit to the Cavern in 1968 he made the owner promise not to tell the press. But 35 years later these previously unseen photos of Macca have been revealed for the first time.Paul made a surprise visit to the Cavern Club with his then girlfriend Linda Eastman on October 25, 1968.
Pop memorabilia expert Jason Cornthwaite, of Tracks, in Chorley, said, "Paul called alone at approximately noon and asked if he could call back later with Linda as he was on his way to drop off a record player to his stepsister Ruth in Wirral. Alf Geoghegan, owner of the Cavern, asked Paul if he minded if he took some photographs of the occasion. Paul agreed as long as the press were not informed. Alf realized that he did not have a camera with him and he walked around the corner to Photo-Optics, a photographic shop in North John Street and purchased a Yashica Camera to record the occasion. The salesman accompanied Alf back to the Cavern to set the exposure and shutter speed not having been told who was going to be photographed. Paul returned with Linda and when Alf picked up the camera to take the photographs, Linda said, 'I'm a good photographer, I'll take them for you.' She photographed Paul with Debbie Geoghegan, Alf's daughter, with Paddy Delaney, the Cavern doorman and on stage with Curiosity Shop, a group who were managed by Alf who were rehearsing at the club at the time. Paul then joined the group on stage and played the drums saying that he had always wanted to be a drummer. Also in the photographs can be seen Alf Geoghegan and DJ Billy Butler."
Now these photos are going to be auctioned. Cornthwaite said, "The pictures are worth around £150-£200 ($240-$320) each, particularly because we know the history behind them. And never before seen pictures of the Beatles are becoming rarer and rarer."
Stella McCartney's new studio on Goldborne Road is still under construction, but when the building work on the former church is complete, McCartney's Gucci-backed business will be operating in one of London's most vibrant spots- northern Portobello. (story)
AS one of fashion's most prodigious designers, Stella McCartney has long since established her credentials as a major trend-setter. However, to date, Sir Paul's little girl has chosen to confine her more headline grabbing creations to the catwalks. Not so last night. Onlookers in London's Knightsbridge were stunned by Stella's ultra-glamorous appearance as she stepped out with fiancé Alasdhair Willis. From her perfectly-proportioned chignon, to the slit-to-the-thigh black dress, Stella looked every inch the model bride-to-be. But it was her eye-catching shoes that are sure to make the most notable impression on the fashion pack today. The former Chloe designer put her best foot forward in vertiginous heels, (we estimate at least five inches in height), tied together with a low-slung bandage. It seems that bondage-style footwear is here to stay.
Cong, Ireland which has played host to many famous guests in the past, may soon have a celebrity resident. Speculation is mounting that designer Stella McCartney, daughter of Beatles star Paul McCartney, may be set to buy a house in the picturesque village.
Ms. McCartney, who is due to have her wedding in world-famous Ashford Castle later this year, has been spotted in the area a number of times in recent months and is reported to have fallen in love with a property with a lake view.
Local auctioneers have not been contacted by Ms. McCartney, but remain hopeful - and are available to do business. "Obviously we would be delighted to be involved in the sale of a property to such a well-known person and we will certainly be keeping our ears open for any developments in the coming weeks and months," said one source locally.
Already a popular spot for celebrity weddings, the arrival of a superstar on a more regular basis may further boost tourism in the village made famous by "The Quiet Man."
Paul and Heather were reported to be in Mexico on Entertainment Tonight January 23 where they partook in a couples massage and listened to a mariachi band. Paul got onstage and sang "Hey Jude" with the Mexican band.Paul and Heather were vacationing at Esperanza Resort, a 6-star hotel and resort in Mexico located in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Private villas cost between $2,000 and $5,000 per night. Paul received a complementary 3 night accomodation at the hotel inside his Oscar goodie bag that he received last year at the Oscars.
Inventor Roger Field had a bright idea for a folding guitar. "A built-in mechanism kept the string tension from changing when folded and unfolded so it didn't go out of tune," he explains.Munich-based Field tried to sell his idea to Paul McCartney in 1976. McCartney, it seems, was impressed. "When do I get one?" he asked.
Alas, Field could not make a left-handed version and it has taken him years to perfect his invention. An American company is only now considering it.
Field is still inventing, with 85 patents at the last count. His latest is for a film and camera system to improve the quality of 35mm film for the film industry.
Model-turned-actress Jerry Hall and designer Stella McCartney were among an eclectic gathering of celebrities who stepped out in style for London's South Bank Show awards. One of the big winners at the event, which honors achievements in the arts over the past year, was Ms Dynamite, who pipped veteran David Bowie and chart-toppers Coldplay to scoop the best pop act gong.The event, which also featured appearances by actor Dougray Scott and Bond girl Rosamund Pike, will be screened on ITV1 on January 26.
Abbey Road, the classic Beatles album, has seen its cover fall victim to the latest digital photo techniques.Paul McCartney's cigarette has now been removed from posters and other merchandising. It is now feared that the album itself could be updated when it is reissued.
A spokesman for the remaining Beatles said, "It may seem like political correctness gone mad but there is a strong feeling that smoking shouldn't be depicted as cool.
Amanda Sandford, from the anti-smoking group Ash added, "We are happy to support this action. People who see their idols holding cigarettes are more likely to copy them and start smoking themselves."
The cover of Abbey Road has been subject to many rumors and myths over the years. One rumor suggested that Paul McCartney had died and been replaced in the band with a look-a-like, and that his lack of shoes on the cover was evidence of this.
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has criticized former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney for calling off an Australian tour because of the Bali bombings. And the rocker, often described as "elegantly wasted" said he wouldn't let the terrorism threat change him."I say to Osama and the boys bring it on, evaporate me," Richards told The Sunday Telegraph on the eve of the band's Australian tour. "If it gets to the stage where these guys are dictating if we rock or not, then forget about it. If McCartney uses these guys as an excuse, he should give it away. Don't give them the power. I can't wait to tour Australia, even if they take out my plane on the way there."
Cilla Black is to host a star-studded television show headlined by the two remaining Beatles to celebrate her 40 years in showbusiness. The program looks set to be screened on the BBC after the entertainer announced she is to end her long running stint as presenter of ITV's Blind Date.Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are being lined up to join an A-list line up of the 59-year-old's friends including Sir Elton John, Sir Cliff Richard, Bill Wyman and Joan Collins, reports claim. Cilla is long time friends with the former Beatles from the days when they first found fame in the 1960s.
Before emerging as a singer in her own right she worked as a cloakroom attendant in the Cavern during the days when the Fab Four played at the venue.
Last night Geoff Baker, McCartney's spokesman, said, "They are friends and it's possible but I know nothing more than that."The show is believed to be Cilla's revenge on the ITV bosses she is said to feel pushed her off Blind Date. A BBC insider said, "She is hurt. She feels she's been stabbed in the back and is looking to get revenge by denying the ITV suits a show they'd love because of Paul and Ringo. "We've not seen anything like that for more than 30 years, but all ITV will be able to do is watch and wish they had it."
The highest paid woman on television, earning £70,000 ($112,000) a program for Blind Date, Cilla made the shock announcement that she would quit the dating show she has presented for 17 years at the end of the present series during a special live episode last week. She is thought to be upset by the new contract ITV had drawn up for her and felt forced off the show.
It sounds like a plan for drawing hordes of screaming lawyers to your door: create compilation CDs with sampled music from the likes of the Beatles, James Brown and Johnny Cash, not to mention the voice of Dan Rather; include as many songs as possible that have already sparked legal battles; do it all without getting permission from the copyright owners, and distribute the CDs at a nationally touring art exhibition.Oh, and give the music away online for the millions of people around the globe who can't make it to the show.
So far this operation has not sparked even a lawyer's angry voice mail, said Carrie McLaren, curator of the exhibition, "Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age," where the potentially inflammatory CD is available free, and of its Web site, illegal-art.org.
"They know it'd be like a minefield," said McLaren, who contends that the music, visual art and video pieces in the installation are protected by the "fair use" provision in copyright law that allows for parody and commentary. The exhibition, she says, takes the potentially illegal and makes it untouchable.
Maybe she should talk with Paul McCartney. McCartney's spokesman, Paul Freundlich, is examining the apparently unauthorized use of the Beatles' song "Tomorrow Never Knows" on the "Illegal Art" track "Psycho of Greed" by the rap group Public Enemy. Both Public Enemy and McLaren are violating the law by distributing copyrighted work without permission, Freundlich said. "The people that are actually doing this exhibit are just as guilty as anybody else who's pirating anybody's artwork," he said.
The leader of Public Enemy, Chuck D, neither acknowledges nor denies that his group sampled the Beatles on "Psycho of Greed," allowing only that parts of his song and "Tomorrow Never Knows" sound strikingly similar. (Int'l Herald Tribune)
LATEST MESSAGE FROM PAUL, January 10, 2003New Year Greetings to all you winter websitees.
We had a blast last year seeing so many of you at the shows and we're hoping to see new faces in new places soon as it's looking like now we''ll be driving further down the road. News on that will be coming up soon, but in the meanwhile here's wishing you all a happy, healthy and lovin' Two Thousand And Free.
Love Paul and Heather
In recent months fur has experienced a revival, hitting its vile peak with the much publicized news that Stella McCartney had seriously scolded Madge for wearing a coat made from aborted lamb fetuses. Surely enough to make anyone yack up?
Stella has always flown the vegetarian flag, refusing to work with leather or fur. This, you may think, makes the production of hot accessories tricky. Not so. Now in her third solo season, McCartney has produced her finest collection yet, including some pretty fabulous animal-friendly accessories. Using fabrics such as canvas for multi-pocketed bags and satin for two-tone stilettos, these pieces have helped convert many in the industry to McCartney fandom.
If you want a space-age look, there are hologram heels, or for the slinkier evening do, elegant pink heels are guaranteed to do the trick.
In other news, her first UK boutique opens in April on Bruton Street in London and a perfume is in the pipeline.
Vegetarianism may have been in and out of fashion, but before Stella it was never quite this glam. So on behalf of all those fashion-conscious vegetarians, who have never been able to find non-leather shoes or bags they actually want, Stella, we salute you. (The Guardian)
Police appear to have recovered about 500 original Beatles tapes that were stolen in the 1970s, including some never-released tracks, during raids Friday on members of a piracy racket in England and the Netherlands. British police said the tapes were "priceless.'' Dutch police, who found the tapes in the Netherlands, agreed, but said analysis of the material was ongoing."We're investigating whether they really are the originals, but it appears to be so,'' prosecutor spokesman Robert Meulenbroek said in Amsterdam. "There are about 500 tapes, so there's quite a bit to research.'' The tapes soon will be turned over to British authorities, he said.
Police arrested five people in raids in England and in Holland, following an investigation that began about a year ago. The suspects' names were not immediately released. The tapes contain songs, including "Get Back,'' for an album the Beatles planned in 1969. The project was shelved, and some of the songs instead became part of the "Let It Be'' album. The rest of the tapes disappeared.
In 1970, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr broke up, disappointing millions of people around the world. That's one reason that for many devoted fans and collectors, the original reel-to-reel tapes would be a valuable recovery by Apple, the Beatles' record company.
"We applaud this exemplary police operation, which reflects the extraordinary level of international coordination that is needed to tackle the sophisticated cross-border strategies of today's organized music pirates,'' said Jay Berman, chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which led the investigation with help from London detectives.
The federation and London police first identified suspects who were thought to have been involved in the theft and handling of the tapes. Further inquiries across Europe led to the joint operation by British and Dutch police. Two British men were arrested in west London, and two Dutch men and a British man were arrested south of Amsterdam, where Dutch and British police were working together.
"This is a good example of how an international multiagency approach by both the private sector and police agencies can combat offenses of this nature,'' Detective Inspector Paul Johnston said in London. The material disappeared shortly after the 1969 Beatles sessions which attempted a more back-to-basics approach to recording after the tensions of the 1968 "White Album.'' They met in the Twickenham area of London to rehearse, rather than Abbey Road, where they usually recorded. Continued problems within the band saw Harrison briefly quit during that period.
The recovered reels are believed to contain dozens of entire songs, as well as snippets of tracks the band attempted, then abandoned. Along with new songs, the Beatles ran through earlier tracks for old time's sake.
"Get Back'' originally was written to satirize negative attitudes toward immigration in Britain in the late 1960s. In early versions, it was referred to as the "Commonwealth Song'' and "No Pakistanis.''
Heather Mills is 26 years younger than her husband Paul McCartney, but she's trying to make herself look even younger.The former model, 34, who married 60-year-old McCartney in a lavish million-dollar wedding last June, is undergoing dermaplaning treatments at a Manhattan plastic surgeon's office, sources told The Enquirer.
"Heather has feared aging since she was a teenager," an insider revealed. "She wants to impress Paul and make sure he keeps his eyes on her even across a room packed with gorgeous young women. Heather feels she's in competition with Paul's fashion designer daughter Stella. She's three years older than Stella and wants to look younger and more glamorous."
The former model's treatments began in September and could take anywhere from a few months to a year to accomplish. They're relatively painless and produce a radiant, blemish-free complexion.
"Heather started treatments with a licensed aesthetician who helped popularize the procedure among celebrities in Beverly Hills," a source said. "In dermaplaning, the top layers of skin are scraped off with a Teflon-coated blade. The process removes dead skin, lessens surface irregularities and stimulates the growth of collagen. The skin looks younger immediately but it requires at least four sessions to show lasting results."
This isn't the first time Heather has resorted to cosmetic surgery. She underwent breast reduction in 1991, and her former husband Alfie Karmal once described her as "completely bonkers" about plastic surgery.
"Meanwhile, Linda McCartney -- who was married to Paul for 30 years -- aged gracefully and wore the years of her life on her face with exceptional self-confidence," said the insider. "These women are as different as night and day."
Dr. Scot Glasberg, a top New York City plastic surgeon who is not treating Heather, told The Enquirer the results of dermaplaning can be very dramatic. "Skin looks healthier. It feels better and wrinkles and areas of damage are reduced. It's basically a rejuvenation of the skin."
Heather Mills has made a fresh bid to end the feud between herself and her stepdaughter, Stella McCartney, by modelling one of the designer's dresses.
Sir Paul McCartney's wife appears in next month's edition of the Red magazine wearing a chiffon dress valued at £555 ($888). It seems the frosty relations between the two may finally be thawing, as the magazine says Heather did the shoot with Stella's "full endorsement."
A spokesman for the 31-year-old designer said she gave her backing to the use of the dress as it was intended to raise money for the Linda McCartney cancer clinic in Liverpool. Asked whether Stella's hostile feelings towards her father's new wife were easing, he said, "Stella never discusses her private life."
Heather has made bridge-building efforts in the past, but Stella is said to have been deeply hurt by criticism of her designs attributed to the model. It was alleged that the 34-year-old anti-landmines campaigner described her creations as "too tarty".
Sir Paul's children are also said to be concerned over Heather's reported intention to have a baby, but the model insists she has no definite plans. "When it comes to having children myself, if it happens that would be great. But if it doesn't, it doesn't," she told the magazine. (Hello Magazine)
"Back in the US Live 2002" notches back up the Billboard Top Internet albums chart from #7 to #5.
Evidence at last that Stella McCartney and Heather Mills have buried the hatchet - Lady McCartney has posed proudly in one of her stepdaughter's designer creations on the eve of Stella's wedding. The image is one we thought we would never see after Heather reportedly angered Stella by wearing another designer's dress for her own wedding to 60-year-old Sir Paul McCartney in Ireland last summer.
Since she began dating the former Beatle after the death of his first wife Linda, ex- model Heather, 34, has always denied a rift between herself and the couple's children - James, Stella and Mary, and Linda's daughter from her first marriage, also named Heather. Now, with Stella's wedding to publisher Alasdhair Willis expected any day, we see the most public evidence yet that any rift has healed.
The pose is part of a feature to celebrate Red magazine's fifth birthday. Asked how her life has altered over the past five years, Heather says, "On one hand I'm very happy and madly in love, but when I met Paul I was told to make no comment. The press thought I was sticking my nose up at them, so they got the knives out. Half of the media are out to destroy everything as if I'm a criminal. A lot gets written about me that isn't true: that Stella left the wedding early when she was one of the last to leave; that I was going to write a vegetarian cookery book, when I'm not. There was a proposal to do a veggie cookery series on TV, but it wasn't appropriate so I offered it to Mary because it was her mum who was into that."
She reveals how down-to-earth the family is. "There's nothing celebrity about Paul's family. They don't live in a grand house with lots of staff, it's a very normal life - cooking dinner and washing up." And she talks about her hopes of having children with Sir Paul. "If it happens that would be great, but if it doesn't, it doesn't. I had two ectopic pregnancies in my twenties so my tubes are pretty damaged, and I've had so many operations that I wouldn't want IVF or anything - sometimes things like that can ruin a relationship. Having nearly lost my life nine years ago (in the motorcycle accident in which she lost a lower leg) I tend to live in the here and now."
Encouraging readers to try to win the dress she is wearing, Heather adds, "It's a gorgeous dress and Stella designed it, and it will also raise money for some great causes. Fifty per cent of the proceeds will go to the Linda McCartney Centre for cancer care and the other 50 per cent to Adopt-A-Minefield which saves lives by raising funds for mine clearance and helps landmine survivors worldwide. (This is London)
For a chance to win the dress - a size 10 worth £555 ($888.00) - and raise cash for Stella and Heather's charities if you are in the UK call 0906 207 1817. Calls cost £1($1.60) per minute and should last no longer than two minutes. Winners will be chosen at random after lines close at midnight on February 14.
Heather Mill's book "A Single Step" made People Magazine's top ten worst non-fiction books of 2002.
Having a famous husband doesn't make her an author; Mills's climb from a not quite Dickensian childhood to the world of catalog modeling isn't exactly can't-put-it-down material. She would have been better off focusing on her recent, more admirable work helping to eradicate land mines rather than her past. Fans of Sir Paul will be sad to hear that he's little more then a footnote.
As the Beatles go, Paul McCartney was always known as the cute one. But maybe we've been selling him short all these years. Maybe he's also the wise one.McCartney's been on a concert tour of the United States and now, at age 60, he's figured out some important things.
"I should be jaded at my age, I should be blase, I should hate the whole thing and have retired years ago," he told The New York Times. "But it's the opposite. I do two and a half hours onstage . . . and this is so satisfying. It's kind of amazing. You get people and their children. You get tears. I saw on our DVD an older gentleman, probably my age, deeply moved by `All My Loving.'"
There's something satisfying about that, and it's more than nostalgia. After all these years as a larger than life rock icon, McCartney's moved into more human-sized territory. He's growing old gracefully--not an easy thing for a rock star.
In recent years, he's had his share of loss. In 1998 his wife Linda died of cancer, the disease that claimed George Harrison last year. Of course, John Lennon has been gone since a crazed fan shot him in 1980. Now Paul's Beatle-cut is modified somewhat, and it's suspiciously dark, but the face is unmistakable. Funny thing: When he's just talking, he looks his age. But on stage, singing, he looks at least a decade younger.
McCartney and Lennon had a bitter, public feud over the breakup of the band and for years McCartney made a point of not singing Beatles songs. Now he's singing them in concert, because, he tells an interviewer, "these songs are my babies."
At his age, McCartney could be doing absolutely nothing. He's got tons of money, a lovely new wife, and nothing left to prove. Instead, he's continued to write and sing, even when the reviews of some of his efforts over the past two decades were caustic.
But now it's a different McCartney. He's more at ease. He's not trying too hard. Unlike another rocker of his generation, Mick Jagger, he's not trying to prove he's still 18.
Now, onstage, McCartney connects with the past. He strums a ukulele and sings a tune as a tribute to Harrison. And more tellingly, after years of resisting public tributes to Lennon, he wrote a song called "Here Today," a ballad mourning the loss of Lennon. "I still remember how it was before," the song goes. "And I am holding back the tears no more . . . I love you."
He admitted to a National Public Radio interviewer that sometimes as he is singing the song, he chokes up. "I'm no longer ashamed of being emotional," he said. "When I was 18, that was like the biggest crime a guy could commit. `You cried?' Well, now it's like, `Yeah and why not?' That's pretty sad stuff, you know, losing a friend like John or losing Linda after all those years, or George. So I'm comfortable with that."
When McCartney compares the Beatles to every other rock band of that era, you can hear the echoes of Lennon's famous comment about the Beatles being more popular than Christ.
"Is it conceited to say we were better than all the other groups? Maybe it is. But listen to songs like 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'Penny Lane'. We were better." (Chicago Tribune)
Paul McCartney places at #18 in "Entertainment Tonight's HOT List" of the top 20 celebrities. "For the past 22 seasons, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT has covered the exciting lives of the world's most glamorous stars of television, film and music," said Linda Bell Blue, executive producer of ET. "As a special treat for our viewers, we're unveiling our first ever list of the top celebrities who've received the most coverage on the show during 2002.
Dhani Harrison said in a recent interview (Le Journal du Dimanche-France), "Paul and Ringo are the nicest persons I know. I love them, they're like my uncles. I see them often, about twice a month. They call to have news from me. I recently started talking with their children, to Zak, Ringo's son, and Stella, Paul's daughter. We understand each other, we know what it's like being Beatles kids."
Sir Paul McCartney has protested to WWF, the wildlife organization, about its active support for chemical tests that cause the death of thousands of animals.The row is over the testing of chemicals in everyday use which are accumulating in human body fat and suspected of being endocrine disrupters, which mimic human and animal hormones causing sex changes, deformities and possibly cancer.
Sir Paul claims the programme is "needlessly torturing and killing millions of animals" and says the organization has strayed off course. But WWF believes that the chemicals must be tested to ensure they are not harmful, "otherwise we are all part of a dangerous global experiment, the result of which we do not know".
Writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Sir Paul says, "I was appalled to learn from Peta that the US office of the WWF has been a driving force behind the design and development of one of the largest animal testing program in international history."
In a letter to Claude Martin, director general of WWF, he says the organisation "has been involved in pressurising the US Congress to require the testing of chemicals for hormone disrupting effects." He says that WWF supports a neurotoxity test "that causes the suffering and deaths of more than 1,300 animals per chemical tested."
WWF in the UK concedes that animal testing "is a difficult issue." It said large numbers of chemicals had been released which had not been tested, and the only way of getting some of them banned was to have them tested. "If there is an alternative we would support it," a spokesperson said.
There is increasing sconcern about manmade chemicals in everyday use, some of which are used to line food cans. Work by the UK environment agency has shown that fish in rivers below sewage works turn female as a result of chemicals in the water.
But chemical companies refuse to withdraw products already on the market unless there is proof that they are causing damage. WWF argues that the only way of checking this is to carry out tests.
In a statement in reply to the McCartney letter WWF said, "Despite utterly inadequate safety assessments, tens of thousands of chemicals are being released into the environment. This results in the exposure of humans and wildlife to unknown risks.Of the 2,600 chemicals used in the highest volumes in the EU, 21% have no safety data." (Guardian UK)
Classic acts such as Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and Cher lured more people to concerts in 2002 and helped the industry make a record $2.1 billion in ticket sales, according to figures released Friday.
This was the fourth straight year concert receipts reached record levels in America. There were $1.75 billion in sales in 2001, according to trade publication Pollstar, which tracks the concert industry. In 2001, ticket costs rose and sales declined, Pollstar said. Last year, increased ticket sales helped push concert receipts higher.
"We had some very big marquee names out on tour this year,'' said Pollstar's Gary Bongiovanni. "Paul McCartney has not worked in a long time, and the Rolling Stones only come out every couple of years.''
McCartney had the top-grossing tour, raking in $103 million. Fans paid an average of $130 per ticket to see the former Beatle, who hadn't toured the United States in about a decade.
The Rolling Stones tour placed second, coming in at $88 million, with an average ticket price of $119. Pollstar said it was the first time the Stones hadn't hit the No. 1 spot with their U.S. tour.
Cher's tour - which the singer said would be her last - was in third place, at $74 million, followed by the Billy Joel & Elton John concerts, which grossed $65 million, and the Dave Matthews Band, at $60 million.
Other acts in the top 10 were Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Aerosmith, Creed, Neil Diamond and The Eagles. Creed and the Dave Matthews Band were the only acts in the top 10 that aren't veteran acts - and that represents one of the industry's problems, Bongiovanni said. "The acts that are at the top have got to be reaching the end of their touring life,'' he said. `"Where the next generation of headlining acts is going to come from is anybody's guess.''
Landmines campaigner Heather McCartney has given her backing to a national campaign to honor a group of unsung World War II heroes.Lance Sgt. Thomas O'Donoghue was one of 14 soldiers in the Royal Engineers Fourth Bomb Disposal Company who died making Norfolk's beaches safe, between 1944 and 1953. But no memorial was ever erected in their honor, as Lance Sergeant O'Donoghue's son was shocked to find on a trip to the spot where his father was killed, aged just 32, in 1945.
Tommy O'Donoghue, a 61-year-old retired lorry driver from Formby, has spent the last four months campaigning to have his father and 13 colleagues honored, almost 50 years after the last one died. He believes the men were overlooked because most of them died after peace was declared. He thinks the memories of heroes killed abroad have left little room for tales from the bomb disposal squads who mopped up the mess of the country's inexpertly laid mines.
Now Lady McCartney, wife of Beatles hero Sir Paul and patron of national charity Adopt-a-Minefield, is backing the campaign and calling for a memorial to be erected at Norfolk. She told the Daily Post, "It's important to recognize the people who bravely made Britain safe for future generations whilst risking their lives at the end of the war. These men were heroes. They did vital work and wanted to make a difference. We should use them as role models, an inspiration to us all and they deserve a permanent memorial."
Lance Sgt. O'Donoghue, a soldier from Kirkdale, left a wife and three children when he was fatally wounded on January 17, 1945. He died the day after stepping on a landmine at the sinisterly named "Dead Man's Gap" at Weybourne beach, after climbing over a security fence into a "safe" area marked on a military map as being clear of mines.
Grandfather-of-three Tommy said, "From when we were kids we knew dad died after he stepped on a mine, but my mum never really talked about it, so it wasn't until after she died and we were going through old letters and papers that we decided to go down and find his memorial. We searched everywhere, in all the churches and up and down the coast line, and we were shocked that we couldn't even find a plaque with his name on it."
Mr. Cashford set up a group that is now campaigning to have the Norfolk 14 honored. They are now bidding for lottery funding to erect a memorial, after hearing the Royal Engineers Association may not be able to offer any donation.
The campaign is also being supported by Norfolk MP Norman Lamb, the Mayor of Cromer Keith Johnson, and the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk Sir Timothy Colman, of the Colman's mustard family, who has promised to take up the issue with the Queen, a cousin of his wife's.
Tommy said, "My father died in the line of duty, and the people of Norfolk owe their safety to men like my father. People wouldn't have been able to go back on those beaches if it weren't for those men - and includes the Royal family, who spend a lot of time at Sandringham in Norfolk.
If you would like to make a donation, or have information, call Tommy in the UK at: 01704-810642.
A brave meningitis victim who lost both legs to the disease has been given a message of hope from Heather Mills.The Washington born former model, who is now married to Sir Paul McCartney, made a personal phone call to Joanne Davidson over the Christmas holiday. Joanne, nine, from Blyth, lost her legs below the knees and two fingers on each hand after contracting meningococcal septicaemia in July 1999 when she was six. But the battling youngster refuses to let her disability beat her and she regularly visits hospitals giving support to other young victims, including William Hardy, the little boy Chronicle readers helped to buy new legs for.
After hearing of her courage Heather, who lost a leg when she was hit by a police motorbike in 1993 and has campaigned tirelessly for the provision of better artificial limbs on the NHS, fulfilled a promise and contacted Joanne.
Joanne's grandmother Doris Davidson said, "Heather Mills rang Joanne just before Christmas to speak to her. It was a call out of the blue. She encouraged Joanne and told her not to give up hope and said how well she was doing. Joanne had also been getting blisters from her prosthesis so Heather gave her advice on that and the best type of prosthesis to use. It really was good. Heather gave Joanne lots of encouragement. Joanne has a fantastic outlook on life. She has had to spend most of the last year in a wheelchair because of further operations on her legs. She's a very brave little girl."
Joanne backed the Chronicle campaign to raise cash to buy new legs for four-year-old William Hardy, of Jesmond. Doris added, "When William had meningitis she went into hospital to see him and spoke to his mum. When she is at hospital she often goes in to see anybody who has meningitis."
Joanne's family are trying to raise £15,000 ($24,150) for a pair of real-looking false legs, and have already got £8,000 ($12,880).
Sir Paul McCartney slipped away on Christmas Day for a lone horse ride to honor the memory of late wife Linda. Friends of the pop legend said new bride Heather fully accepted him vanishing for the gallop across his country estate.Macca and horse-loving Linda, who died from breast cancer four years ago, rode out together each Christmas for 30 years. Paul, 60, was with Heather, 34, and her family at his 160-acre farm in Peasmarsh, Sussex.
A friend said, "He ro
de through the fields and woods that Linda loved. Some people might think it odd but Heather knows what he and Linda had was extremely special. She had no problem with her husband taking time out to remember Linda in this emotional way."
Paul and Heather spent New Year's Eve at Paul's house in Liverpool. The couple left for India on January 2. (photo taken at London's Heathrow Airport)
UPDATEHeather Mills and Mike McCartney have both said that there was no wedding and that Stella was on a vacation somewhere. The newspapers are still claiming the wedding will take place soon in Ireland.
Stella McCartney was rumored to marry her boyfriend Alasdhair Willis in a New Year's day ceremony in Ireland which has yet to be confirmed.The fashion designer travelled there earlier this week for what she hopes will be a low-key affair. Her close friends Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow are also expected to attend.
Miss McCartney, 30, is said to have designed her own wedding dress. Her father's new wife has been included among the wedding guests despite Miss McCartney's opposition to their marriage in June. According to friends, she invited Miss Mills because she didn't want a row with her father. Her sisters, Heather and Mary, and brother, James, will also be there.
She announced her engagement to Mr Willis, 31, a former magazine publisher, in July but kept her wedding plans secret. Guests were booked on to the Holyhead ferry at the weekend and told to keep the rest of the week free.
"The guests haven't been told what day the wedding is taking place, but some of them have guessed that it could be on New Year's Day," said a family friend. Just like when Paul married Heather earlier this year, no-one was told where the wedding was taking place until they got there. The travel has all been arranged for Stella's guests, and they don't yet know whether the wedding is happening on New Year's Day or whether it will happen on Saturday the 4th."
The friend said Miss McCartney had "not changed her attitude towards Heather in the slightest."
"But she thought she had better invite Heather because it would have caused such a problem with her dad and she didn't want there to be any unpleasantness on her wedding day. Stella has been very discreet about everything and she has only invited her best friends and her close family. She and the rest of the McCartneys were travelling to Ireland by ferry from Holyhead. I think Stella and Alasdhair thought it was romantic to have the wedding in Ireland, especially as her father's family are from there. One of the places she looked at was Ashford Castle in County Mayo, but she had several venues she was weighing up, and she has been offered the use of various mansions owned by celebrities."
Gwyneth Paltrow is expected to bring her boyfriend, Coldplay star Chris Martin, to the wedding before going on holiday.
The News of the Day (UK) reported that Heather Mills built a recording studio in the new McCartney home in Brighton, Sussex for herself. According to the report a friend of Heather says that the new Mrs. McCartney is, "keen to explore the possibilities of a pop career. She has written her own songs and took control of the studio's design. People will think she's using Paul's success. It's been said before. But she seems to be paying little attention to the criticism."
February 2003
Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney is Britain's highest-earning pop star, with £685 million ($1.1billion) according to the latest report on Britain's wealthiest people, while Olivia and Dhani Harrison - widow and son of the late former Beatle George Harrison - together have a fortune of £118 million ($188 million).
A report shows the combined wealth of the richest 300 people in Britain rose by 5% last year.The Mail on Sunday's Rich Report put the total fortune at £115.4 billion ($184.6 billion) - higher than a year earlier despite stock market woes and a looming war.
Among the richest 20 people, only five saw their worth fall as the combined figure for the report's elite increased by almost £5 billion ($8 billion) during 2002.
The MoS said it had been a vintage year for a number of veteran rock stars, with tours and the release of compilation albums helping the likes of Sting, Paul McCartney and Elton John add earnings of more than £20 million ($32 million).
Sir Paul McCartney tops the Heat magazine "Rich List" with £120 million ($192 million) earned in 2002. The former Beatle bagged his fortune from a hugely successful tour of the US and earned a little extra pocket money - more than £1 million ($160 million) from Gareth Gates's chart-topper "Unchained Melody" as his company owns the publishing rights.
Last year he topped the list as a member of The Beatles, who as a band slip down to number six, with around £17 million ($27.2 million) from back catalog sales.
The Rolling Stones, another act to see the cash pile up from a lucrative US tour were runners up in the "Heat Rich List" with £75 million ($120 million).
Regulars tapping to the beat of the Truckee Hotel's usual Thursday night (Feb 27) jazz duo got a surprise when Paul McCartney took to the small stage for an impromptu song he called "Truckee Blues."
McCartney sang about 10:30 p.m. Thursday after he and wife, Heather Mills, dined incognito at Moody's Bistro and Lounge in the Sierra ski town's historic hotel about 15 miles from Lake Tahoe.
"I almost died. Here he is, 5 feet from you," an excited Carm Lyman said Friday. "There were maybe 30 or 40 people there of all generations, all with their mouths open."
"McCartney played a few songs with Bob Greenwood's Jazz duo," said J.J. Morgan, general manager of the restaurant in the hotel built in the 1870s. "The couple had been vacationing at Lake Tahoe for a few days," he said. "He wanted to listen to some music so we parked him next to the band. He was loving it," Morgan said. "We wanted to make sure they had a private, kind of incognito night, and I think he felt real comfortable," he said.
Morgan, who moved from San Francisco to open the restaurant in the former logging town last summer with his partner Mark Estee of Boston, said McCartney apparently made up the tune "Truckee Blues" on the spot. He said he's a longtime fan of McCartney and the Beatles. "Who isn't?" Morgan said. Lisa Marie Presley dined there once, but McCartney's visit was bigger, he said. "I don't know how much bigger it can get," he said. "Truckee is a small town so word was whipping around."
Greenwood and his drummer Dennis Steele played McCartney's "Baby's Request" before the former Beatle asked him if he knew the old jazz standard called "The Very Thought of You." Greenwood said he didn't so McCartney told him he'd take the stage and sing it. "He walked up on stage unannounced and said, 'If you guys can play the blues, I'll put my own words to it'," Greenwood said. "He created three verses spontaneously. And the hook in the song was the Truckee Blues. That knocked me off my feet. I couldn't believe he could come up with lyrics like that," he said. Greenwood says McCartney came off as a "totally regular guy."
UPDATE:Paul McCartney's publicist, Geoff Baker denies the rumored Apple Rooftop gig for Paul. He said, "It's complete bollocks. If we were going to do something, it wouldn't be something as obvious as that."
RUMOR:
Paul McCartney is reportedly planning to recreate The Beatles final gig on the rooftop of their old London studios. Sir Paul will hit the roof of what was Apple Records at 3 Saville Row in London on an afternoon in early April.
Macca will play a set-list of Beatles songs - all his own compositions - with his backing band. "This is very ambitious but Paul is determined for it to go ahead. The building is no longer owned by Apple but arrangements have been made and it looks all set to go ahead. It will be quite an emotional moment for Paul," an insider said.He will play a 45-minute set that echoes the legendary gig the Fab Four played in 1969. The stunt is to mark the start of Macca's huge UK and European tour, which begins in Sheffield on April 5.
Fans of Sir Paul McCartney have been snapping up tickets for his Irish concert in May.Tickets for the outdoor gig at the RDS in Dublin sold out within an hour and besides Ireland, tickets were purchased by music-lovers across Europe, the US and Japan.
A spokeswoman for Aikens said, "Sales have been phenomenal with all the seating selling out within an hour. There has been huge support from his fans in Northern Ireland and the interesting thing is that this is the first concert that Internet ticket sales have exceeded all other methods."
Michael Caine, Oscar-nominated for "The Quiet American," recalls that even during the Swinging '60s in London, Paul McCartney was pretty much a prude. "Jane Asher, Paul McCartney's girlfriend in real life, played my girlfriend in 'Alfie,' " Caine recalls in the premiere issue of Red Carpet magazine. "We did a scene where we'd been to bed together and she was wearing my shirt in the morning like a night shirt. And they came in and got one of my other shirts, and cut the tail off and put an extra length on. And I said, what for? Paul doesn't want her showing so much leg. He was very prim and proper, Paul." (NY Post)
Sharon Osbourne wife of rocker Ozzy was on Howard Stern February 26 talking about her new talk show from Los Angeles and mentioned that Paul McCartney and Jay Leno showed up for her 'test' show which unfortunately will not be aired.
It's no secret the new Mrs. Paul McCartney, Heather Mills, has not been happy since her marriage because of family feud publicity involving McCartney's children ... which has overshadowed her charity work. Now comes word, via Brit wag Nigel Dempster, that her hubby is whisking her away for a week ... of fishing on the private island of Laxain Iceland. Isn't that special? (Hey, for a mere $4,000 a day you could fish there, too.) Sun-Times
UPDATE:
You say it's your birthday? Paul McCartney performed at a private birthday party for about 150 people in RanchoSanta Fe Saturday night, with proceeds going to a charity for victims of land mines. The command performance was a $1 million birthday present from financier Ralph Whitworth to his wife, who was still walking on air Sunday.
"Paul McCartney walked on stage and I thought somebody was playing a trick on me," said Wendy Whitworth, who celebrated her 50th birthday on February 22 with a little help from her husband, friends and the legendary former Beatle and his current band. "It was sooooo exciting," said Whitworth, an executive producer for CNN's "Larry King Live" and a huge McCartney fan. With a voice still hoarse from excitement she added, "How would you feel? You can't believe it."
Believe it. Managing partner of his $1.7 billion Relational Investors fund, Whitworth hired McCartney for a private, 90-minute concert at a Rancho Santa Fe restaurant turned into a birthday party nightclub for the occasion. Cost: $1 million. It was the first time ever that the former Beatle had performed at a private party, Whitworth said.
McCartney agreed to perform on condition that the money be donated to Adopt-A-Minefield, a group championed by his wife Heather Mills that seeks to clear mines and aid victims, Whitworth said.
And how does one hire McCartney for such a celebration? "I knew him before," Whitworth said. "I just rang him up four, or five, weeks ago and said I had a great win-win idea. I don't think he would have done this just for the money. This was as much for the wonderful cause championed by him and his wife."
Said McCartney in a statement, "Normally, I don't do this sort of gig, but I was chuffed to do it because it was a win-win show." "Ralph gets to be the great husband for organizing the surprise, his wife gets a rocking party, I get to rehearse the band for the tour and, most important, Adopt-A-Minefield gets $1 million," McCartney said.
Whitworth went to great ends to hide the presence of McCartney's entourage in laid-back Rancho Santa Fe, one of the priciest locations in the nation with about 2,500 residents living on huge estates about 15 miles northwest of San Diego. "We even minimized the advance team, limiting the number of people with English accents setting up things," Whitworth said. "Only 20 people knew this was going to happen." So, under deep cover, a Paseo Delicias restaurant was converted into a nightclub.
Larry King and Katie Couric were among the 150 guests who came to Whitworth's ultimate birthday party, unaware that Sir Paul would be performing live and in person.
"He opened with 'Hello-Goodbye' and did 'Yesterday' with the same guitar he used on the Ed Sullivan Show," Ralph Whitworth said. "Later, he gave Wendy a guitar pick."
Paul called Wendy on stage and presented her with 50 roses as the band broke into the Beatles track "Birthday." As the song played, the Whitworths danced at Sir Paul's side.McCartney led his band through 19 songs including "Let It Be," "Yesterday," "Hey Jude," "Back in the USSR," "I Saw Her Standing There," and "We Can Work It Out" in a 90-minute set. Other melodies included "Hey Jude." It was an audience sing-along, as well as "I Saw Her Standing There," Whitworth said.
But now Whitworth has quite a challenge for his wife's next birthday. After all, how do you top a private Paul McCartney concert? "I wanted to do something special for her 50th birthday," Whitworth said. "I'll say I have another 50 years to come up with something else like this."
Animal-loving Paul McCartney rented a house on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe this week (February 23). Spies report that a mover was called in before McCartney's arrival to take away it's leather covered sofas and also the antlers over the fireplace; replacement furniture was brought in from Rubicon Gallery in Tahoe City. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Black market dealers are using the Internet to cash in on Paul McCartney's first UK tour for ten years. Huge demand has sent ticket prices into orbit as fans scramble to see the Beatles legend. Tickets are already changing hands on Internet auction site ebay for up to £1,000 ($1,600) a pair.
Seats for the series of concerts in April at Sheffield, Birmingham, London and Manchester sold out within hours of going on sale. A Liverpool date has been promised but not confirmed.
John James-Chambers, founder president of the Beatles Appreciation Society, said, "It just goes to show you that people will go to extraordinary lengths to see him play. Although he says it won't be his last tour, he is not getting any younger and you always wonder when he will come again. I just hope that he plays a venue in Liverpool that is big enough to allow the people of Liverpool to show their love for him."
The Back in the World tour will find McCartney and his latest band at Manchester's MEN Arena on April 9 and 10 - his first visit to the city for 24 years.
An Men arena spokesman said, "The interest was phenomenal. The general manager said it was the quickest selling concert in the history of the arena. The first date sold out within 20 minutes of going on sale and the second date was sold out within a couple of hours. It just goes to show the strength of his following in the North West."
The 2 1/2-hour retrospective concert will cover Macca's Beatles days as well as solo performances and numbers from Wings. Sir Paul, 60, who recently made a million dollars for charity by performing a private gig for an American financier, said, "I think people are going to like this gig - when I was thinking of what songs to play I just imagined myself as one of the audience and thought, 'What would I want to hear?' "So that means we will be playing some of my Beatles stuff - rather a lot of Beatles stuff, actually - some Wings stuff and some more recent stuff."
Stella McCartney plans to pump raw sewage from her posh £1.3 ($2 million) home in Wychavon Way, Worcestershire, on to her rosebeds as an ecological way of recycling waste.
"The waste will pass from the toilet to a series of reed beds," Mike Hurst, the local planning officer tells Heat magazine. "Although this method is smelly, Stella doesn't have any neighbors, so the only person it will affect is herself."
Paul McCartney has voted "yes" in a poll by the Liverpool Echo to ban the controversial Waterloo Cup where greyhound dogs compete for points by chasing a defenseless rabbit. The live rabbit is later torn apart by the dogs. The Waterloo Cup is an annual event in the city of Altcar near Liverpool. Click here to read Paul's statement.
A Paul McCartney fan received the birthday present her life when her husband hired the musician himself to play at her 50th birthday party for one million dollars (£636,000).Financier Ralph Whitworth invited the former Beatle to play a personal show for his wife Wendy, a TV executive, at a party in San Diego, California.
McCartney accepted the offer on condition that he could donate the fee to Adopt-A-Minefield, the anti-landmines charity backed by him and his wife, Heather Mills McCartney.
This was the first private concert he has ever performed.
Wendy Whitworth, the executive producer of CNN's Larry King Show, and senior vice president of CNN, had no idea of the surprise when she joined 150 family and friends at the party at The Ranch Blues Club.
She was stunned and left in tears of joy when her husband announced at 9pm, "Now we're going to play a bit of rock 'n' roll for Wendy" and McCartney and his band took to the stage.
Wendy, executive producer of CNN's Larry King Live program, broke into tears when her husband announced the surprise guest. She said, "Paul McCartney walked on stage and I thought somebody was playing a trick on me. It was so exciting. How would you feel? You can't believe it." An onlooker from the McCartney crew said, "Wendy Whitworth's jaw hit the floor when Paul took to the stage. "As you can imagine the audience just went wild - the atmosphere was electric." "She was totally gobsmacked (shocked) and reduced to tears by the shock of it all," McCartney's agent said. The gig had been arranged in total secrecy and only her husband was in on the secret.
Afterwards the McCartney said, "Normally I don't do this sort of gig, but I was chuffed to do it because it was a 'win-win' show. Ralph gets to be the great husband for organizing the surprise, his wife gets a rocking party, I get to rehearse the band for the tour, and most important, Adopt-A-Minefield gets one million dollars."
Ralph Whitworth, who runs a $1.7billion (£1billion) investment fund, said, "I wanted to do something special for her 50th birthday. I'll say I have another 50 years to come up with something else like this."
Sir Paul used the evening as a warm-up for his first concert tour of Britain in 10 years, which starts in April and continues through France, Spain, Germany and Scandinavia.
Among the guests were CNN's Larry King and NBC's Katie Couric.
Rocker Sir Paul McCartney hit the right note with his wife by taking her shopping for sexy lingerie. The ex-Beatle swapped songsfor thongs as he shelled out on saucy knickers and bras for Lady Heather Mills-McCartney. Macca, 60, spent hundreds of dollars at the trendy Victoria's Secret boutique in Beverly Hills - and Heather, 35, looked delighted. One onlooker said, "They spent quite a while browsing. Heather picked out some things she really liked." The couple were on a break in California (January) before Sir Paul headed home for the start of his world tour. (The Sun)
Heather Mills will be a guest on the Parkinson show this Saturday, February 22 on BBC1 at 22:20 (10:20pm).
The wife of former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney says she is totally "wiped out" by the negative press she has received since the start of their relationship. Heather Mills, a charity fundraiser and former model, told BBC presenter Michael Parkinson that her life had hit its lowest ebb when the media "turned on her" following the start of their relationship.
In a television interview to be broadcast on Saturday, Mills, talking for the first time since the couple's lavish wedding in Ireland in June, said: "It's all just 'She's the bird of Paul McCartney' and it's just knock, knock, knock." "He is a fantastic, fantastic man, but the stuff that comes with it is very hard to deal with."
Mills, who lost her left leg below the knee in a motorcycle accident in 1993, talked frankly about the hardships she has dealt with in her life. "My mother left and my father abused me, then my father went to prison and I think you just slowly get chip, chipped away. In the end you're put down for constantly overcoming that and they come for you more and more. Now I'm at the stage where I feel absolutely wiped out."
The romance between McCartney and Mills blossomed after they met at a charity event four years ago. Mills has campaigned for 10 years to rid the world of land mines, and has her own charity, the Heather Mills Trust, which provides artificial limbs for mine victims. "I think the reason I get so affected now is...you feel powerless, everything I've worked for in my life, tried to do and overcome, it's just all been forgotten," she said.
McCartney, who received a knighthood in 1996, has spoken of how his relationship with Mills helped him overcome the pain of losing his wife, Linda, who died in April 1998 from breast cancer. They had been married for more than 30 years.
Mills denied press reports of a feud between herself and McCartney's children Mary, James and fashion designer Stella. "There's always problems between stepmothers -- think of Cinderella, there's the wicked stepmother...it's just very easy to make up," she said. "I don't think the public are that stupid to believe everything they read." And she also dismissed speculation about a pregnancy. "They said I'd been pregnant, which is really hurtful knowing that I've had cancer of the uterus and two ectopic pregnancies," she said. "The chances of me getting pregnant are about that much," (she held her thumb and a finger close together).MORE:
Heather Mills has spoken candidly about the hurt she feels at being cast as "The Wicked Stepmother" since her marriage to Sir Paul McCartney. The 35-year-old model says stories about her are easy for people to make up, especially after the former Beatle's strong marriage to wife Linda. Heather said, "They'd say, 'There's a 30-year marriage, now how's she going to live up to Linda?' There are always problems with stepmothers - think of Cinderella."
But in an interview with Michael Parkinson, to be shown on BBC1 tonight, Heather has scotched rumors that she and Sir Paul's fashion designer daughter don't get on. Asked if she was wearing a Stella McCartney creation, Heather said, "It's not, but it is a lot of the time. That's why I'm always wearing her clothes, because we don't get on, of course. That's why she was at the wedding and we do charity together."
Heather also blasted rumors after the wedding that she was pregnant. She said, "They said I was pregnant, which is really hurtful knowing that I had cancer of the uterus and two ectopic pregnancies. The chances of me getting pregnant are very slim."
Heather felt poor publicity had hampered her charity work. She said, "I'd been trying to make these limbs that I'm always flashing off available to all amputees with the cosmetic covers. And the manufacturers actually said, 'we can't make them with Heather Mills because she gets such bad press'.
In the interview, she also paid tribute to Paul's late wife Linda. She said, "People don't realize that I have a huge amount of respect for that marriage. She did a great job on him - she trained him up well. And when you've loved, like he has, it's much easier to fall in love because you haven't got so many barriers. She went through much worse. I didn't realize that because I was never a Beatles fan. And I fell in love with him after he had chased me for a while. He's very romantic - that's why I fell in love with him. He said, 'How do I keep somebody like you?' I said, 'Romance, it doesn't have to be anything else'. Romance is like picking up a feather or collecting chestnuts. Or planting a Christmas tree without you knowing and you wake up on Christmas morning and he's planted a tree he's chopped down and put lights on. It's that kind of thoughtfulness, breakfast in bed every morning, no matter how he feels."
Heather admitted she had to be strong to be with a Beatle. She said, "You have to be, because you've got to keep his feet on the ground. He's so adored. If I was a fan, he would never have been attracted to me. That's a complete turn-off."
Even Paul has difficulties with her prosthetic leg. She said, "I've one for rollerblading, one for skiing, one high heel and one for the gym. We went swimming once and I didn't realize my leg would fill up with water. It popped off and I said 'Get my leg, it's flying behind you'. We have some funny moments."
Asked if she felt life had dealt her a bad hand, she replied, "I was lucky that I lost my leg at 25 because I was a very sexually confident woman and now I'm 35. But if I'd not had the relationships before I lost my leg, then I may have been a bit more like 'Oh they might not fancy me'. "A counsellor once said to me, 'Heather you're being far too positive about this. You're disabled,' and I went 'Yes, I'm disabled but I'll get a leg one day' and every day she'd come and try to beat me down because that's the way that they did it. "And in the end she said, 'But men won't find you as attractive as they did before,' and I looked at this woman, who was not very attractive, and I said 'Look, darling, both arms and both legs missing, I'd still be more attractive than you'. "So she slammed her book down and left. That's when I realized I needed to start helping people."
Heather's anti-landmine and charity work for fellow amputees has kept her strong. She said, "When I get to go and see them or when I go to Vietnam or Cambodia that's really rewarding."
And the future? "Carry on with the minefields and try to encourage the nice side of the press to lay off me because it's creating a lot of damage in other areas which they are probably not aware of." (The Mirror)
Sir Paul McCartney has stepped in to save 50 monkeys from an animal testing center in South East Asia.The former Beatle has donated an undisclosed sum, believed to be more than £2,000 ($3,200) to save a colony of macaques monkeys that have been subjected to medical research for more than a decade.
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection discovered the animals were to be killed if new homes were not found for them. For ten years they had been housed in rusty isolated cages, and many of them were showing signs of madness, including cage-circling and pulling out their own hair.
BUAV officials contacted Sir Paul's long-time friend and 1960s' icon Twiggy Lawson who asked for Sir Paul's help.
Sir Paul, whose late wife Linda was a lifelong animal welfare campaigner, said, "It is my pleasure to support the BUAV in their excellent project to save the lives of primates in Asia. I am happy to be a part of this worthwhile work being done in the name of animal welfare."
BUAV have declined to state how much Sir Paul donated or where the facility is exactly. Campaigns director Wendy Higgins said, "We are extremely grateful to Sir Paul for his generous donation. Most of these animals have been left to rot for up to 10 years and have not seen the outside world."
In 1997, Sir Paul made another substantial donation to BUAV to rehouse more than 100 beagles. The dogs needed new homes after an animal testing company went bankrupt.
Brian Wilson's upcoming "Brian Wilson on Tour" DVD is set to be released March 3 and will feature his induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame by Paul McCartney.
Paul McCartney is backing a new credit card from his favorite charity, the Vegetarian Society.The Society, of which he is a patron, has got together with the Co-operative Bank to offer a Standard and a Platinum Visa card which help raise money for the charity. Sir Paul says taking out a Vegetarian Society credit card is "a great way to support my favorite cause".
The Co-operative Bank will pay £5 ($8) to the Vegetarian Society for every new account opened, and donate a further £10 ($16) if the card is used within six months.
The society will then receive 25p (40¢) for every £100 ($160) on transactions and balance transfers to the card.
For details, (if you live in the UK) call 0800 002 006.
Paul McCartney was spotted in a full-length black overcoat, striding along a side road in London's plush St John's Wood, talking on his mobile, and looking rather grumpy. (Guardian)
Forgetful Paul? Paul McCartney was seen dashing into a homewares/gift shop called England At Home in Brighton on Valentine's Day during lunchtime, to buy a last-minute love token for his 35-year-old Geordie missus. "Macca rushed in and bought a Valentine's card and a pair of red and pink pajamas," says an onlooker. "But he was so flustered, he forgot to take the card with him when he left - the shop assistant had to run out after him and hand it over."
Paul McCartney's new CD "Back in the World" is to be released in Europe on March 17 to coincide with the "Driving Europe" tour.
Sources say the double CD will be different from the US version and will include songs from the "Back in the US" tour (second leg without "Freedom"), "Driving Japan" and the "Driving Mexico" tour. New songs are "She's Leaving Home," "Michelle," "Let 'Em In," "Calico Skies (Osaka, Japan),"a different "Hey Jude" (Mexico City) than from the US CD and the addition of "Mother Nature's Son" and "Every Night." The rest of the album will be the same songs from the US CD.
The album will be released in Japan on March 29.
Famous conductor John Wilson is bringing together some of the country's most talented musicians to create the region's first Symphony Orchestra - backed by Sir Paul McCartney.
The Newcastle Gateshead Symphony Orchestra will showcase the cream of classical musicians with backing from some of the greatest names in British music: Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and Sir Thomas Allen as well as Sir Paul.
"It will be the first time in the history of Newcastle that the city has had a symphony orchestra," said Wilson. Wilson has worked with Sir Paul McCartney several times and says that he was delighted to be able to support the project. "Paul has always said that after Liverpool, Newcastle is his favorite city. He says the Beatles always used to love playing here and, with Heather being from the area, I think he feels an even stronger link to the region," said Wilson.The first three concerts are booked at Newcastle's City Hall for October, November and December and The Fleming Children's Trust will be the benefactors.
U.S. Representative John Sweeney (R- NY), Chairman of the Congressional Horse Caucus, and U.S. Representative John Spratt (D-SC) today reintroduced the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act which will ban the trade in horsemeat and live horses for human consumption. An identical version of this bill will soon be introduced in the United States Senate.
"Many horses are hauled to slaughter and killed under inhumane conditions. Some of the horses who are killed for this industry have been stolen or acquired under false pretenses (the families who owned the horses were told they were going to a good home) and other animals may be wild horses illegally sold for their meat. The American people want the cruelty to end and the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act will do that," said Representative Sweeny.
Supporters of the measure include Sir Paul McCartney and horse industry organizations including the New York Racing Association, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, and the Breeders' Cup.
Federal legislation and the attention it is receiving are helping to bring this industry out of the shadows it has enjoyed for far too long. "This bill is necessary because of the cruel treatment and dubious practices employed by those engaged in horse slaughter."
Paul was spotted back in London on February 12 as plans get underway to announce the 2003 World tour on Friday.
Classical music icon Boosey & Hawkes has sold its instrument workshops--maker of instruments for orchestras worldwide, and the bass guitar used by Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.A portfolio comprising brands including clarinet maker Buffet Crampon and Besson, manufacturer of tubas, trumpets and trombones for Britain's most famous brass bands, has been sold to a private equity firm. The £33.2million ($53.1 million) sale ends a 17-month takeover saga as rival bidders circled the division, which employs 1,400 people in the UK, Germany, France, the US and India. And it heralds the end of 240-year-old Boosey as an independent firm.
There was plenty of laughter and a few tears at the 14th annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards ceremony at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre February 8th.Major Tour Of The Year winner Paul McCartney accepted his honor via videotape - in which he taunted fellow Brit Mick Jagger. (story)
Paul and Heather were in Cape Town, South Africa for the opening of the Cricket World Cup, February 9.
Heather Mills has fallen victim to a crook who cloned her bank card and went on a spending spree. The wife of Sir Paul McCartney was devastated when she learned someone had copied her card details and used it to buy thousands of pounds worth of goods across France.
Heather, who married the former Beatle last June in Ireland, had no idea someone was using a cloned version of her bank card. Both Heather and Paul - estimated to be worth £700 million ($1.1 billion) - have accounts at Coutts bank, who discovered the fraud. The bank acted when purchases in both the UK and France appeared on her account on the same days at the beginning of this month.
The bank alerted the model and passed on the evidence to the police who are now investigating.
Last night 35-year-old Heather's spokeswoman Anya Noakes said, "Luckily it was discovered before they managed to spend too much. She has been fully reimbursed for the sum that was spent. The police acted very quickly. Heather has no idea how they got hold of her details."
It is not known whether she was targeted because of her healthy bank balance or it was just a coincidence.
Mary McCartney accompanied by her husband Alistair Donald, attended the Sam Taylor Wood Art Dance Show featuring Russian ballet dancer Ivan Putrov at the Infiner Club in Mayfair, London, Tuesday, February 4. Mary wore a revealing black lace dress. (photo)
On February 11, 2003, in honor of Johnny Cash's 71st birthday on February 26, Mercury Nashville/UME will re-release four of the five albums he recorded for the label, each digitally remastered. Cash's 1988 duets album called "Water From The Wells Of Home," features a duet with Paul McCartney on "New Moon Over Jamaica," with harmonies by June Carter and Linda McCartney.
The "Back In The US" live album has sold over 1 million copies and has been certified platinum in the U.S. The DVD of the same name is holds onto the No.2 spot this week in the U.S. Music DVD Chart.
Barbados journalist, Irene Sandiford-Garner recounts her hot pursuit of Paul and Linda back in the 1980's.
"I got a call at 5:30 a.m. some 19-years-ago telling me British pop icon, Paul McCartney, was to appear in the Holetown Magistrate's Court on a marijuana charge. His arrest was not publicized and the court appearance was not supposed to be either. I called photographer, Charles Hackett with the hot scoop. He covered all my feature assignments with me, so it was only natural I would call him to come pick me up so we could go straight to Holetown. I covered the story but, of course, Hackett could not take pictures inside the court and attempts were made to sneak the McCartneys (Paul and Linda) out and into their mini-moke (jeep) away from the photographer. From the moment I saw them hustling into their moke, I screamed, 'Charles they're running!' In seconds Hackett had me in his car and we were speeding behind Paul and Linda McCartney's jeep. 'But Charles, where they going?' I queried, watching his speedometer. 'I don't know but we're following!' he cackled with eyes fixed firmly on the prey in front. We raced the McCartneys right up into Porters' factory yard where Paul stopped the jeep, got out, and put his hands in the air, mocking a prisoner surrendering. With lots of laughs all around we got a full story and endless pictures. Those pictures and that story were subsequently sold to newspapers worldwide, giving Hackett and me an early Christmas.
March 2003
Stella McCartney nearly lost her audience in Los Angeles Tuesday night (March 25) when she said she wanted to talk about war. But people stopped groaning when the designer clarified, "I want to talk about the war against cancer," and went on to recall the battle her mother, Linda, fought against the disease. The audience at Saks Fifth Avenue's benefit for Cedars-Sinai Hospital's research program included Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. (more)
In a rare opportunity to see behind the scenes at Tooting Blood Centre, staff threw open their doors for an open day on Saturday March 15.The centre, in Cranmer Terrace, behind St. George's Hospital, (near London) is one of the largest blood processing centres in Europe, with over 2.2million units of blood passing through it every day. The event gave visitors the opportunity to see what happens to blood after it has been donated, where it is stored and how a bone marrow match is found.
Guest of honor at the event was Heather Mills, aka Mrs. Paul McCartney, who has supported the work of the National Blood Service ever since she suffered extensive injuries in a road accident, resulting in the loss of her left leg below the knee. Lady Mills launched 500 red balloons to mark the beginning of the event.
Paul McCartney, Avril Lavigne and Celine Dion are among the top musicians contributing music to an album benefiting a Canadian charity for child victims of war. Artists are providing exclusive material and relevant tracks for the upcoming "Peace Songs" album.
Proceeds will go to War Child Canada, a Canadian charity dedicated to providing humanitarian support to war-affected children around the world.
Paul McCartney who took time out from his European tour to record a live version of his folk song "Calico Skies" in just one take. "Whatever the politics, whatever the rights and wrongs of war, children are always the innocent victims," McCartney said in a statement. "I am delighted to be able to make this small contribution to a magnificent project. Whatever the politics, or rights and wrongs of war, children are always the innocent victims so I am delighted to make this small contribution to a magnificent project that I hope goes some way to alieviating pain and suffering. "Calico Skies" has a poignant verse about the futility of wars and I hope it's appropriate in the circumstances.""Peace Songs" is a joint initiative between BMG Canada Inc., Sony Music Canada, and War Child Canada. "We are very concerned for the well-being of Iraqi children and all innocent people caught in the crossfire of war," says Dr. Samantha Nutt, Executive Director of War Child Canada. "We are extremely grateful for the support of such talented artists in our efforts to help these vulnerable children and families who are at great risk".
The album is scheduled to be released on April 15. (story)
Stella McCartney is best known for her fashion designs - and for being Paul's daughter. But it is her involvement in the crusade against cancer that brought her recognition Tuesday night.
Before a star crowd that included honorary chairs Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Stella received the "Courage Award" from Saks Fifth Avenue and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The black-tie event at the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel raised $1.5 million for research toward a cure for gynecologic and breast cancers.
Linda McCartney, Stella's mother, lost a two-year battle to breast cancer in 1998. Stella says she's proud to be able to raise money and awareness for the cause. "I feel that losing my mother is a rude awakening to having to look after yourself, and that's the only positive thing that can come from losing her," said McCartney, whose dad performed in Paris on Tuesday.
At 31, she's the youngest recipient of the 7-year-old award, whose previous honorees include Elton John and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. She may be young, but she's "accomplished," Hanks said. "She's done the work."
McCartney wore a strapless black gown of her own design. She was accompanied by fiancé Alasdhair Willis, 31. She's mum on when they will wed.
Wilson was in a black three-piece ensemble created by McCartney. "It's very original, very fresh, and there's always a bit of a vintage-inspired feel," Wilson said of McCartney's line.
Also on hand was actor Scott Foley. His wife, Jennifer Garner, had to work late on her TV show, Alias. The two recently became national spokespeople for Cedars-Sinai Research for Women's Cancers. He was 15 when he lost his mother to ovarian cancer. "Anything I can do to help a cause that will possibly prevent that from happening to another 15-year-old, I'm there," he said. (USA Today) (photos)
Paul's Russian concert in Red Square will cost the star $3 million. The open-air show will be staged with giant screens and redesigned to match the style of Red Square. A convoy of 20 trucks will deliver McCartney's concert equipment. Tickets will cost $20 to $200 with seating for 8,000 out of 50,000 fans. There are plans to televise the historic concert.
Only 10,000 people in the world were allowed to see Paul McCartney in rehearsal for his "Back in the World Tour" on Wednesday, March 26 at 3pm ET (8pm GMT). Lucky fans entered a drawing to win a digital ticket. The sound check which lasted just under 25 minutes included: "Hello Goodbye," "Birthday," "My Love," "Let 'Em In," "Let It Be" and "Let Me Roll It." The Webcast will be available on demand until 3pm ET/8pm GMT on March 27. To see this before time runs out click here. You will need Windows Media Player.
Paul has done a commericial for BBC Radio 2 that is currently running on TV in the UK. You see him in the studio using wine glasses and other things to make sounds as he sings a Fireman-like "Band On the Run." To see the commercial click here. You will need RealPlayer.
IT'S OFFICIAL !!!- Paul McCartney will end his tour in Liverpool at the 40,000 capacity Kings Dock on June 1st. Paul last played there in June 1990. Announcing the concert, Sir Paul said, "I can't do a world tour without bringing it home."
The show will be the final show on this leg of the tour.
The March 25 "Hello Magazine" (UK) features an interview with Paul and a photo spread.
He says, "I could go on stage and drop my trousers and it would make headlines all over the world. I could do it--believe me, my mind is inventive enough to design huge codpieces to show off under my trousers...! I'm sure people don't expect me to be a hunk anymore, not like they might have done in the '60s. I'm not living my life for other people. I don't think I ever wanted to be the most beautiful thing on the planet."
In France's magical capital city, I joined 15,000 ecstatic Parisians last night for the experience of a lifetime. To be at the anonymous basketball stadium called the Palais Omnisports Bercy was truly special. A privilege.In a mesmerising three-hour show, Sir Paul McCartney showed us why he deserves to be called a living legend.
There were no fewer than 23 Beatles classics throughout an evening of pure wonder.
From the moment he bounded from behind a silhouetted screen - his famous violin-shaped bass guitar in his hand - and launched into Hello, Goodbye, a spell was cast.
And when he launched into "All My Loving" - oh my God, it was the '60s all over again. All of us were in the grip of the closest thing to sheer exhilaration I have ever known.
There were Wings hits. "Jet" and "Let Me Roll It" amply showcased how there is certainly much more to McCartney's astonishing repertoire than the magnificent results of his Fab Four partnership with John Lennon.
And we listened to some of his more recent offerings. His poignant rendition of Your Loving Flame - dedicated to "ma femme Heather" - was especially touching.
But nothing can compare to the sensuous thrill of hearing the Beatles songs - the greatest songs ever written - performed live by the genius who wrote them.
At 60, Macca still has a superb rock and roll voice. And when he temporarily dismissed his top notch four-piece backing band to deliver an acoustic solo session, Paul achieved something close to musical perfection.
"Blackbird," "We Can Work It Out," "Carry That Weight" - one man, one guitar, 15,000 fans in the palms of his hands.
His specially composed tribute to his old friend John Lennon, "Here Today," brought tears to my eyes.
And then, for me, the best part of the night - "Back In The USSR" - simply the greatest track by anyone, ever.
With all this unbeatable material to call upon how could anyone go wrong? But, boy, did Sir Paul make it happen!
"Maybe I'm Amazed" - there was no maybe about it. And this vast auditorium was a complete sell-out.
Dressed in baggy jeans, a red sweatshirt and a black Nehru jacket, he cut a youthful dash, which belied the fact he is just five years from OAP status. When I'm 64 failed to feature in this concert - maybe because it's a little close to home these days.
But, make no mistake, Paul has still got the energy of a man in his prime. Which is exactly what he still is.
His tribute to the late George Harrison took the form of a version of "Something" - sung solo to the accompaniment of George's favourite instrument, the ukulele.
As Paul played, footage of the mop top Beatles arriving in America filled a giant screen behind him.
I looked at it and realized that McCartney is not only a living legend - he is a human slice of history.
This was the first date of the European leg of McCartney's 91-date world tour. Next Paul is off to Barcelona, then Antwerp - and then, hallelujah, he arrives in Britain with two sell-out shows at Sheffield's Hallam Arena.
In Paris this was the most joyous of occasions.
But throughout the day the city was paralysed by a series of anti-war demonstrations. And in mid-concert last night the entire crowd broke into a chorus of John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance."
Paul upon the stage - alone - smiled, nodded his agreement, gave a peace sign and joined in the singing.
It was an electric moment.
But I will not remember this evening for protests against the rape of Iraq. I will remember it for what it was - the best pop concert I have ever seen.
Even if it was just for one night - oh what a lovely way to forget the war. (The Mirror)
PARIS SHOW - early reviewWhen Paul finished the tribute to John Lennon "Here Today" the 15,000 strong Paris audience starting singing "Give Peace A Chance." A very surprised Paul gave a peace sign and joined the audience in singing the song a capella. At the encore he came out waving the French flag which brought thunderous applause and wore the red "no more land mines" T-shirt. "Birthday" and "Calico Skies" were performed. "Freedom" was dropped from the set list. (more)
Sir Paul McCartney showcased the turbo-charged greatest hits show which will soon take the UK by storm as he kicked off his first European tour in a decade.He is touring his biggest package of Beatles hits in a nearly three-hour spectacular which hits Britain in just under a fortnight.
And although he is dipping back across his entire 40-year career, he was acutely aware that the oldies were the biggest hit with the audience as he began the tour in the French capital.
Performing "Getting Better" for the first time ever on French soil he told the 15,000 strong crowd at the Palais Omnisports, "This song was from the Sixties - the decade that gets applause."
The opening show was delayed by half an hour after fans were caught in chaotic traffic jams caused by a peace protest in the city center.
The tour will net millions of pounds for the rock superstar who is already the world's wealthiest music idol.
His series of gigs in the US last year was the most profitable tour of 2002, and he largely kept with the same winning formula.
Beatles hits included "We Can Work It Out," "Fool On The Hill and "Here
