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August 2004
August 30,
2004 -- Independent
Should Linda McCartney join Elizabeth I in the revered bible
of late, great Britons?
The publishers of a new version of the definitive guide to the figures who shaped Britain have admitted to inflating the number of women listed to prevent the 60-volume work being dominated by men.
The new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - the first overhaul since it was published more than a century ago - is one of the most ambitious publishing projects ever undertaken. Running to more than 60 million words, it will be the largest reference book ever written in English.
Compilers have now increased the number of entries for women three-fold because they felt their contribution had been overlooked. The updated version will put Diana, Princess of Wales on a par with important royal figures such as Queen Elizabeth I.
Oxford University Press is keeping a veil of secrecy over the new entries until publication late next month, but The Independent on Sunday has learnt that among those included are Linda McCartney, the late wife of former Beatle Sir Paul, the diplomat Pamela Harriman, who was also Winston Churchill's daughter-in-law, and the writer Virginia Woolf. It is all the more odd that Woolf never made it into the supplements to the original edition, given that it was compiled by her father, Leslie Stephen. The Russian-born, London-based ballet dancer Tamara Karsavina is among the lesser-known names included.
The number of new female entries has led to cries of "political correctness" and "lowering the bar" by the historian Dr. David Starkey - charges the publisher denies. OUP says that many women who did not have a public profile during their lifetimes played important behind-the-scenes roles or made contributions in other areas not recognised when the book was devised in the 19th century.
The original version was published between 1884 and 1900 and updated with supplements that added notable figures who died in the ensuing decades until 1990, but there was no attempt to overhaul any of the previously published biographies. In all, there were just 1,759 women out of the 38,618 entries.
The new edition - to be published on 23 September - sees women making up 5,627 out of the 55,330 subjects covered. Its editor, Brian Harrison, said: "When you look for more women, you find them. We looked at charitable and voluntary activities [and] at the feminist movement, and through that you can include all the women MPs after 1918. There are also a number of women covered in group articles." These include entries on a group fighting for the right of women to study medicine, led by Sophia Jex-Blake.
"The old Dictionary of National Biography reflected England and Englishness in the 19th century. This reflects England as it's seen under Tony Blair."
August 26, 2004 -- Daily Record
SAVE OUR SARA : MACCA, SIR CLIFF AND THE BECKHAMS ALL PITCH IN FOR SARA
Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Cliff Richard and the Beckhams all got behind the Save Our Sara appeal yesterday.
Former Beatle Sir Paul was so touched by little Sara Thackray's brave battle with leukemia he made a personal donation of £5000 ($9,000).
Sir Paul, 62, who has a 10-month daughter Beatrice Milly with wife Heather Mills, asked his personal assistant to write a letter sending his best wishes to Sara and her parents, Grant and Lynne. The touching note reads:
"Paul was extremely sorry to hear what a profoundly difficult time Sara's family have been through. As a result,Paul would like to make a donation of £5000 towards the fund for Sara's medical treatment in North Carolina. On Paul's behalf, I would like to send Lynne, Grant and Sara his very best wishes. He also sends the best luck to you for your ongoing fundraising efforts."
Sara, of Dunfermline, Fife, needs £450,000 ($823,500) for a pioneering stem cell transplant in America. The three-year-old will die within a few months if enough cash is not raised to pay for the procedure.
Sara's dad Grant, 38 ,said yesterday, "We are so overwhelmed that such prominent people as Paul McCartney have read about Sara and want to help us. He is a music legend and to think he has been touched by our little girl is amazing. We cannot express how grateful we are that he has given us his backing."
The generous gestures came as our appeal reached £311,560 ($570,155) after big-hearted Daily Record readers donated a massive £9000 ($16,470) yesterday.
But a lot of the cash pledged so far has still not arrived. Grant and Lynne will not be issued with the visas they need for their stay in America until they can prove they have funds in the bank to pay for their daughter's treatment. Sara has just finished her last course of chemotherapy at Edinburgh's Sick Kids Hospital. Her leukemic white blood cell count must be below five per cent before she can have the transplant. Next week, she will have a test to see if her cancer is in remission. Sara will then have to fly to America as soon as possible. So please keep raising money - and get it banked quickly.
August 26, 2004 -- San Jose Mercury News
BAY AREA BRIDGE RUMORS
The lineup for this year's Bridge School Benefit is rumored to include Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ben Harper. In the past, some big names have been floated but never materialized.
The lineup for the Oct. 23 and 24 shows at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California will be formally announced in early September.
August 26, 2004 -- Contact Music
McCARTNEY STOPS WIFE'S IRAQ VISIT
Former Beatles star Paul McCartney is refusing to allow his wife Heather Mills to visit war-torn Iraq as part of her charity work.
The former model, 34, wants to go to the Middle Eastern country to remove and increase awareness of landmines as part of her campaign work for the Adopt-A-Minefield organization.
However, her husband is adamant Mills avoids dangerous locations, especially as she is now a mother to their baby daughter Beatrice.
Mills explains, "I'd be there in a shot if my husband wasn't sort of tying me down and because of my responsibility towards my baby.
"I've never had any fear of war zones. I've been in them quite a number of times. But now I'm a mummy I've got big responsibilities."
August 26, 2004 -- Big News network
London's Rock 'n Roll Walk of Fame
Rock legend Jimmy Page has inaugurated London's rock 'n roll Walk of Fame, casting his handprints in cement at the new site in the British capital.
The former Led Zeppelin guitarist will soon be joined by other music greats as London builds its own version of Hollywood's movie star Walk of Fame, the Daily Express reported Tuesday.
The site, outside the new Virgin Music Superstore in Piccadilly Circus, is to be a tourist magnet for the city, which attracted more than 15 million foreign tourists last year.
It's a real privilege and a great honour to be the first person to be immortalized in this way. The Walk of Fame is a fantastic idea and it's about time that we had one in London, Page said at the ceremony.
There are so many musicians who deserve this honor that if we started to count them all we could cover the whole city of London.
New rock legends to be added to the site include Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones and David Bowie.
August 26, 2004 -- MSNBC.com
Love for sale
Grammys won by the Beatles
and Paul McCartney and Wings
that were put up for auction were withdrawn from the market and
an insider says it's because Apple Records and McCartney were
threatening to sue if they were sold.
Apple and reps for McCartney are currently negotiating to buy the awards. A source says that the talks have gone smoothly for the Beatles' Grammy, but that McCartney is balking on the price of the one won by Wings.
"The Beatles' Grammy [for "A Hard Day's Night"] would have fetched at least $120,000 and the Wings [award] wouldn't have been too far behind," says the source. "Apple Records is paying the full price for the Grammy, but Paul's people only want to pay $50,000 to $60,000, which is ironic since he's one of the richest entertainers on this planet. They're not sure they can reach a deal."
Darren Julien of Julien Entertainment, which conducted the sale, denies that there's a dispute over the price of the Wings' Grammy. "[McCartney] obviously wants to pay as little as possible but [his reps] didn't take an aggressive position," Julien told The Scoop. "We're very optimistic that a deal can be reached."
August 25, 2004 -- CNN
Brian Wilson talks about Paul McCartney (from Larry King Live)
KING: Now how about the meeting with Paul McCartney?
WILSON: I talked to Paul McCartney over the years ranging from 1967 to 2004.
KING: Talked to him in person, you met him and...
WILSON: At the landmine show he did "God Only Knows" with me and I did "Let It Be" with him. And then I called him about four months ago asking him if he could come out and do -- sing a song called "A Friend Like You," which I wrote for him, me and my collaborator wrote for him. And he said he'd love to come out. And he came to the studio and that was one of the bigger thrills of my life to tell you the truth, to produce Paul McCartney. And that was a thrill for me. That was a thrill.
KING: You wrote the song? "A Friend Like You."
WILSON: And the lyrics were written by Steve Kalinich. KING: And it was referring to Paul?
WILSON: To Paul. Yeah.
KING: And he sang it?
WILSON: Yes he did. He sang some of it. Yes.
KING: What a thrill that must have been.
WILSON: Oh, it was such a thrill!
August 24, 2004 -- Contact Music
McCARTNEY'S WIFE RETURNS TO FRONT LARRY KING
Former Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney's wife Heather Mills is set to front the Larry King Live program again this autumn.
The former model, who first hosted the American chat show on April 17, so impressed TV bosses with her interviewing skills they have asked her to return for a further stint of presenting.
A source says, "Heather might have taken flak for her last appearance on the show - when she grilled veteran star Paul Newman - but people obviously believe she has what it takes, otherwise they wouldn't want her back.
"She's determined to have a television career in the States and this is clearly another big chance for her to make her mark."
Veteran interviewer Larry King adds, "Lady McCartney has had, to our honor, the honor of hosting this show and we expect to see more of that in the fall and months ahead."
August 23, 2004 -- Hollywood News
Stella McCartney shows first signs of pregnancy!
Legendary ex-Beatles singer Paul McCartney's fashion designer daughter Stella McCartney has reportedly showed the first signs of a pregnancy bump while shopping in London.
According to The Sun, Stella,
who is married to publisher Alasdhair Willis
and is expecting her first child in the coming New Year (February),
was spotted with a tiny bulge at her stomach as she left her
West London home for shopping.
August 19, 2004 -- The Telegraph (edited for content)
The darkness behind the smile
Jane Asher
could not look more perfect.
We are planning to discuss her appearance in the West End in
Festen, the stage adaptation of a Danish avant-garde film; but
we meet at Bray Studios, near Windsor, where she is filming a
television version of Agatha Christie's Murder at the Vicarage.
As shooting breaks for lunch, the sound-stage doors open and
Asher emerges. She wears a wide-brimmed, brown lace hat over
her flaming red hair, her eyes are the clearest blue, her lipstick
a vivid scarlet. Her 1950s summer frock, in mustard-yellow silk,
is nipped in at the waist, with a rustle of petticoats. At 58,
she has not the faintest trace of a flabby arm, saggy jaw or
baggy eye.
She looks, indeed, like a mature Stepford Wife, ready to bake a perfect cake, raise perfect children and have dutiful yet loving sex with a grateful husband: the sort of woman, in short, that many people believe Jane Asher really is. Asher knows this and is keen to point out the differences between the image and the reality.
When I bracket her in that 1960s generation of posh English beauties - Joanna Lumley, Julie Christie, Charlotte Rampling - she immediately insists, in a crisp, business-like voice, that she does not belong among their number.
"I can't say that I'm not beautiful, because you'll think it's false modesty, but I'm not. I know I can look good if I'm dolled up. I can look attractive. It's very nice of you to say so, but I'm certainly not a beauty."
Nor is she as super-efficient as is generally assumed. "I'm absolutely not incredibly tidy and organised," she says. "I'm rather the opposite. I'm untidy and late. I'm not particularly proud of it, but I take on much too much, then rush around, always late for everything with piles of stuff I should have done. But somehow, if there's a deadline, I'll meet it, just about on time."
She also anticipates how journalists react to such wellrehearsed confessions. "One of the lines now is, 'Little Miss Perfect confesses: 'I've got a messy kitchen.' " You can't win. The press like to build up an image of this perfect person and then they bring it crashing down. But you're always really saying, 'I'm just ordinary.'
I'm struck by an image that has haunted me since I first encountered it while researching her career. Her father, whom she loved dearly, committed suicide, having become seriously ill, and his body lay undiscovered for a week in the basement of the Ashers' Wimpole Street home.
"Oh well, that's overplayed too," she says, dismissively, when I tentatively raise the subject. "He was ill and it was horrible and . . . that's enough. That's really sensitive stuff, not so much for me, but to my mother. And life's much more complicated than, 'Her father kills herself, so that's why she's got deep, dark wells and she finds parts like that . . .' That's simplistic psychology."
True, but it does suggest why Asher might feel that even the happiest family is just one step away from catastrophe. I wonder, too, whether a similar desire to avoid pain explains the other great denial in her life: her relationship with Paul McCartney.
Asher met him on April 18, 1963, two weeks after her 17th birthday, having been sent by the Radio Times to interview the Beatles. In The Beatles Anthology, McCartney recalls: "We all fancied her - I tried pulling her, succeeded, and we were boyfriend and girlfriend for quite a long time."
Asher's mother invited McCartney to live in the family home. There, he and Lennon wrote "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and several more of McCartney's greatest songs, including "We Can Work It Out," said to be inspired by his relationship with Jane. His fellow Beatles assumed the couple would marry, but Paul ended up with the American photographer Linda Eastman.
Asher has never said a word about the relationship, or the Beatles, since. I have no expectation whatever that she will break her silence for me. But I am curious about why, after all these years, she will not share her experience of one of the great cultural phenomena of the past century.
"I realise I'm hypersensitive and probably slightly paranoid," she says, "but clearly the major connection with all that is personal. And because I've been happily married for 30-something years, it's insulting [to her husband and family]."
I push the point: "If I met the Dark Lady, I'd be bound to ask her about Shakespeare." Asher replies, "Yes, but the Dark Lady might say, 'I'm very sorry, but I'm now married to this playwright who hasn't had a single success, and his sonnets are crap, but I love him.' "
It's not easy to see what this response says about her feelings for her husband. But I press on, objecting that I couldn't care less what her teenage sex-life was like; I'm interested in the cultural history she's witnessed.
"I know what you're interested in," Asher accepts. "It may be musical, but my connection to that is personal, so it opens up a whole thing. You have to make a blanket rule and that's the decision I made, many years ago. And because I made that decision, it's just easier to stick to it."
I draw three possible hypotheses from all this. First, that Asher quite enjoys the game of witholding something she knows people want, then watching them try to crack her resolve. Second, that she's stuck in a position from which she can't now extract herself. And third, that she's telling the truth. She can't separate the historical from the personal. And the personal still hurts.
As our interview comes to an end, there is a loud rumbling just outside her door, followed by an appalling, excremental smell. The cesstanks of the portable lavatories are being emptied.
As we flee from the unbearable odour, I joke, "Ah, now the sh*t's finally coming out." Asher smiles. "Just like the interview?" she asks.
"Not really," I say.
And then she makes the last, winning move in the game. "Headline it," she says spreading her hands across an imaginary page, " 'Constipation.' "
August 17, 2004 -- People.com
Paul McCartney and wife Heather Mills, at a cast- and crew-studded special 40th anniversary screening (July 6) of the Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night" in London. Absent from the screening was the other surviving Beatle, Ringo Starr.
"The film looks so great, it's so beautiful, and it looks like it was just yesterday," McCartney said.
He was having such a good time that Mills insisted he stay to mingle while she went home to attend to their 8-month-old daughter, Beatrice.
August 16, 2004 -- Ananova
Paul McCartney plans US concerts
Heather Mills McCartney has confirmed that she and Sir Paul McCartney will be moving to Los Angeles for a time next year.
Mills McCartney confirmed that McCartney, 62, is set to go back on the road next year playing concerts in the US.
The tour will coincide with Heather's new role as a stand-in host on CNN TV's The Larry King Show.
She also confirmed that McCartney will be joined by veteran rocker Neil Young at a special charity event in October in aid of Adopt-a-Minefield. A date and venue for the concert has yet to be confirmed. (Note: October 15, 2004 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles)
McCartney wrapped up a series of European concerts in June at the Glastonbury Festival. He is currently currently a new album.
August 16, 2004 -- The Observer
The big fela
Polygamist, revolutionary
and founder of Afrobeat: Fela Kuti was a protest singer like
no other. On the eve of a steries of UK commemorations of the
Nigerian star's life, Peter Culshaw recalls his memorable encounters
with the Black President who had a liking for Handel
Paul McCartney found himself in Lagos in August 1972.
The plan had been to record a new record - the record that became
"Band on the Run" - at somewhere other than Abbey Road
and EMI had offered one of its studios in Rio de Janeiro or Peking.
Instead, the former Beatle insisted on the Nigerian capital,
picturing himself "lying on the beach all day doing nothing
and recording at night."
As he drily noted later, "it didn't turn out quite like that" what with being held up at knife point, the lepers in the streets, the omnipresent military, the corruption and the lack of security. Still, Lagos had its attractions. Chief among these was the chance to check out Fela Ransome-Kuti's band - "the best band I've ever seen live ... When Fela and his band eventually began to play, after a long, crazy build-up, I just couldn't stop weeping with joy. It was a very moving experience."
Thrilled by his experience, McCartney thought of recording with some of the musicians working with the extraordinary 33-year-old firebrand. When Fela caught wind of the plan he denounced McCartney from the stage of his club and then arrived unannounced at the studio to berate him for "stealing black man's music."
As McCartney said at the time: "We were gonna use African musicians, but when we were told we were about to pinch the music we thought, 'Well, up to you, we'll do it ourselves.' Fela thought we were stealing black African music, the Lagos sound. So I had to say, 'Do us a favor, Fela, we do OK. We're all right as it is. We sell a couple of records here and there.'"
"I thought my visit would, if anything, help them, because it would draw attention to Lagos and people would say, 'Oh, by the way, what's the music down there like?' and I'd say it was unbelievable. It is unbelievable ... it's incredible music down there. I think it will come to the fore.'"
The incident caused a brief storm in Lagos, and illustrates Fela's fearlessness, his love of controversy and an unerring ability to piss on his own parade.
August 15, 2004
Paul to tour the US in 2005
Heather Mills was on CNN's "Larry King Live" last night from London talking about the plight of Iraqi amputees with Larry King. She confirmed that Paul will be touring the US next year. READ TRANSCRIPT
August 10, 2004 -- Mojo
According to Mojo Magazine (UK) Jerry Lee Lewis has recorded duets with Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton for his upcoming album. Lewis plans to record more duets with Paul McCartney, Bono, and Kid Rock.
August 6, 2004 -- Contact Music
Heather Mills' Night Off
Sir Paul McCartney's wife Heather Mills had her first night out drinking this week since the birth of her daughter Beatrice in October 2003. The human rights activist and a group of friends dressed up for an evening of sipping alcohol and dancing at trendy London nightclub Chinawhites.
One reveller says, "Heather told a waiter it was her first booze-up since the birth of her daughter Beatrice. They get a lot of prima donnas in the club but Heather really let her hair down and happily chatted to other punters (customers), including England soccer player Frank Lampard."
August 4, 2004 -- Sky News
Macca Re-Records Let It Be For Charity
Sir Paul McCartney has re-recorded his performance of "Let It Be" for a special Live Aid DVD. The veteran rocker's original performance was supposed to have marked the climax of the 1985 event. But due to a technical hitch on the day his microphone went dead.
Macca wants to be a part of Sir Bob Geldof's DVD - so he went back to the studio to get it right.
The DVD will be the first release from the 1985 Live Aid concert - which raised around £40million ($73 million) for food and development in Africa. It is expected to be in the stores by Christmas.
August 4, 2004 -- Yahoo News
Powell picks Paul -- "a bud of mine" -- as favorite Beatle
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has professed to prefer Sir Paul McCartney over the other members of the legendary rock group The Beatles because he has remained "normal" despite great fame and riches, according to an interview released this week.
Asked by American humorist PJ O'Rourke of The Atlantic magazine who his favorite Beatle was -- and told by O'Rourke that former US president Bill Clinton had chosen McCartney -- Powell replied, "That's what I would say. Because I know Paul. Paul's a bud of mine."
O'Rourke expressed bemused incredulity, suggesting that a sane person would have no alternative but to select drummer Ringo Starr as their favorite Beatle, according to a transcript of the interview posted on the magazine's website.
"I'm sure he's a great guy and all," O'Rourke said of McCartney. "But I would have thought anybody in their right mind would pick Ringo. He wanted the act to last just long enough so he would have enough money to open a chain of hairdressing shops. And, by God, he did.
Nonplussed, Powell responded that "Paul ended up with the most money."
O'Rourke admitted that was true and noted that McCartney was still among the living, unlike late former Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison.
"You know what I like about him: he is so normal," Powell added.
Neither Powell nor O'Rourke, who is known for his biting satire, made any mention of the fact that Starr is also still alive, according to the transcript which was released on Monday.
Powell did not delve further into his friendship with McCartney, who along with his now-wife, ex-model Heather Mills, met at least once with the secretary as part of their work in the worldwide campaign to ban landmines at the State Department in April 2001.
August 1, 2004 -- Independent
McCartney gets a frog in his throat again
Sir Paul McCartney, whose Frog Chorus single has been widely
derided as the lowest point in his song-writing career, is to
re-release the track after 20 years.
The song, with its instantly recognizable "bom bom bom"
refrain, is being issued after he struck a deal with movie mogul
Harvey Weinstein to release a collection of three animations
on DVD which the ex-Beatle masterminded.
The track, officially called "We All Stand Together"
and credited to Paul McCartney and The Frog Chorus, was originally
written for the film Rupert and the Frog Song. Sir Paul had long
been a fan of the cartoon bear.
Although the Frog Chorus single was a major chart hit, reaching
number three in 1984, it has not fared well since. New Musical
Express placed it in the top 10 worst singles of all time, and
a Channel 4 poll last year to find the 100 most-hated songs ranked
it 63rd, Sir Paul's highest entry.
It will be released next month to mark the song's 20th anniversary,
coupled with a new song for children called "Tropical Island
Hum", the title track to a short film on his DVD, "Paul McCartney: The Music and Animation
Collection."
Sir Paul, who played Glastonbury Festival last month, said, "I
don't often write songs for children but we made this new film
for kids and the film needed a song. As a songwriter I'm always
interested in trying to write music in different styles, so I
took the challenge of trying to write another one for kids. I
shouldn't imagine too many of the Glastonbury bands would follow
performing 'Helter Skelter' there with releasing a single for
children ... but it's ringing the changes like this which keeps
me interested in the possibilities of life."
Gareth Grundy, deputy editor of Q magazine, said, "While
'We All Stand Together' is a bit silly and hardly up there with
'Hey Jude' or 'Eleanor Rigby', it has its place. Let's face it,
it remains suitable for children of all ages. So I was a bit
disappointed he didn't play it at Glastonbury."
August 1, 2004 -- Contact Music
STELLA McCARTNEY EXPECTING FIRST CHILD
Sir Paul McCartney's fashion designer daughter Stella McCartney is expecting her first child in the new year.
The baby will be 16 months younger than the former Beatles's newborn daughter Bea, who was born to his TV presenter wife Heather Mills last October.
A friend says, "Stella is really thrilled as she was becoming really desperate for a child."
The baby's father is her publisher husband Alasdhair Willis , whom she married just under a year ago (August 30, 2003). It is thought she might now take a back seat at her fashion company Stella McCartney, which is funded by Gucci.
News continues on the Macca Report September 2004
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