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July 31, 2006 -- Paul McCartney.com

PRESS RELEASE - 'ECCE COR MEUM'

Paul McCartney To Release New Classical Work 'Ecce Cor Meum'

Release Date: 25th September 2006

Paul McCartney releases his new full-length work of classical music Ecce Cor Meum through EMI Classics on September 25th, 2006. Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) is Paul's fourth classical album since his first released in 1991, The Liverpool Oratorio.

Ecce Cor Meum has been more than eight years in the making and its origins follow in the historic tradition of composers that have been commissioned to write music for the world-renowned Magdalen College Oxford. Paul was specially invited by Anthony Smith (President of Magdalen College 1998 ­ 2005) to compose something to set the seal on a new concert hall for the college. His hope was for 'a choral piece which could be sung by young people the world over in the same way that Handel's Messiah is'.

Ecce Cor Meum, an Oratorio in four movements, is scored for choir and orchestra. The text combines both English and to a lesser degree, Latin. Paul's knowledge of Latin comes from his classical education at The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, where he had learnt three languages by the time he was 12. Paul says: "Not all of this has been retained over the years as my path went in other directions, but my love of language remains, and as Latin is known and sung by choirs all over the world, I felt it would be appropriate to use at times during the piece."

Like many great composers Paul, started with the music and then looked for a subject that fits. Several ideas for lyrics occurred to him, but they only gelled when he took part in a concert of John Tavener's music in the Church of St Ignatius Loyola in New York. "While I was waiting to do my bit, I was looking around the church and I saw a statue, and underneath it was written 'Ecce Cor Meum'. I had done some Latin at school and I always had a fondness for it. So I worked it out. I believe it means Behold My Heart".

In November 2001, the first version of Ecce Cor Meum was given its first preview performance by the Magdalen College Choir, which was conducted by Bill Ives at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. This was a great learning experience for Paul. "Eventually I made it all come together through correcting a lot of misapprehensions ­ a lot was learned before the Sheldonian performance, but a lot of it was learned afterwards. An experienced choral composer knows that children can't be given huge sustained passages; they don't have the energy and the stamina. At the Sheldonian there was some quite hard stuff that I didn't realise because I'd done it on the synthesiser (which has endless stamina!), but during that first performance, the solo treble couldn't come on for the second half ­ I think I'd used him up in the first half! These are things that people either learn because they are taught them immediately at the first lesson or you learn through the years, so it was good to go through the piece a lot of times, and we took out huge choral sections and gave them to the orchestra. If it had been a Beatles song I would have known how to do it. But this was a completely different ball game."

Produced by John Fraser, Ecce Cor Meum was recorded this year at the legendary Abbey Road Studios between March 13th and 17th. It was performed by EMI artist Kate Royal (soprano); The Boys of King's College Choir, Cambridge; The Boys Of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford and The Academy Of St Martin In The Fields conducted by Gavin Greenway.

Paul and Heather set out on official road to divorce

Paul McCartney has filed for divorce from his estranged wife Heather. Both had insisted the split would be amicable for the sake of their two-year-old daughter Beatrice, but the former Beatle has since hired a heavyweight team of Britain's top divorce lawyers to handle proceedings.

And ten weeks after the couple's separation was announced the millionaire singer has been photographed with his ring finger bare. The outing to his Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts was the first occasion in four years he'd been seen without a wedding band.

According to friends of Sir Paul, his petition to the courts blames the break-up of the four-year marriage on the former model's "unreasonable behaviour".

But Heather's spokesperson rejected claims the pair were at loggerheads. "The divorce is still at its early stages and they haven't got to the money yet. It's not acrimonious. They're talking every day about Bea."

The charity campaigner, who didn't sign a pre-nuptial agreement prior to their wedding, could be in line for a considerable slice of her husband's £825 million fortune. But first Heather's attorneys - who she has yet to name - will have to contend with Fiona Shackleton, the divorce specialist dubbed as the Steel Magnolia for her toughness. The lawyer represented the Prince of Wales when he parted ways with Princess Diana.

Also on the team is Nicholas Mostyn QC and John L. Eastman, Paul's longtime lawyer/manager, and the brother of his first wife Linda.

Macca, 64, hoped the cash would pave the way for a friendly settlement.But Heather - dubbed Lady Mucca - wants a bigger chunk of his £1 billion ($1.5 billion) fortune.

The ex-Beatle is so furious he will communicate with her only through lawyer Fiona Shackleton, who acted for Prince Charles in his divorce.

He reckons Heather, 38, has gone back on a deal for a "quick and painless" split.

And though he defended her against claims she was only after his money when they split ten weeks ago, he now doubts his judgment.

He has also grown to believe she is deliberately dragging out the divorce so she can hold on to her title as Lady McCartney.

A source said: "Things have deteriorated rapidly and the divorce is now looking like it will be one of the most acrimonious possible.

"She has shown her true colours and he is beginning to see her as a gold-digger.They had been speaking to arrange times and places to pick up daughter Beatrice. But he now makes arrangements through staff.

"Any communication with Heather is going through formal channels with lawyers."

RAGE OF HEATHER: She wanted to divorce HIM - Vows not to make life EASY

Heather Mills is furious Sir Paul McCartney has began divorce proceedings against her - because she wanted to divorce him first.

The Mirror revealed two days ago that Sir Paul, 64, had instructed lawyers to act on the grounds of her "unreasonable behaviour" - only 10 weeks after they split.

A source close to charity campaigner Heather, 38, said: "She wanted to divorce him...she didn't expect it to happen this quickly."

Heather is said to have turned down a £30 million ($56 million) "quickie" divorce.

The source added: "She's not going to make it easy. This could drag on."

MACCA: FANCY A £30M QUICKIE? HEATHER: NO WAY

Sir Paul McCartney believes estranged wife Heather is a "gold-digger" because she has rejected a £30 million ($55.7 million) quickie divorce offer. When they split he defended Heather against claims that she was only after his money. Since then he has changed his opinion and he is accusing her of reneging on a financial deal he thought they'd agreed to ensure a quick and amicable divorce.

Heather, 38, however, insists that there has been NEVER been any agreement on money.

Last night, a close friend of the former Beatle said: "Paul believes Heather wants as much money as she can get. He thinks she is proving herself to be nothing better than a gold-digger."

The Sunday Mirror has been told that Heather initially indicated she would agree to a "quick and painless" divorce with Macca following their break-up in May. In the proposed settlement, she would have received around £30million of Macca's £1billion ($1.8 billion) fortune.

But he claims that she is now stalling and has rejected the offer, believing she wants to hang on to the kudos of being Lady Paul McCartney for as long as she possibly can.

And we understand she is pushing for a settlement figure nearer £200 Million ($371 million).

Sir Paul, 64, has hired Prince Charles's divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton, in what is now promising to be one of the most bitter matrimonial battles ever.

Normally, the lawyers of both parties agree a wording for the reasons for the marriage breakdown and the terms of the settlement - and a court would simply rubber stamp the agreement.

Family lawyer Caitlin Jenkins explained: "If they can't even agree the wording of the petition - normally the easiest part for couples - it does not look promising for sorting out finances."

More importantly, she said, it does not bode well for an agreement over their baby daughter, Beatrice.

"They're heading for the doomsday scenario : Heather can cross-petition and then they'll battle it out in court, probably open court at that," she said.

Sir Paul has filed proceedings citing Heather's unreasonable behaviour, accusing her of being argumentative and rude to his staff. We have learned she is likely to counter-claim that the billionaire is mean with money and, once they had married, became boring and selfish.

Yesterday, a close friend of Sir Paul revealed: "Paul is a reasonable guy who doesn't like confrontation. He wanted to keep the divorce quick and amicable for the sake of Beatrice - but feels Heather is being difficult and trying to drag things outs.

"In his eyes they had agreed they wanted to make the divorce quick and painless and a settlement was virtually in place - but then Heather started getting unreasonable because she wanted more money.

"She wants as much as she can. She's a gold-digger."

The friend continued: "Paul never wanted to go down this route, but Heather left him with no choice in the end."

Yesterday the accusations infuriated Heather. A close acquaintance said: "There has been no financial offer ... she is outraged by the suggestion she's a money-grabber.

"Paul has always been tight with his money towards her. She was having to pay the mortgage on their Hove home where she is based until a few months ago.

"She even went on chat shows to raise money to pay staff, people like her secretary. This is likely to form part of her counter-claim."

The day after they announced their split, Sir Paul seemed convinced that Heather was not after his cash.

He issued a statement saying: "It's been suggested that Heather married me for money. There is not an ounce of truth in this. She is a very generous person who spends most of her time trying to help others."

And in her own self-help book published in May, Heather wrote that being labelled a gold-digger was "worse than losing my leg".

Now, close friends of Macca believe Heather is also stalling on the divorce because she does not want to lose the status of being Lady Heather Mills-McCartney. The friend added: "Heather loves being Lady McCartney. It has given her power and influence.

"For example, she's met many of the major world leaders ... and has become a world famous celebrity on the back of it. And she is terrified that when she returns to being plain Heather Mills all that will be lost."

Both camps are now preparing for one of the most acrimonious divorces in showbusiness history. Heather is preparing to claim that Paul became "boring" after their marriage in Ireland in June 2002.

When they first started dating in 1999, he wooed her with romantic gestures including sending her flowers and taking her to exclusive restaurants. But after they wed, according to sources close to Heather, his attitude changed.

She wanted a rich social life based at their homes in St John's Wood in Central London or on the Sussex coast at Hove.

But Paul preferred to stay at his rambling 160-acre estate in Peasmarsh, Sussex - his main home throughout his 29-year marriage to Linda and where his children were brought up.

A friend revealed: "Before their marriage, it was as if Paul acted younger than he was. But once he'd got a ring on Heather's finger, he reverted to type. Heather wanted a social life, but Paul preferred to stay at home, as he had done with Linda. So Heather felt like he wasn't the man she had married."

The friend continued: "She is prepared to throw everything at Paul now."

Macca chose not to make Heather sign a pre-nuptial agreement before their wedding because he said it was unromantic - and has little legal recognition in UK law.

The couple met in 1999 at our sister paper The Daily Mirror's Pride Of Britain Awards. They wed three years later, and he walked out on her in May this year after becoming fed-up with being a "doormat."

At first the split seemed amicable, but has turned increasingly bitter.

The Sunday Mirror was told earlier this month how Macca had been left stunned after finding out a private conversation between him and his daughter Stella had been bugged.

The tape - which featured Stella launching a ferocious attack on Heather - was played to him by his estranged-wife.

She insisted she had received it from a third party and there is no suggestion she had anything to do with the bugging. We also revealed how Heather had threatened to stop Beatrice seeing Stella, who is her half-sister.

At the same time, Heather's sordid past as a porn star has been exposed in shocking detail. There have even been allegations she was a prostitute, though she has vowed to sue over these claims once her divorce has been finalised. Macca told friends he did not know of Heather's alleged sordid past and it may now be used to reduce the divorce settlement.

Since their split, Macca has mostly stayed at the Peasmarsh farm, while Heather divides her time between Hove and her sister's house nearby. But she has recently moved into a £500,000 ($928,651)converted barn just 15 minutes from Peasmarsh.

Last night, a spokesman for Sir Paul declined to comment.

The wedding ring is off. The dazzling team of lawyers is in place. Sir Paul McCartney has filed for divorce, it emerged yesterday, and the publicly genial former Beatle seems to be preparing for a long, tough battle with his estranged wife, Heather.

Both had hoped for an amicable split, for the sake of their two-year-old daughter, Beatrice. But yesterday a friend revealed that Sir Paul's petition for divorce had been submitted to the courts and it blamed the break-up of the four-year marriage on Lady Heather's "unreasonable behaviour". The singer was said to have described his wife as "argumentative" and "rude to staff".

Lady Heather hit back by saying she would be filing counterclaims in British and American courts, putting her own side of the story. A court battle on both sides of the Atlantic could take more than a year. The former model turned charity campaigner might emerge with a £200 million ($371 million) settlement - but her lawyers will have to beat one of the most impressive legal teams ever to contest a British divorce. It includes Fiona Shackleton, the tough divorce specialist who helped Prince Charles part from Diana, and Nicholas Mostyn QC, whose results in high-profile divorce cases have earned him the nickname Mr Payout. Leading them from behind the scenes will be John L Eastman, long-time lawyer, manager and friend of Sir Paul - and the brother of his late wife Linda.

Sir Paul, 64, waved cheerily to photographers at his Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts on Friday, but they noticed that his ring finger was bare for the first time in four years. His hair was a more natural, greying colour and his clothes more formal than they have been during his marriage.

"Paul just wants to get this over as quickly and cleanly as possible and put the whole sorry episode behind him," his friend was quoted as saying in the Daily Mirror yesterday, while giving details of the divorce petition. But in The Sun "a source close to the family" said the singer was furious. "He was determined these details would remain private, and he's very disappointed that someone in a position of trust has revealed all."

Meanwhile a statement released by Lady Heather, 38, said she was "hugely disappointed that matters of such a confidential nature should be aired in public and feels it inappropriate to speak about such delicate matters when a child is involved."

Lawyers for both sides will try to agree a compromise in private - but if they cannot do so then the secrets of the brief McCartney marriage may well be aired in a public court room, including the hostility apparently felt towards Lady Heather by her stepchildren. This became more public earlier this month with the news that someone had bugged the line at Sir Paul's home in East Sussex, recording a conversation in which his daughter, the 33-year-old fashion designer Stella McCartney, gave full vent to her feelings, claiming, among other things, that her stepmother had lied about her past.

Sir Paul was embarrassed at the conversation and angry at the breach of security. However, the claims he discussed with Stella have also been reported in the tabloid press, which said Heather Mills once posed for pornographic pictures in a German sex manual. It also said she once worked as a prostitute among wealthy Arabs. Lady Heather strongly denies this and has threatened to sue when the divorce is settled.

Sir Paul is worth an estimated £825 million ($1.6 billion), thanks to his career with the Beatles and as a solo performer, plus his property and publishing companies. His marriage to Linda Eastman lasted from 1969 to her death from breast cancer in 1998. They had three children, and he adopted her daughter by a previous marriage.

A year after Linda's death, Sir Paul went to a charity function and met Heather Mills, a 31-year-old model famous for going on working after losing part of her leg when she was hit by a police motorcycle. She was a campaigner on behalf of amputees, knew how to handle publicity and, like all the McCartneys, was passionately against cruelty to animals.

Their romance was hard for the McCartney children to accept, but received the blessing of Linda's brother John. The couple were married in 2002, at the remote Castle Leslie in County Monaghan. There was no pre-nuptial agreement.

HIS LEGAL TEAM

Heather Mills McCartney has yet to name the lawyers who will represent her in British and American courts, but reports suggest Sir Paul has his legal team in place.

John L Eastman 69

The brother of Sir Paul's late wife Linda has been his lawyer-manager since helping to dissolve the Beatles in 1970. Runs McCartney Productions, a publishing company with rights to the songs of Buddy Holly and musicals including Grease. Leading Apple Corps' legal fight against Apple Computer. Clients include Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Bowie.

Fiona Shackleton 50

Known as the Steel Magnolia for her toughness, this divorce specialist says: "It helps to have a rod of steel through your back and loads of charm." Represented Prince Charles, persuading Diana to give up being called Her Royal Highness in return for £17m. Personal solicitor to Princes William and Harry.

Nicholas Mostyn QC 49

Charges £500 an hour but gets results to justify his nickname Mr Payout. Helped Karen Parlour, the wife of former England footballer Ray Parlour, win half her ex-husband's future earnings, a landmark case. Won £5m for Melissa Miller after three years in a childless marriage.

Paul McCartney starts divorce file

Sir Paul McCartney has begun formal divorce proceedings, a source close to the star has confirmed.

The former Beatle has taken the first legal steps in separating from Heather Mills McCartney after four years of marriage, the source said.

The news came 24 hours after McCartney was photographed without his wedding ring during a visit to his fame school in Liverpool.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Press Association: "He has started proceedings but I don't know any more than that."

McCartney, 64, who is said to be worth at least £800 million ($1.5 billion), wants a "clean break", UK newspapers have reported.

Reports claimed that he had blamed his wife's "unreasonable behaviour" for the split and said she was "argumentative" and "rude to staff".

But a spokeswoman for Lady McCartney, 38, was reported as saying that she would be contesting her husband's claims.

Sir Paul McCartney's split with estranged wife Heather has exploded into open war - with him insisting: "I just want a clean break."

Heather blew her top after Macca, 64, this week began formal divorce proceedings and blamed her "unreasonable behaviour" for the break-up.

He is said to have described the ex-model as "argumentative" and "rude to staff".

Furious Heather, 38, immediately hit back by vowing to file court papers that tell her side of the story.

As the couple last night appeared to be on the brink of an ugly public battle, a friend of Macca's insisted the ex-Beatle merely wanted a no-fuss divorce.

The friend added: "He has stipulated there will be no tears and tantrums, just a clean break.

"Paul just wants to get this over as quickly and cleanly as possible and put the whole sorry episode behind him."

Until now the couple have insisted their break up will be amicable and stressed their only concern is for their daughter Beatrice, two.

But a spokeswoman for Heather yesterday made it clear she is angry at Macca's claims and intends to come out fighting.

She said: "Heather's going to be filing her own counter-claims about matters both in this country and America.

"Any view she has on her divorce will be handled discreetly. She does not feel the need to repudiate claims that she may be headstrong or feisty.

"She is hugely disappointed that matters of such a confidential nature should be aired in public and feels it is inappropriate to speak about such delicate matters when a child is involved."

Top divorce lawyer Kevin Harris-James said Macca had taken "a hostile step" that could lead to the couple giving evidence against each other in court.

He added: "Sir Paul had the option of drawing up his grounds for divorce and clearing it with Heather's lawyers.

But the fact that she is filing counter claims indicates that hasn't happened and she is fighting fire with fire.

"If he didn't seek Heather's approval then this is quite a hostile step and shows he wants to get it over with.

"But it doesn't bode well for the chances of an amicable settlement and could result in them going to court to give evidence against each other.

"I think there's a bit of legal posturing going on here with both parties manoeuvring and putting some pressure on the other in preparation for a forthcoming financial battle."

Sir Paul, worth £825 million ($1.5 billion), launched his petition against Heather on the grounds that their four-year marriage had irretrievably broken down.

He has hired Royal lawyer Fiona Shackleton, who represented Prince Charles in his divorce from Diana and is personal solicitor to William and Harry.

The priority is to reach a financial settlement and formalise child-care for Beatrice.

The couple did not have a prenuptial agreement. It was reported that Heather planned to settle for a £10 million ($18.5 million) pay-off instead of the £200 million ($371 million) she is potentially entitled to. However, sources close to Sir Paul believe he may use recent allegations about her past in an attempt to reduce his pay-out.

Newspapers have claimed she appeared in pornographic pictures and once worked as a highly-paid hooker, sleeping with wealthy Arabs.

Heather strenuously denies the claims and is determined to prove they are untrue. Insiders say she has tracked down billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, who was reported to be a client. He is said to have admitted he did not know who she was. Once Heather has filed her grounds for divorce the lawyers from both sides will get together to try to come up with a compromise.

If they are unable to do so they will have to go to court where a judge will decide who is telling the truth.

The whole procedure is predicted to take between six and twelve months.

The Mirror revealed in May how the couple's marriage had collapsed.

A spokesman for Sir Paul last night declined to comment.

July 28, 2006 -- The Sun

Macca: 'Heather's so rude'

Tormented Sir Paul McCartney has filed for divorce from Heather Mills - sparking a bitter £200 million ($371 million) legal battle.

Macca has cited the ex-model's "unreasonable behaviour" for the end of their four-year marriage.

But furious Heather, 38 has vowed to go to war with the ex-Beatle, 64, by filing counter claims.

Sir Paul's papers allege she was "rude" to Macca's loyal staff and "argumentative".

Pals of Heather say she is livid at the accusations and will be putting her side of the story in legal papers in the UK and United States.

Macca - worth £825 million ($1.5 billion) - has hired lawyer Fiona Shackleton, who represented Prince Charles in his divorce from Diana.

He was hoping for a civilised split despite the couple NOT signing a pre-nuptial agreement to safeguard his pop fortune.

Macca - furious details have leaked out - is desperate to keep things cordial for the sake of the couple's two-year-old daughter Beatrice.

A source close to the family said: "Paul wanted a clean break for the sake of Beatrice.

"He was determined these details would remain private and he's very disappointed that somebody in a position of trust has revealed all."

Just yesterday Macca appeared to finally be putting his marriage behind him - after splitting in May.

He was pictured for the first time without a wedding ring in public at a graduation ceremony of his Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

And he also appeared to have ditched dyeing his hair.

Heather was rumoured to have been behind the chestnut brown transformation of his greying locks.

Heather, a campaigner against land mines and fur, could claim up to £200 million in the divorce.

A spokeswoman for her said yesterday: "Heather's going to be filing her own counter claims about matters both in this country and America. Any views she has on her divorce will be handled discretely.

"She does not feel the need to repudiate claims that she may be headstrong or feisty. She is hugely disappointed that matters of such a confidential nature should be aired in public and feels it is inappropriate to speak about such matters with a child involved."

Lawyers will try to battle out a deal once Heather has filed her grounds for divorce. But the matter could take up to a year if it goes to court.

Jackson buys McCartney's first guitar for $620K

Craig Jackson, the president and chief executive of Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. LLC, has been spending a little money at an auction after staging collector car sales for so long.

Jackson paid just under $620,000 to buy the acoustic guitar that Sir Paul McCartney learned to play on. The REX guitar was part of the Cooper Owen Music Legends Auction at Abbey Road Studios in London.

"Baby boomers are living out the soundtracks of their lives," said Jackson, "not only in the cars reminiscent of their youth that they purchase at our auctions, but with the memorabilia that represents the music that rocked the airwaves in the '60s and '70s."

In addition to being a rock 'n' roll fan, Jackson is a close friend of John Collins, the managing director of the Cooper Owen auction. And Collins is a fellow car enthusiast.

Based in Scottsdale, Barrett-Jackson produces an annual collector car auction each January in Scottsdale, and a collector car auction in West Palm Beach in late March and early April.

WEBMASTER'S NOTE: Barret-Jackson auctioned off Paul and Heather's custom built Cadillac CTS coupe for $110,700 in April with the proceeds going to Adopt-A-Minefield.

Oxo Mum awarded at McCartney school

"Oxo Mum" Lynda Bellingham has been awarded a "rock and roll" diploma by Sir Paul McCartney's fame school.

The actress was presented with the companionship - the equivalent of an honorary degree - by the ex-Beatle at a ceremony at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

Ms Bellingham, famed for her role in the Oxo TV adverts, was awarded the honour in recognition of her services to acting.

Sir Paul opened the institute, which was inspired by New York's School of Performing Arts, in 1996 in the grounds of his old school in Liverpool city centre.

Each year celebrity companions are inducted into the school during the graduation ceremony.

Other luminaries to receive the award were Arts education leader Sir Ken Robinson, Dr Jorg Sennheiser - a leading name in electroacoustics, and music magazine publisher David Stark.

Hollywood star Terence Stamp was also awarded the honour in his absence.

Former companions include Bee Gee Robin Gibb, songwriter Guy Chambers, Joan Armatrading, The Bangles and Barbara Dickson.

Founding Principal Mark Featherstone-Witty said: "This has been another fabulous year in terms of welcoming highly-respected industry professionals to share their life's work with our students.

"At graduation we are honouring some of those people for their support of LIPA."

When I'm 64...I'll stop dying my hair - Macca shows his age

Tired and worn-looking, the strain of marital break-up appears to be taking its toll on Sir Paul McCartney.

Grey hairs which he had taken to colouring when with his wife Heather have now returned.

And with the facial lines of old age very much in evidence, the former Beatle looked every inch his 64 years as he stepped out in his hometown of Liverpool.

There was also one other significant change in the music legend's appearance - the lack of a wedding ring.

Sir Paul had continued to wear the ring after his split earlier this year from his second wife, but was bare-fingered as he arrived to hand out graduation diplomas at the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts.

"Oxo Mum" Lynda Bellingham was among those awarded a "rock and roll" diploma during ceremonies at the school.

The actress, famed for her role in the Oxo TV adverts, was awarded the equivalent of an honorary degree in recognition of her services to acting.

Sir Paul opened the institute, which was inspired by New York's School of Performing Arts, in 1996 in the grounds of his old school in Liverpool city centre.

Each year celebrity companions are inducted into the school during the graduation ceremony.

Other luminaries to receive the latest awards included Arts education leader Sir Ken Robinson, Dr Jorg Sennheiser - a leading name in electroacoustics - and music magazine publisher David Stark.

Hollywood star Terence Stamp was also awarded the honour in his absence.

Founding Principal Mark Featherstone-Witty said: "This has been another fabulous year in terms of welcoming highly-respected industry professionals to share their life's work with our students."

July 26, 2006 -- Macca Report News Exclusive

Paul to release new classical work

Paul McCartney's next classical work to be released will be "Ecce Cor Meum." It will be released in the UK on EMI Classics, September 4 and in the U.S. on September 26. (thanks to Matt Hurwitz)

WEBMASTER'S NOTE: "Ecce Cor Meum" was first performed live November 10, 2001.

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney has been told to justify building a log cabin on his country estate or face having it torn down.

The rock star has been refused retrospective permission to keep the secluded timber lodge and gym in the grounds of Woodlands Farm in Brede Lane, Peasmarsh, near Rye, East Sussex.

Representatives for Sir Paul, 64, said he needed the two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-storey lodge to maintain his privacy.

But the musician has failed to get planning permission for the buildings and Rother District Council has warned that if the issue is not resolved soon, they will have to come down.

The council's head of planning, Frank Rallings, said today he expected revised applications to be submitted from Macca's planning agents outlining justification for the buildings, but so far that has not happened.

Mr Rallings said: "After four years, a building which has been constructed without planning permission becomes immune from enforcement action, so the clock is ticking for us.

"We cannot let this go on forever, but we may have to resolve it through enforcement and appeal."

A supporting statement on behalf of the ex-Beatle in one of the planning applications to the council said: "The owner has a requirement for privacy, seclusion and security that the buildings at Woodlands Farm cannot provide.

"This is due to the proximity of the public footpath that passes by the farmhouse and through the farmyard and also the activities connected with the working farm and machinery movements creating noise disturbance and safety issues.

"The lodge provides quiet, secluded and secure accommodation and is used only in lieu of the farmhouse, which will always be vacant when the lodge is occupied. The intention is not to increase the amount of residential property."

The letter added that Sir Paul had been a landowner in the area for many years, with his farm producing "crops and wool".

The letter said: "There is a commitment to natural methods and the farms and produce have gained recognition and designation as organic status."

Paul McCartney has been told he must tear down the house where his estranged wife Heather Mills is living.

The timber lodge, which sits on McCartney's 16-acre estate in East Sussex, England, has been condemned by council officials because it does not have planning consent.

Mills and the couple's daughter Beatrice moved into the house with McCartney's permission earlier this year to escape the media circus surrounding the couple's split in May, but the star's leave of appeal against the local authority's decision has now run out.

The large house, which has a gym and is only 200 yards from McCartney's home, allows the former Beatle easy access to his two-year-old daughter while lawyers process the couple's divorce.

Frank Rallings, head of Rother District Council's planning department, said: "We will be seeking to enforce the order to demolish the lodge and gym annexe. He has the right to make another application on fresh grounds."

An aide for the star said: "Paul claims the lodge has no environmental impact, but because of who he is they (the council) are not budging."

Heather buys £550,000 home near Sir Paul

Heather Mills McCartney has bought a £550,000 ($1 million) home to share with baby Beatrice just a 15-minute drive from her estranged husband's estate.

The five-bedroom converted barn has been visited by Sir Paul McCartney as they plan their future apart.

It was previously thought that Heather, 38, intended to stay at a house in the grounds of his home while the couple's divorce was finalised.

But Land Registry documents show she bought the property without a mortgage on May 26 this year - just nine days after their split was revealed.

Heather and Sir Paul have recently been spotted several times separately visiting the barn which stretches along a leafy lane and comes with a small plot of land to the front and rear. It also has a large unfinished wooden annexe that could be a play area or office space.

Last night a neighbour said: "I am a huge Beatles fan and so are my children so it was quite surreal to see Paul McCartney and Heather coming and going."

Heather is already the owner of a £2 million ($3.7 million) seafront home in Hove, East Sussex, which was bought in her name in 2001, two years after the couple's six-year love affair began. Her burgeoning property portfolio is a far cry from the modest home she had in Basingstoke, Hampshire, before she met Sir Paul.

But the landmine campaigner has some way to go to match her estranged husband's seven homes which are believed to be worth in the region of £32 million ($59 million).

Heather appears to be planning to use the new house as the base for three new companies she has set up in the past month with her sister, Fiona. The first company is called Dissoi Logoi. The words refer to the ancient rhetorical practice of arguing both sides of an issue.

The second company's name, Raspberry Fields Productions, appears to be a variation of The Beatles' classic Strawberry Fields Forever.

And the final company - set up just last week - is bizarrely named Beauty And The Baby. Two other companies, I Do Care and You Care - both believed to be linked with Heather's charitable activities - are registered to a rented property in Stockbridge, Hampshire. A spokesman refused to comment on the purpose of the businesses.

Since the announcement of their separation on May 17, Heather has been living at her home in Hove.

Paul and Heather can't be in the same house together

It's like a game of musical chairs -- only played with multi-million-dollar mansions!

That's the verdict on Sir Paul McCartney and estranged wife Heather's new living arrangements.

She stays at his country home when he's at the London townhouse; she must be off the premises (and back at her $3-million Brighton manse) when he arrives at the rural Peasmarsh estate to spend time with their daughter Bea.

Paul's cautioned his staff -- while working out details of his probable $100-million payoff to Heather -- "I never want to be under the same roof with that woman again."

The billionaire Beatle's disgusted Heather hid her sordid past from him: she allegedly was a call girl to rich Arabs.

Sir Paul McCartney's Fame School is on track to becoming a university after winning higher education status from the Government, the Daily Post can reveal.

It means the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts can now apply directly for state funding and could join the city's three other universities by giving out its own degrees by 2008.

It is believed to be the first institute to win the designation after setting up from scratch, and the news timely coincides with its 10th anniversary.

Founding principal Mark Featherstone-Witty said: "This is great news. It is what we have been working towards. It's poetic it has happened in our 10th year.

"It means the city now has four higher education institutes - the three universities and us.

"It shows confidence in Lipa's ability to manage itself. We can now apply directly for Government schemes when before we had to approach JMU to do it on our behalf, which sometimes led to a conflict of interests.We have always had a very good relationship with JMU but this means no one has to compromise.

"It is the first time a brand new institution has achieved this. Student achievement always comes first, things like Sandi Thom getting to number one are bigger celebrations. But in terms of bureaucracy it will be much better."

Lipa opened in 1996, offering undergraduate degrees in the performing arts, in acting, music, and dance, and non-performance degrees, in management, sound technology and theatre, technology and design.

The building, which was Sir Paul's former school, took £20m and five year's work to complete.

It started initial preparations to become independent from John Moores University, which now accredits its degrees, last year.

But from next month it will officially become a higher education institute, allowing it a direct funding relationship with the Government.

Its degrees will still be awarded through JMU but by 2008 Lipa hopes to have full university status.

A spokeswoman for JMU said: "For LIPA to achieve formal higher education institute status is a great achievement for them, LJMU and the city of Liverpool."

Heather Mills has told pals she is so cash-strapped she can't afford a bodyguard.

The porn-shamed ex- model is said to be worried for her safety after her split from hubby Sir Paul McCartney.

The former Beatle, 64, is believed to only pay for security for their daughter Beatrice, two.

Heather, 38 - who could get a £200 million ($370 million) settlement - is struggling to get by at her sister Fiona's home in Hove, East Sussex, the pal said.

She added: "The money she has is through her own work. She isn't rich.

"Heather is worried for her safety, but she can't afford her own minders.

"When Bea goes to see her dad, the minder goes with her."

The friend added: "Heather has put buying a new house on hold because she doesn't know what she can afford.

"She lives in Paul's house with Bea when he's away."

Fame School on track to be a university

Sir Paul McCartney's Fame School is on track to becoming a university after winning higher education status from the Government, the Daily Post can reveal.

It means the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts can now apply directly for state funding and could join the city's three other universities by giving out its own degrees by 2008.

It is believed to be the first institute to win the designation after setting up from scratch, and the news timely coincides with its 10th anniversary.

Founding principal Mark Featherstone-Witty said: "This is great news. It is what we have been working towards. It's poetic it has happened in our 10th year.

"It means the city now has four higher education institutes - the three universities and us.

"It shows confidence in LIPA's ability to manage itself. We can now apply directly for Government schemes when before we had to approach JMU to do it on our behalf, which sometimes led to a conflict of interests.We have always had a very good relationship with JMU but this means no one has to compromise.

"It is the first time a brand new institution has achieved this. Student achievement always comes first, things like Sandi Thom getting to number one are bigger celebrations. But in terms of bureaucracy it will be much better."

LIPA opened in 1996, offering undergraduate degrees in the performing arts, in acting, music, and dance, and non-performance degrees, in management, sound technology and theatre, technology and design.

The building, which was Sir Paul's former school, took £20 million ($37 million)and five year's work to complete.

It started initial preparations to become independent from John Moores University, which now accredits its degrees, last year.

But from next month it will officially become a higher education institute, allowing it a direct funding relationship with the Government.

Its degrees will still be awarded through JMU but by 2008 LIPA hopes to have full university status.

A spokeswoman for JMU said: "For LIPA to achieve formal higher education institute status is a great achievement for them, LJMU and the city of Liverpool."

Paul McCartney has been asked to headline a fundraising concert in Liverpool to bring jailed Michael Shields home.

The music superstar is one of a host of world-famous acts being approached to play an exclusive gig in Liverpool in November.

An approach has already been made to the Beatles legend by Liverpool music impressario Malcolm Feld to appear in a star-studded show.

Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson, part of Michael Shields' campaign, is in negotiation with the Liverpool Empire theatre to host the event.

Details of who else is being approached remain a secret, but the ECHO has learned soul legend Gloria Gaynor, Elton John and George Michael will be asked to support the Wavertree teenager.

Thousands of pounds could be raised through the concert which will go to the Michael Shields Bring Him Home fund.

Malcolm Feld, who has looked after top acts such as Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Bruce Forsyth, is launching the spectacular along with Mike McCartney, Paul's brother.

The photographer is set to bring together members of his 1960s band the Scaffold in a one-off reunion.

Mike was keen to support Michael Shields after being emphatically cleared in February of groping a waitress at a Wirral pub.

He told the ECHO: "I've been in a similar position as Michael and been held a hostage in my house.

"His freedom has been taken away and aprice has been put on his head. It's a nightmare the young lad is living day and night.

"People should stand up and be counted and not just do nothing."

Michael Shields was convicted of attempted murder last summer following an attack on Bulgarian waiter Martin Georgiev in the Bulgarian resort of Golden Sands.

Heather Mills appears to stick two fingers up yesterday - showing she's not wearing her wedding ring.

The ex-model, 38, was snapped at the home of estranged husband Sir Paul McCartney, 64, in Peasmarsh, East Sussex.

Many of the future stars' lives were intertwined. Sylvester took up music at 14 and quickly formed his own group, the Escorts, whose drummer was the cousin of Ringo Starr. Sylvester dropped out of school a year later and took a job as an apprentice in a garage pounding out dents in cars. His boss was Peter Harrison, brother of George Harrison.

One of Sylvester's friends was Michael McCartney, younger brother of Paul. Their fathers once played together in a band.

Years later, when Graham Nash left the Hollies to form "Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young," the Hollies turned to Sylvester as his replacement and the group continued to produce hits. When the Hollies needed a piano player for their smash hit "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," they turned to a young teenager named Elton John.

Sylvester shared the stage regularly with the Beatles until they outgrew Liverpool. (McCartney played tambourine for one of the Escorts' records.) "They were just another Liverpool band," he recalls of the Beatles.

The Beatles were atop the British Chart when they returned to play one last show at Liverpool's famed Cavern Club to honor a contractual obligation. The Beatles handpicked Sylvester's "Escorts" as the lead act that night. A year later, the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan and the group took off.

"I was a bit jealous," says Sylvester, "but they were a few years older than I was. They were always a bit different. They didn't sing the same songs. They were doing their own songs. Paul would say, 'Here's one I wrote in the bathroom this morning.' He wrote 'When I'm 64' about his dad long before it was a hit. They dressed different, too. We were all wearing Cliff Richards outfits (suits and ties), and they were wearing black leather. It's funny, when they made it big, Epstein cleaned them and they wore suits."

Now a youthful 59, Sylvester has four platinum records to his credit. After Sylvester joined the Hollies in 1969, the group recorded hits such as "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," and "Air that I Breathe," among others.

He cut his first solo album in 1974. A few years later he quit the Hollies and continued to work steadily. Looking back, he counts the Beatles as friends and pioneers.|

"They're the ones who paved the way for everybody else," he says. "I'm very proud of the Beatles."

If she decides to litigate, Heather Mills McCartney's case could test the boundaries of what's acceptable when it comes to public character assassinations.

While there was a sense of persistent sniping at Heather Mills McCartney during her short time as Sir Paul McCartney's missus, the tabloids have seized upon the couple's separation as an excuse to explore the parameters of character assassination.

We are led to believe that editors had previously refrained from unleashing their purveyors of sleaze on "Lady Mucca" out of deference to Sir Paul. Readers, it would seem, would not like their chosen daily read to stitch up the wife of one so famous and popular.

The Sun unleashed New International's open season on Mills McCartney with its "hard core porn shame" allegations, which were followed up by the News of the World's "Heather, the £5,000 hooker" story that was more or less repeated in the Mail.

As Mills McCartney mulls over the latest round of exposés with her lawyers, will the courts be able to offer her protection from such a predatory press?

The alleged unmasking of Mills McCartney relates to activities from her previous life as a glamour model. To the extent that some might show surprise over explicit pictures from a 1980s German sex guide, are these any different or worse than her numerous appearances for the very paper that now takes such delight in maligning her?

All that is "new" about the "revelations" that are meant to be so shocking is the timing of their publication.

What public interest is being served by sensationalising such stale stories? Has Mills McCartney deliberately misled the public and her husband over her past life and activities or did she merely move on and leave it behind her?

To justify their intrusive assault on Mills McCartney, the press may have to provide something more legally substantial than what they've managed to dig up so far.

What is interesting about this case is that whether this persistent attack on Mills McCartney's reputation proves to be justified or not, the reputational damage that would form the basis of a claim has already been done. So while on the face of the front pages she may be libelled, her claim could more likely fall to be one of privacy. An attack on someone's character, whether it is true or not, does not preclude a privacy claim. The exposé of Naomi Campbell's drug treatment hurt her reputation but did not stop her winning her privacy action.

In Europe, the courts have signalled that celebrity status does not mean the media can freely express all they choose at the expense of an individual's privacy. Recent judgments have made clear that whether libel or privacy, they will pay close attention to the circumstances surrounding publication.

While the press focus on the headline, the courts may well look beyond and take account of the rights of Mills McCartney and her daughter not to be subjected to such intrusive stories. Whether or not the stories prove justified, the decision to publish them may not.

If she decides to litigate, Mills McCartney's case could provide an interesting precedent to test the boundaries of what's acceptable when it comes to such public character assassinations. Recent settlements have shown the press cool off when it comes to proving their point.

Beatles producer Sir George Martin is challenging fans to crack the "code" in a new Fab Four album produced for a Las Vegas show.

Sir George and his son Giles, who say only they and Sir Paul McCartney know the answers, have hidden more than 130 Beatles songs within their 90-minute soundtrack to Love - the new Beatles/Cirque Du Soleil production.

Every sound in the show is taken from a Beatles recording, both famous and obscure, with some excerpts played backwards.

A prize will be offered to anyone who cracks the code when the CD soundtrack is released in October. Sir George, 80, told the Sunday Express:

"I really don't think anyone will ever get it."

War of the Maccas contd.

When they first split, Paul was devastated and Heather was set to walk away with £200 million ($368 million). But now he's fighting back - dictating every detail of their break-up while she falls apart

Nothing more starkly illustrates how changed Sir Paul McCartney has become towards his estranged wife than his current domestic arrangements.

Heather stays at his country estate with their daughter Beatrice on such days as it suits him to reside at his London townhouse. When he gives notice that he is travelling down to East Sussex to spend time with two-year-old Beatrice, Heather must on no account be anywhere on the property by the time he arrives.

She is effectively banished until Sir Paul returns to London.

So Heather must return to her £2 million ($4 million) beachfront property in Hove, even though, depressed, worn down and humiliated by the relentless raking up of details of an allegedly highly colourful past, she finds life there a torment.

She has been publicly humiliated, reviled, her reputation torn to shreds, those shreds scrunched up and trodden on. Her house is encircled by paparazzi, all waiting patiently for the moment Heather finally 'loses it'; passers-by stare at her out cycling with appalled fascination, as they would a freak at the circus.

There is no escaping her notoriety. Except, perhaps, at the Peasmarsh estate.

Sir Paul's 160-acre refuge offers complete privacy. Heather, 38, has offered to stay in any one of a number of residences on the grounds, and to keep out of his way, but he has refused.

Curiously, McCartney's people deny Heather is on the property at all.

Furthermore, she no longer has the security of a car and driver, except when she has Beatrice with her.

Heather, stripped of the privileges to which she became accustomed as Lady McCartney, has to drive herself around nowadays, which in these troubled times makes her feel vulnerable.

Does she not have a joint account with access to some of her husband's millions so she can hire her own driver?

Apparently not. Indeed, friends say that until just a few months ago, Heather had a mortgage on her house in Brighton and was making monthly payments with her own money from after-dinner speeches, although he has recently paid off the mortgage.

Espionage

"The Peasmarsh estate is a big place," says a friend. "There are a number of residences where Heather could stay. It does seem unnecessary to force her out every time he is there when the one thing Heather craves right now is some privacy."

She is becoming increasingly anxious and paranoid. And not, it must be said, without some justification. The bloody battle of McCartney vs McCartney has taken on a life of its own.

Last weekend it entered James Bond espionage territory when it transpired that someone has bugged McCartney's private phone line at Peasmarsh. The listening device picked up a conversation between McCartney and his daughter Stella, whose loathing for Heather is unsurpassed within the McCartney clan.

During the highly charged conversation, Stella is said to have told her father that she believed Heather had consistently lied about her past.

She also discussed with him recent stories claiming Heather worked as a prostitute in her early 20s. Heather vehemently denies the claims and says she plans to sue - just as soon as her divorce is finalised. Stella is also thought to have made a contemptuous remark about Heather's charity work.

Somehow this tape found its way into Heather's hands. She in turn presented it to her husband to listen to. As well as being hugely embarrassed, he felt deep discomfort at this breach of security in his own home.

It is a criminal offence to intercept calls, whether made on a landline or by mobile, punishable by up to two years in jail. Both Heather and Sir Paul's publicists declined to comment further on this strange business.

Another friend of Heather's says she was not particularly surprised by the savageness of the contents. "It was upsetting but not surprising. Heather has always tried to be friendly to Stella, but it has been clear for some time that there is animosity there."

This peculiar incident casts new light on another odd story that was doing the rounds in showbusiness circles around the time the McCartneys announced their separation: that someone within the McCartney camp had hired a private detective to trail Heather and revisit her history.

It seemed rather fantastical at the time, but given the very comprehensive character assassination to which Heather has since been subjected, one wonders whether such conjecture was entirely wide of the mark.

'Heather dreads the days when Sir Paul comes back to his estate'

"Heather certainly believes someone is out to get her," says a source.

But who, exactly? There is no suggestion that Sir Paul hired someone to delve into his wife's background. Rather, the gossipers speculated that it was someone within his circle of whom Heather had made an enemy.

Stella might seem high up on the list of suspects. But she adores her father and would know that revelations that damage Heather also hurt and humiliate him.

It would not be her. We may never know who, if anyone, is behind any such campaign.

Whatever the truth, there is no doubting Heather is feeling very jittery right now. She is profoundly depressed, wounded and fearful for the future. "She is sobbing her heart out most of the time," says a friend. "It is very, very hard for her.

"She is worried no one will want to have anything to do with her charity work, that no one will give her modelling work. She has dedicated the past ten years of her life to charity work, but that is all forgotten or ignored. She has no idea what her future holds."

Heather has always been very slim, but since her separation she has lost a stone in weight. She looks gaunt, haunted. She has sleeping problems and little appetite. Since the split from McCartney she has become a recluse.

"Heather is just taking it day by day, focusing all her energies on looking after Beatrice. For all their differences and problems, both Heather and Paul are besotted parents.

"But Heather dreads the days when Sir Paul comes back to his estate to see his daughter and, as she sees it, 'throws her to the wolves'."

Because her own house is under siege by the paparazzi, she sometimes stays at other friends' houses where she hopes she cannot be found. She feels unsettled, rootless. When she does venture out, she fears she will be attacked in the street. But McCartney, it seems, remains firm.

He fell madly in love with the charity campaigner when they met in 1999, the year after his 56-year old wife Linda's death from breast cancer.

Throughout their relationship, and after their marriage in 2002 in Ireland, it was Heather who was 'the boss'.

Heather remains his Achilles heel

Perhaps that is why it has come as such a terrible shock to her to see the more ruthless side to McCartney's character that others have witnessed.

"Heather was shocked when Paul told her he wanted out, and she is still struggling to accept it," says another friend.

Perhaps McCartney's new toughness in regard to his wife is in part a form of self-protection. For Heather remains his Achilles heel. Like it or not, she still has a hold over him.

He repeats his mantra to his friends that while he may have been a fool in love, he won't be one in divorce. But it does not come easy to him.

"If Heather and Paul were put in the same room together now, she would be able to exert considerable power over him," says one who knows them. "He knows that, and perhaps he feels he keeps control of the situation if he does not see her."

Indeed, Sir Paul showed some residual affection for his wife when for Bea's sake, they both attended a concert at her nursery a few weeks ago.

It was their first meeting since announcing their separation, and as Heather was about to get into her car, McCartney threw his arms round his wife and kissed her.

It has been said that he decided to end the marriage after being worn out by his wife's confrontational nature, their constant rowing and her taking him for granted.

But whatever finally tipped him over the edge - and there continues to be gossip within showbusiness circles that there is more to it than we yet know - the fact remains he is devastated it is over.

"He is anguished, tortured, terribly down," says a friend. "He never thought it would come to this."

A divorce battle looms. There is intense speculation as to how much of Sir Paul's £825 million ($1.6 billion) fortune Heather will receive. Continued accusations that she is a gold-digger add to her tortured state.

McCartney has secured the services of the redoubtable £500-an-hour ($920) barrister, Nicholas - 'Mr Payout' - Mostyn QC. He is also believed to have instructed top divorce lawyer, Fiona Shackleton, who represented Prince Charles in his 1996 divorce from Diana.

Known as the 'Steel Magnolia' in legal circles for her razor-sharp debating skills, Mrs Shackleton, 50, is one of the most sought-after divorce lawyers in Britain.

It is not known who is representing Heather. While both she and Paul have had meetings with their lawyers, it is believed that divorce papers have not yet been served.

Heather moving on

Heather would dearly love to start afresh in America, where she feels she would have a better chance of putting this terrible episode of her life behind her, but this, too, will be denied her.

She is fully aware that McCartney's home is in Britain - that is not going to change - and that 'commuting' to America to see his daughter would not suit him.

And in these post-separation days, if something does not suit McCartney, he won't do it.

Friends say she accepts that she has to stay in Britain and must find a way, impossible as it seems at the moment, to move on here.

Intriguingly, Heather set up three new companies in May - the month of the split - of which she is director and her sister Fiona is company secretary.

Friends say she does not want to say anything more about them because it will lead to more accusations that she is a self-publicist.

The first, I Do Care Ltd is probably something to do with her charity work. The second is called Dissoilogoi. The word refers to the ancient rhetorical practice of arguing both sides of an issue.

Could this be connected in some way with Heather's feeling that the accounts of her marriage to Sir Paul have been rather one-sided?

The third company, Raspberry Fields Productions, is presumably a variation of The Beatles classic Strawberry Fields Forever.

Some sort of sly dig at her husband, perhaps?

As for McCartney, he continues to rely on his three children from his marriage to Linda, Mary, 36, Stella, 34, and James, 28, to prop him up.

Stella, who lives with her publisher husband, Alasdhair Willis and their 15-month-old son, Miller, on a country estate in Worcestershire, has recently told friends she is expecting her second child.

Some happy news, then, for McCartney.

The children are sad for their father, but immensely relieved that a union they felt from the start was wrong is over.

But this presents them with another headache. Who is going to replace Heather?

"Paul has always had a woman in his life, he needs a woman in his life and there is no doubt that sooner rather than later there will be one," says a friend.

And there is no shortage of women attracted to the multimillionaire Sir Paul McCartney.

CHARLES' LAWYER FIGHTS FOR MACCA

Paul takes on 'Steel Magnolia' for divorce battle with Heather

Sir Paul McCartney has hired Prince Charles's divorce lawyer for his battle with Heather Mills.

The former Beatle has enlisted Fiona Shackleton to handle the settlement following the end of the couple's four-year marriage, which collapsed in May.

Shackleton - a partner in London legal firm Payne Hicks Beach - is one of the sharpest solicitors in Britain.

She is known as the Steel Magnolia for her tough debating skills.

The legal eagle, 50, represented Prince Charles in his divorce from the late Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1996.

During the case, she won the key concession from Diana that she would drop her HRH title in return for a £17 million ($31 million) pay-out.

Shackleton is also the personal solicitor for Prince William and Prince Harry.

Last night, a source revealed: "Paul wanted the best and believes in Fiona he has got it. She is hugely respected in legal circles and incredibly tough. This shows Paul is fully prepared if this divorce turns into a bitter battle and is determined to see it through."

In a rare interview Shackleton revealed: "I like sticking up for people, making sure they are not taken advantage of.

"In family work, everything's on the line. You need to be a good listener and understand people: your client, your opposition, counsel, the judge.

"It helps to have a rod of steel through your back and lots of charm. People generally choose the lawyers they deserve."

The Sunday Mirror told last week how Macca had been left stunned after finding out a private conversation between him and daughter Stella had been bugged. The tape, in which Stella launched a ferocious attack on Heather, was played to him by his estranged wife.

She insisted she had received it from a third party. And there is no suggestion she had anything to do with the bugging.

We also revealed how Heather had threatened to stop Stella seeing her half-sister, Bea - Heather and Macca's two-year-old girl.

Macca, 64, and 38-year-old Heather's divorce is likely to be one of the most explosive in show-business history.

Macca, worth an estimated £1billion ($1.8 billion), did not force Heather to sign a pre-nuptial agreement when they married in June 2002 as he thought it was unromantic.

As a result, the settlement is certain to cost him millions. Access arrangements for Bea are also likely to be part of the case.

Macca announced last month that "no decisions have been made" regarding Bea - bar him and Heather agreeing "to work at all times in Beatrice's best interests". Macca walked out on Heather in May. She was initially expected to receive up to £200 million ($368 million). But since then her past as a porn star has been exposed.

There have also been allegations that Heather was a prostitute, but she has vowed to sue over these claims when the divorce is finalised.

Macca told friends he did not know of Heather's sordid past. They have since said he may use the revelations to reduce the divorce settlement.

Since their split, Macca, who still wears his wedding ring, has mostly stayed at his Peasmarsh farm near Rye, East Sussex. Heather has split her time between their seafront home in Hove and her sister's nearby.

She has also viewed a £2.3 million ($4 million) farmhouse near Macca's home, which she is said to be very keen to buy.

Meanwhile, Sir Paul threw an Indian-themed "moving on" party at his London home last night (July 15) to thank pals who have stood by him. Guests tucked into curry and Indian beer while a sitar and tabla band played.

Macca's snub to Heather's charity concert

Paul McCartney has snubbed his estranged wife by pulling out of a major fundraising event for a charity campaign which she founded.

The former Beatle has told the Adopt-A-Minefield campaign - which is closely linked with Heather Mills McCartney - that he will not honour a long-standing commitment to perform at the charity's annual gala dinner.

His decision will be seen by many as evidence that the McCartneys' divorce is descending into acrimony. However, the couple's friends insist they are getting on well and that Sir Paul, did not want to overshadow the event.

The star has been the main attraction at the annual Adopt-A-Minefield Gala since the charity was formed in 2001. Immediately after the couple's split was announced in May, he told Adopt-A-Minefield that he would still play at this year's event at the luxury Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles on October 11.

Dozens of stars including Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jack Nicholson, Kiefer Sutherland and Orlando Bloom paid £500 ($900) for tickets to see McCartney perform solo. But without Sir Paul, the stars may not turn up and that could mean the charity nets less than the £1.7million ($3.1 million) it made last year.

The singer - who plans to make a six or seven-figure donation - said: "While I continue to be committed to Adopt-A-Minefield and its critical mission, given the current circumstances I will not be able to attend."

The former Beatle, who split from wife Heather Mills two months ago, has invited celebrity friends and family to the celebrations at his home.

A source close to the star said: "It's been a tough couple of months for Macca and he wants to put it all behind him.

"A lot of people have been very supportive recently and it's his way of saying thanks." Macca's children Stella, 34, Mary, 36, and James, 28, are all expected to attend the party.

Celebrity guests will include George Harrison's widow Olivia and Ringo Starr's wife Barbara Bach. Ringo is on tour. (in the US)

Yesterday crates of Taittinger champagne, Tiger beer and Evian water were delivered to Macca's mansion in St John's Wood, North London.

Dozens of chairs and lighting equipment were in the house.

Sir Paul, 64, was not expected back until late last night.

The insider added: "Macca just wants to have a good night.

"He is fed up with feeling low and wants to get on with life."

Last week our sister paper the Sunday Mirror revealed Macca's phone had been bugged.

Heather - mum of their two-year-old daughter Beatrice - made him listen to a tape of his conversation with Stella in which she attacked her stepmother. Heather had no part in the bugging.

In May, we revealed the McCartneys were divorcing after a string of rows. They are thrashing out a multimillion pound settlement.

Recently a British tabloid claimed that 1) there's a tape of an incendiary phone conversation between the ex-Beatle and his daughter, fashion designer Stella McCartney; 2) the recording had fallen into Heather's hands; 3) Stella says very nasty things about Heather; and 4) Heather thereafter confronted Sir Paul.

Reps for Paul and Heather had no comment, and Stella's rep did not return calls.

The British press have long focused on the relationship between Heather and Sir Paul's kids, particularly Stella, 34. One of Paul's friends told PEOPLE in June, "We almost never saw a picture of (Heather and Stella) together. That says a lot."

As for the phone-call situation, "The lawyers have said that anybody connected with this (incident) can't discuss it," says a source close to Heather, who also claims Paul will not pay for Heather's driver/security guard except when she is with their two-and-a-half year-old daughter, Beatrice: "He's saying it's not his problem."

Are the soon-to-be exes fighting dirty? "It's taken a turn for the worse," says another close source. "Heather can be explosive, but Paul has a furious temper too. There are a lot more punches to come before the blood is on the mat."

Heather Mills McCartney is rolling out the big guns in a desperate attempt to win the PR battle over her increasingly bitter divorce from former Beatle Sir Paul.

In the wake of revelations about her lewd past, Miss Mills has hired a PR team to makeover her disgraced public image.

For she has published no less than seven endorsements from what she calls "good causes" on her personal internet site, stressing her reputation as a tireless campaigner and charity worker.

"We are so grateful for her passion and her tireless efforts on behalf of animals," gushed Wayne Pacelle, President of The Humane Society of the United States, "and I look forward to working with her in the years ahead."

Other comments ranged from the more muted: "She enjoys my total confidence as a valued ally and co-campaigner," wrote MEP Struan Stevenson, to the more bizarre: "The animals are lucky to have Heather on their side," a spokesperson for Respect for Animals noted.

Meanwhile Juliet Gellatley, Founder and Director of the Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation launched a bitter tirade against the media, accusing it of "spite directed at Heather."

She said: "Heather is not just a working class girl who made good, she is a working class girl who rose above an appalling upbringing to achieve great things ­ and she was going to be successful whatever she turned her hand to because she has all the qualities necessary.

"That, I believe, is something to applaud not denigrate."

Lady McCartney was forced to admit her unsavoury past after pictures of her posing for a pornographic book emerged which showed her performing sex acts on a stranger.

Other explicit pictures showed her acting out bondage scenes with whips and simulating sex.

She is now planning to take legal action over allegations that she was an expensive prostitute who engaged in group and lesbian sex.

But despite Heather's attempts, Sir Paul is miles ahead in the PR stakes.

Sir Paul has cleverly maintained his image as a national treasure for more than 40 years, thanks to Geoff Baker - a former tabloid journalist who knew exactly how to play the game from both sides.

It was Geoff Baker who allowed the press to assign Paul's role to him when Heather first arrived on the scene - the vulnerable widower snared by a cunning, gold-digging vixen.

Heather, on the other hand, is looked after by Anya Noakes, a former film and TV publicist (and one-time personal publicist to Sir Ben Kingsley) and a woman to whom most journalists have ever spoken - until now that is.

Culture officials today promised Liverpool would be the 'world party capital' in 2007.

The birthday weekend will centre on six key events, including an 800th birthday civic service at St Nicholas parish church, followed by an historical pageant and procession through the city centre.

Communities who want to hold street parties will be offered free party kits and on Tuesday, August 28, the date King John signed Liverpool's first charter, all major public squares will host an afternoon of festivities.

Next year's Mathew Street Festival will focus on a retro/heritage theme and is expected to attract 400,000 people.

The long weekend will end with what is being billed as Europe's largest firework display, with rockets and pyrotechnics launched from the roofs of the city's landmark buildings.

Fireworks will be set off from at least six of Liverpool's major buildings simultaneously, making the display six times the size of that at Liverpool Cathedral in 2004.

Almost 300 events have been revealed so far to mark the milestone.

They include concerts,conferences, exhibitions, fairs, festivals, flower shows, gala openings, processions, re-enactments, talks and walks.

Many events will centre around landmark anniversaries including the 50th anniversary of the first time John Lennon and Paul McCartney met.

THE ARTS

Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio is to be restaged as part of the artistic programme for 2007.

The work will be performed in Liverpool Cathedral, where it was premiered 15 years ago, on June 26.

"We very much hope he will be able to be with us," said the conductor Carl Davis who collaborated with the ex-Beatle on what was his first classical piece of music.

The concert is part of a summer of Beatles-related events. The Royal Court is to stage a live version of the concept album, Sgt Pepper, in May and June, while the artist responsible for the iconic album cover, Sir Peter Blake, has a major exhibition at Tate Liverpool, opening on June 29.

Cavern City tours are also planning the ultimate Liverpool 800th birthday concert at the Empire Theatre on August 30.

Ten mixes from the Chaos and Creation McCartney U-Myx competition have been chosen. The finalist were taken from over 2500 submitted mixes. They will shortly be presented to Paul himself who will pick the winning track.

The winner will have their track made available for download on PM.com.

The Top Ten Mixes are (by file name)

1. Chaos By Lorenzo
2. 1_15 mix
3. Cool Ranch Mix
4. Creating Chaos
5. 5 mix
6. Father and Daughter
7. Fine Line Cindy Lee
8. Instrumental Chaos or Feverish Yetti
9. JLPopyack
10. Latin Mix

Part of Paul's headlining performance at Glastonbury is featured on a new DVD film on the festival. 'Glastonbury' is due for release next week on July 17th. (UK Region DVD ONLY)

DVD Description
In 1970, a young farmer named Michael Eavis opened his 150-acre farm to 1,500 people for the weekend who paid one pound each to watch a handful of pop and folk stars perform...and the Glastonbury Festival was born. Julien Temple, (The Filth and the Fury), has spent the past few years collecting footage from every single Glastonbury Festival, interweaving images of the people, the spectacles and the legendary music performances, and capturing the unbridled energy of each successive generation of youthful music fans. Glastonbury skilfully chronicles, and lets you experience, the evolution of the longest-running music festival in the world.

Special Features
SPECIAL FEATURES Disc 1: Interactive shuffle track feature: re-edit the film to create your own festival Commentary by Julien Temple (Director) and Jarvis Cocker

Disc 2: Uncut Tracks: 10 full performances from: Foo Fighters, Fun Lovin\' Criminals, Goldfrapp, Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers, Nick Cave, PAUL McCARTNEY, Radiohead, R.E.M, The White Stripes Interviews with: Michael Eavis, Festival Founder Celebrities including: James Brown, Coldplay, Noel Gallagher, The Dandy Warhols, Moby, John Peel, Festival Goers Deleted sequences: Glastonbury Ceremony, The Stone Circle Freeing The Spirit: Glastonbury 1999' Featurette

FALL '06 PREMIERE WILL FEATURE NEVER-BEFORE-RELEASED CONCERT AND BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE FROM MCCARTNEY'S RECORD-BREAKING 2005 U.S. TOUR

A&E Network will exclusively premiere the new concert film, "PAUL McCARTNEY: THE SPACE WITHIN US" this fall, it was announced today by Bob DeBitetto, Executive Vice President and General Manager, A&E Network. The special, scheduled to air this October, showcases the rock legend's electrifying, sold-out 2005 U.S. tour, featuring never-before-released concert footage and much more.

"A&E is delighted to continue its creative partnership with Paul McCartney. We enjoyed great success with last year's Emmy Award-winning PAUL McCARTNEY IN RED SQUARE and we just received a 2006 Emmy nomination for McCARTNEY IN ST. PETERSBURG," said DeBitetto. "Paul's 2005 US tour broke records, garnered tremendous critical acclaim and thrilled live audiences across the country. And now, television audiences will be able to become a part of the experience."

Harnessing the power of more than 25 hi-definition cameras and the thunder of 5.1 digital surround sound, "PAUL McCARTNEY: THE SPACE WITHIN US" captures the epic experience of McCartney's record-breaking tour. Better than a front row seat, this feature-length concert film takes viewers to the stage and beyond, capturing the exuberance of Paul's live performance along with personal reflections from the astronauts aboard the international space station who were awoken to "English Tea" with Paul via a live feed from Anaheim, California. Join Paul and his band for live performances of the classics, old and new.

A&E Home Video is partnering with Paul McCartney to distribute "PAUL McCARTNEY: THE SPACE WITHIN US".

Delia Fine is the A&E executive producer and Ryan Harrington is the A&E Managing Producer for "PAUL McCARTNEY: THE SPACE WITHIN US". The series was directed and produced by Mark Haefeli, and produced by MPL Communications Ltd in association with A&E Network.

by Bill Zwecker

SPLIT SAGA: Spokesfolks for Paul McCartney and estranged wife Heather Mills McCartney are not commenting on a London Mirror report claiming Heather confronted Sir Paul with a tape of a phone conversation between the ex-Beatle and his fashion designer daughter Stella McCartney -- who long has despised her stepmother.

The tape allegedly has Stella saying she believes the published reports charging Heather was once a high-priced call girl are true -- something Heather has vehemently denied.

July 12, 2006 -- Macca Report News

Paul refuses to pay for Heather's chauffeur/security guard

According to the latest People magazine, Paul McCartney is refusing to pay for Heather Mills' chauffeur/security guard unless she is with daughter Bea.

---

July 12, 2006 -- The Guardian

Macca's first guitar - yours for £100,000 ($184,000)

£100,000 is a lot to pay for any guitar. But it seems that when the Beatles come into the picture, you can name your price for any old piece of junk. In terms of craftsmanship, "the Rex" acoustic steel-string model is not exactly up there with a Martin or a Stradivarius. This eastern European production-line guitar from the mid-50s has steel strings like cheese-cutting wire, a tree trunk for a neck and an original price tag of around 12 guineas. It is what guitarists not so affectionately term, "a pig".

The Rex happens to be the guitar that Paul McCartney learned to play on during after-school sessions at the house of Ian James, former best friend to Macca and proud owner of a brand-new Rex back in 1955. Bought as a 14th birthday present by James's grandparents at Hessy's Guitar Shop in Liverpool, this monstrous axe, which has been hiding, like a shameful relative, in its owner's attic for the past 50 years, is about to make somebody a very, very expensive starter model.

If McCartney's Hofner violin bass came up for auction, one can only imagine the price it would fetch. Not only is it iconic and instantly associated with the Beatles; it looks, and sounds, beautiful. The same cannot be said of the Rex. But such is the power of all things Macca-related that in this case, quality is no bar to a mortgage-worthy price tag.

"You had to press very hard on the frets to make it sound," says James, who is planning to retire in comfort after the Rex falls under the hammer at auctioneers Cooper Owen on July 28. "It wasn't easy to play but it got you through the three or four chords that you needed for rock'n'roll and skiffle.

"Paul didn't have a guitar of his own at the time, so he would come round to my house, which was nearer our school than his, and practise. You ended up with pretty hard fingers after a few sessions on that guitar."

In '50s Liverpool a postwar embargo on US goods meant that only the few lucky enough to become intimate with American sailors had any chance of getting their hands on a decent guitar such as a Gibson or a Fender. Skiffle and rock'n'roll was seen as a fad, akin to the hula-hoop and the twist, and guitar production was treated accordingly. For teenagers such as James and McCartney, excited by the American hits they heard by hanging around the waltzer when the fair was in town, learning to play meant trial by agonising fingertips.

"It would have been horrible," says Paul Day, Britain's leading guitar historian, on the Rex. "You would have had to go through a pain barrier just to get a decent sound out of it. And because truss rods, which stop the neck from warping, were not used yet, it would have a big chunk of timber as a neck. Playing the thing would certainly sort out the men from the boys - you needed to be determined just to get through the first stages of learning."

McCartney was nothing if not determined. At Woolton Church fete on July 6 1957, he managed to impress John Lennon by playing chords that James had taught him on the dreaded Rex - and the seed of the Beatles was sown.

Good to see that as the fall-out continues over the McCartney/Mills marriage split - the latest claim is that Heather has ordered Sir Paul's daughter Stella to stay away from baby Bea - the papers of Middle England are continuing their double standards.

Heather might have been trashed as a slapper and alleged whore in the tabloids, but Sir Paul's drug use continues to be dealt with as if it's just a quirky side of this national treasure's character.

The Mail on Sunday reports how Sir Paul used to burn scented candles during his marriage to Heather to mask the fact he'd been smoking grass.

"Heather insisted she forced him to stop smoking marijuana, but the reality is Paul got stoned with some old chums at least twice after he married and used candles to mask the smell," a source tells the paper's showbiz diarist, who twee-ly comments: "Let's just hope it's only the candles that are lifting Sir Paul's spirits now . . . "

Let's just hope so, indeed. But if he's high as a kite on grass you're hardly going to give him a kicking for it anyway.

How are WE today?

Man, I just got back from Vegas where Paul McCartney and band [minus touring Abe] witnessed the premiere of the new Beatles/Cirque show, "Love"... Wow... You all have to get out there to see it! The music, re-mixed and mashed-up by George and Giles Martin is just so colorful and different from what we all might expect.

We had a great time... And after the show, PM asked the crowd to acknowledge George and John which they did, shouting and clapping, at which time, he bent forward and kissed and hugged Yoko... wow, how time changes things.

We went to see Ringo's All Starr Band playing the next night which was a total blast.

News here in LA... The tickets for my upcoming show at the Viper Room on Aug 2 have just gone on sale! So, get on it, kids... last time it was jammed. We will go on at 9:30... The boys are back from their respective tours and we're ready to play for you.

We also play on July 27th at the Malibu Inn and the 29th at the IPO (International Pop Overthrow) festival at Fais Do-Do. Don't miss it, who knows when we'll do it again! C'mon!

And lastly but not leaslty, the interview I did for the Time After Island Time Internet radio show whilst on the road with Paul McCartney last fall will be available as a 4 part podcast, every two weeks starting today! It includes a couple of tracks from my CD "Mondo Magneto" and two live solo unplugged tracks! The interview includes info on the recording of the CD, stories from touring with Paul and a few laughs. Visit my website for more info and to subscribe:

http://www.brian-ray.com/podcast.html

Love,
Brian

Thursday, July 27th, time TBA
The Malibu Inn
http://www.malibu-inn.com
22969 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Malibu, Ca 90265
310.456.6060
Over 18s welcome

Saturday, July 29th at 10.00pm
Fais Do-Do
http://www.faisdodo.com
5257 West Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
323.954.8080

Wednesday, August 2nd at 9.30pm
The Viper Room
http://www.viperroom.com
8852 W. Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
310.358.1881

July 10, 2006 -- Cirque du Soleil.com

THE RED CARPET

The excitement was building as the first few celebrities stepped onto the red carpet. Familiar faces including Deborah Harry (Blondie), Steven Van Zandt (Bruce Springsteen, The Sopranos), Billy Crystal and Lauren Hutton hastened their way into The Mirage for this night they were there simply as fans.

Giles Martin, son of Sir George Martin, stopped by for a quick comment: "I'm very excited by everything. It's great to be here. I'm delighted. I'd love to talk to you more but I have to go and look for my dad."

Then all of the sudden, amidst a deafening roar, the evening sky lit up like fireworks in a frenzy of flashes as Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison made their way between the velvet ropes.

John Lennon's widow was the first to appear. Friendly and relaxed, she walked slowly and calmly, stopping and answering questions at length. Olivia Harrison followed escorted by her son and Guy Laliberté, who had these few words to share: "I love to have a good time, you know, and tonight is an emotional time for me because it's the culmination of a dream that I shared with one of The Beatles, and today it's coming true, so I'm very happy. George isn't here tonight but seeing Olivia and The Beatles pay tribute to that dream touches me greatly."

Things heated up when Sir Paul stepped onto the red carpet as photographers and reporters did their best to get as close as possible, squeezing so hard the security ropes fell over! "Paul! Paaaul! Paaaaaul!" He did his best to accommodate the overwhelming crowd and stopped for a few questions before disappearing into the theatre.

Gilles Ste-Croix, Director of Creation, moved towards the crowd to say a few words: "Tonight we celebrate! Tonight we'll return to Savile Row as we discovered it when we went there two and a half years ago. This show is called LOVE, with good reason: the entire project radiated love, every step of the way!"

Creators and artists from the show also walked down the red carpet. Alongside Gilles were spotted Dominic Champagne, Show Concept Writer and Director, Chantal Tremblay, Associate Director of Creation, Jean Rabasse, Theatre and Set Designer and many others.

You could feel the frenzy heating up one last time as Ringo made his appearance; however the legendary drummer had to go by quickly as the show was about to begin. But he kept his promise to come back to the red carpet to give his impressions after the show:

"I loved the show and I loved the music! I think the show is really exciting. I thought the effects, the people doing their stuff, the projections were great, too much, really! I thought it was very emotional; who knew a few years ago when The Beatles were just chatting to each other making those records that we could put it to such great use. And it was emotional because two of us aren't there. Overall, it's a festival of love. Peace and love."

The first guitar that Sir Paul McCartney held and played is expected to fetch more than £100,000 ($184,000) when it is auctioned at Abbey Road Studios this month.

The Rex acoustic instrument is owned by the Beatle's school friend Ian James, who taught McCartney his first chords in his back garden in Liverpool.

The guitar is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Sir Paul, confirming the provenance of the guitar, something he rarely does.

James, now 64, a salesman, of Ormskirk, Lancs, and a father of two children, is selling the guitar to fund his retirement.

"I suppose in a way I helped to introduce Paul to playing music," he said.

"I would like to think so anyway.

"My grandparents bought the guitar for me when I was 12 or 13. I don't know exactly how much it cost, but it was definitely shillings rather than pounds.

"Paul and I hung around together and after school we would often go back to my house. We both had an interest in rock 'n' roll and I would show him a few chords and things.

"One day he told me he'd written a song and I thought: 'Blimey, that's hard.' I'd only ever been interested in playing the hits of the day. But from the outset Paul showed he had a skill for writing songs."

In July, 1957, Sir Paul, then 15, attended a summer fete at St Peter's Church Hall in Woolton, Liverpool, where a young John Lennon was playing with his band, The Quarrymen. He played some songs for them, convincing Lennon to let him join the band.

James could have played alongside his friend that night but missed his chance.

"Paul had his own guitar by then and I brought mine along," he said. "We were supposed to play in the hall but the vicar came in and told us we couldn't. We went off to a local cafe and I got a bit fed up so I left. After I had gone they went back to the hall and played together. That was the closest I got to being in The Beatles."

The lot contains a photograph of James playing the guitar in 1957 taken by McCartney, and one of Sir Paul playing the guitar in his office earlier this year.

Heather moves back in - as Macca's phone is bugged

Heather Mills has moved back into the East Sussex estate where her estranged husband Sir Paul McCartney is living.

Miss Mills has left the £2 million ($4 million) seafront home in Hove where she has been staying since the couple split in May.

She is now living with the couple's baby Beatrice in a lodge on McCartney's 160-acre estate in Peasmarsh just a short distance from the main farm house where McCartney himself is currently staying.

A friend of the couple said: 'Heather is definitely living on the estate right now - in a house Paul has had built there for Beatrice for when she grows up.

'The point of Heather living on the estate at the moment is that is makes joint access to Beatrice easier while they thrash out a permanent settlement and custody agreement.'

It had been hoped the move would help soften the increasing acrimonious divorce battle between the pair.

Sir Paul has also been concerned about Heather's growing frailty and is keen to offer her protection until interest in their break-up dies down.

But the move hasn't been as productive as had been hoped.

The couple had a furious row just last week over a phone conversation Sir Paul had with his daughter Stella in which she made damning criticisms of her.

Miss Mills apparently acquired a cassette recording of the private call in which Stella launched a ferocious attack on her.

Stella is said have told her father how she believed Heather, 38, had consistently lied about her past.

She also told him she believed stories about her stepmother working as a high-class prostitute, a claim Heather has always denied.

Stella is also understood to have made scathing remark about Heather's charity work and wellbeing.

A tape of the conversation curiously landed in Miss Mills's hands after the phone call to Sir Paul while he was at Peasmarsh was bugged. It is not known who tapped into the conversation or how the tape somehow got into Heather's hands.

The tape found its way to Heather two weeks ago and she confronted Sir Paul about the evidence she had of the scathing conversation last week.

Heather is understood to have forced Sir Paul to listen to the tape and he is said to have been 'shocked' at his private conversation being bugged.

It is a criminal offence under The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to intercept calls whether made on a landline or by mobile and is punishable by up to two years in jail.

Heather told Sir Paul that she was not responsible for the recording and that the tape was handed to her by a third party.

The existence of the tape will cause enormous embarrassment for Sir Paul.

The 64-year-old former Beatle has always loyally maintained that there was never any rift between Heather and his children, despite constant rumours to the contrary.

Heather is understood to be furious at Stella's comments about her.

Sources say Sir Paul is 'appalled' that the conversation was bugged. An urgent investigation has been launched to determine how it happened. Sir Paul and his aides are also deciding whether to report the matter to police. So far, they have decided not to make a complaint.

The recording will add more fire to the increasingly bitter divorce battle between the couple.

Sir Paul walked out on Heather in May after a series of bitter rows. Heather was initially expected to receive up to £200 million ($356 million) in the settlement. Since then though, her sordid past has been exposed in brutal detail.

There have also been allegations that Heather was a prostitute - although she has vowed to sue over these claims once her divorce has been finalised.

Heather's spokeswoman said last night: 'Heather cannot stay at Hove because there is no privacy there due to the paparazzi activity. She is staying at Peasmarsh currently.'

MACCAGATE: PAUL'S SHOCK OVER PHONE BUG TAPE

An explosive phone conversation between Sir Paul McCartney and his daughter Stella about the breakdown of his marriage and impending divorce has been secretly Bugged, the Sunday Mirror can reveal.

In the sensational private call fashion designer Stella launches a ferocious attack on the 64-year-old star's estranged wife Heather Mills.

She tells her father how she believed Heather, 38, had consistently lied about her past. She also tells him she believed stories about her stepmum working as a high-class hooker, a claim Heather has always denied.

And she also makes scathing remarks about Heather's charity work and wellbeing which cannot be repeated for legal reasons.

The recording is believed to have been made while Macca was at his farmhouse on his 160-acre estate in Peasmarsh, East Sussex, in recent weeks.

It is not known who bugged Macca's call - it is a criminal offence under The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to intercept calls whether made on a landline or by mobile and is punishable by up to two years in jail.

The tape is believed to have come into Heather's hands at the end of last month. Furious Heather confronted Macca with the recording last week - and made the cringing ex-Beatle listen to it. The star is said to have been in a state of "utter shock" that he had been bugged.

A friend said: "Nobody on Paul's side has any idea how these tapes have fallen into Heather's hands.

"But Paul is absolutely furious at the leak. He can't believe private phone calls of his have been bugged.

"It is a massive breach of security for him - and it makes him feel completely ill at ease."

There is no suggestion that Heather has been behind the recording. She has told Macca the cassette was handed to her by a third party.

The existence of the tape is massively embarrassing because Macca has loyally maintained there is no rift between his family and his second wife.

The public exposure of Stella as one of Heather's most damning critics will once more plunge the McCartney clan into crisis.

It comes just as the family thought they had weathered the worst from Macca's devastating marriage break-up.

Heather meanwhile is said to be "boiling with rage" at Stella's behaviour.

She sees it as definitive evidence - after years of rumour and gossip - that her estranged stepdaughter has indeed harboured a personal grudge against her throughout her relationship with Macca.

Last week furious Heather decided to confront Paul with the tape before he flew to Las Vegas for the world premiere of The Beatles-inspired Cirque Du Soleil show Love.

Macca was utterly appalled to hear that private conversations between himself and Stella had been taped.

An urgent investigation has been launched to determine how it happened.

Macca and his aides are also deciding whether to report the matter to police. So far, they have decided not to make a complaint.

The recording will add more fire to the increasingly bitter divorce battle between Macca and Heather.

Macca - worth an estimated £1billion ($1.8 billion) - did not force Heather to sign a pre-nuptial agreement when they married in June 2002.

Heather's sister Fiona said afterwards that he chose not to ask the former glamour model to put pen to paper on a pre-nup because he thought it was unromantic.

Now the pair are preparing for a wounding divorce battle - which is certain to cost Macca millions.

Access arrangements for Bea are also likely to be part of the case.

They appear to be more complex than at first anticipated after Macca announced last month that "no decisions have been made" regarding Bea - bar him and Heather both agreeing "to work at all times in Beatrice's best interest".

Macca walked out on Heather in May after a series of bitter rows. He had become fed-up with being treated like a "door mat" by the blonde. Heather was initially expected to receive up to £200 million ($368 million) in the settlement.

Since then though, her sordid past has been exposed in brutal detail.

Last month Peter Wilson -- her co-star in 1988 German sex manual Die Freuden Der Liebe - told the Sunday Mirror how Heather was "wild, brazen and up for it" during a steamy studio session.

There have also been allegations that Heather was a prostitute - although she has vowed to sue over these claims once her divorce has been finalised.

Following the porn revelations, Macca - whose first wife Linda died from cancer in 1998 - told friends he did not know of Heather's sordid past. They have since said he may use the revelations to reduce the divorce settlement.

Heather, who lost a leg when she was hit by a police motorcycle in 1993, first met Macca at our sister newspaper the Daily Mirror's Pride Of Britain Awards in May 1999.

Since their split, Macca - who continues to wear his wedding ring - has mostly stayed at the Peasmarsh farm.

Heather, who had a "revision amputation" in April to re-attach muscle tissue to her leg, has split her time between the couple's art-deco seafront home in Hove and her sister's nearby house.

She is said to have shed more than a stone since the couple's marriage collapsed.

Heather has also viewed a £2.3 million ($4.2 million) farmhouse in Midhurst, West Sussex, which she is said to be very keen to buy.

Last night a spokesman for Macca declined to comment on the tape.

HEATHER WARNS STELLA: STAY AWAY FROM BEA

Furious Heather Mills is refusing to let Stella McCartney see her half-sister Bea.

And she has even threatened to apply for a court order banning the fashion designer from contacting her and Macca's daughter - who is three in October.

Heather's decision came after hearing Stella's extraordinary taped condemnation of her.

As a result distraught Macca is facing the possibility of never being able to see two of his daughters at the same time.

A close friend of the family's revealed: "Heather and Stella are at war. It is as simple as that. The pair have disliked each other for years but always put on a brave public face for Paul's sake. But now it has gone nuclear.

"Heather is absolutely furious with Stella and does not want Bea to see her - ever again.

"This is no idle threat. Heather means every word and is fully prepared to go to court to stop Stella seeing Bea."

Macca is devoted to Bea. Despite his age, he has been a hands-on dad - including changing nappies. The friend continued: "Paul is absolutely in bits about the whole thing.

"He adores Stella and has been really relying on her since his marriage breakdown, while Bea is his baby girl - and she means the world to him as well.

"The thought of him not being able to see two of his daughters at the same time is heart-breaking."

The extraordinary row between the two women comes after years in which they have attempted to publicly conceal their private loathing.

Heather often spoke of wearing Stella's fashions, and Stella, 34, learnt to button her lip on the matter of her 38-year-old stepmother. But in the wake of Heather's impending divorce from her pop legend father, open war has broken out.

Macca flew to Stella's 250-acre estate in Worcestershire three days before the separation was announced on May 17 and stayed the night with Stella and her husband Alasdhair Willis.

At the time, Stella was reported to have told Macca: "I'm not going to say I told you so, and I don't care how much it costs. I don't blame you - I'm just glad its over."

A source revealed: "Heather's view is simple. Now she has heard the tapes of Stella lashing out at her to Macca she knows once and for all that Stella despises her. So why should she let Bea spend time with someone who detests her so much?"

Paul met Heather just a year after the death of his beloved wife Linda from breast cancer. The couple had been married for 29 years and had three children together - Mary, now 36, Stella and James, 28.

Photographer Linda - a committed vegetarian and member of the wealthy Eastman family - had a daughter, Heather, from a previous relationship who devoted Macca adopted.

After Linda's death, Paul's then spokesman revealed: "People may not realise that, with the exception of one occasion, Paul and Linda never spent a night apart in the 30 years they have loved each other."

Stella and Bea were together last month at Macca's 64th birthday.

The toddler joined the rest of the McCartney clan for the party at the pop legend's farm in Peasmarsh.

They listened as Macca was played a new version of his classic song When I'm 64, organised by Stella and her sister Mary and featuring Stella's son Miller plus Mary's sons seven-year-old Arthur and Elliot, three.

If Heather has her way it will be the last time Stella - whose 16-month-old son Miller adores Bea - sees her half-sister.

Macca in St. Petersburg up for Emmy

Category: Variety, Music or Comedy Special

Nominees:

"78th Annual Academy Awards" ABC
"Bill Maher: I'm Swiss," HBO
"George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing," HBO
"McCartney in St. Petersburg," A&E
"The XX Olympic Winter Games - Opening Ceremony," NBC

58th Primetime Emmy Awards
Sunday, August 27
Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
Live Broadcast on NBC at 8p/7c

An emotional, spur-of-the moment hug and a kiss that lasted less than half-a-minute ended a 25-year-plus rift between John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono and the surviving Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The gala premiere audience at the new Cirque du Soleil musical 'LOVE' gave standing ovations and loud applause at the Mirage opening night to cast and crew while Paul, Ringo, Yoko and George Harrison's widow, Olivia, went on stage with Cirque founder Guy LaLiberte.

"For George and John," yelled Paul, flashing a two-finger peace sign. With the crowd literally yelling and screaming approval, Paul spontaneously hugged the two widows - and then surprisingly kissed Yoko twice, once on the cheek and right afterward, near her lips! It may well have been a quarter of a century since they last even made contact.

The bitter, longtime feud was well-known to British journalists who covered business affairs of Apple, the co-operative company that controlled Fab Four assets. Even over the years the 'LOVE' spectacular was being put together via international video conferencing calls between Cirque's creative team and Yoko, Olivia, Paul and Ringo, it was marked by lengthy delays because Yoko and Paul wouldn't talk directly with each other. Even Cirque officials told me that often weeks dragged by because their only strained communications were handled by assistants through regular mail. "They simply didn't acknowledge one another, let alone speak to each other," I was told.

So Paul's momentary hug and kiss broke the barriers and healed, at least for one glorious night, their two-decade long fight. Beatlemania was back in full force for 'LOVE' with frenzied fans, pushy paparazzi colliding with TV cameras, radio reporters and professional photographers representing more than 100 worldwide media outlets. The red-carpet turned into pure pandemonium, complete with one skirmish breaking out between rival French Canadian and American media mobs.

Paul, now aged 64, told us: "The show is fantastic, exceptional and great. You've got to see it to believe it. It's a new departure for us and the first time ever we've ever allowed someone else to produce something with or around our music. Cirque has done a fantastic job ­ and you've got to see it to believe it. It's beautiful to have us all here -- the families being together again, now that is LOVE, man!"

Yoko, in a large white hat and looking younger than her 70 years, continued the thought: "I hope it is very special all of us being together again. John would have loved it, so sad he's not here to see it or watch it. But this is his legacy and it gives new life to Beatle music for the younger generation, those who weren't there with us in the '60s. We have come together in a very good togetherness. We were surprised that we weren't fighting. I think Sir George Martin and Giles Martin did an incredible job with the music. Even for them it was very difficult to make the music sound so new and so fresh. Over the years we have had so many requests to do films and shows and projects with The Beatles music, but we turned them all down. But we knew how creative Cirque du Soleil is and if we didn't feel they would do it best, we wouldn't have done it. We were allowed to be very hands on, but

Both Yoko and Sir George Martin confirmed that Vegas was never going to be the original home of the 'LOVE' spectacular -- first London, then New York and then finally the Mirage resort in our desert city.

It was also a memorable night for Siegfried & Roy. Not only were they reunited with Sir Paul McCartney, but it was also the first time back in their old theater (now completely gutted and rebuilt with circular stage and a thousand extra seats) where Roy was injured in the headline-making tiger attack that ended their 13-year run of 5,700 performances in October 2003 and left an opening for 'LOVE' to take its place. McCartney insisted on taking photos with Roy who, still healing, miraculously managed to walk the red carpet with his cane before resting in a wheelchair. Said Siegfried: "For 13 years, we were the opening act for The Beatles so this is a very bittersweet moment, but we are very, very excited. We are very happy just to be here and share all this with the greatest name in show business. We gave LOVE to our audiences and they are now doing the same."

In fact, Mirage President, Scott Sibella, who has changed the license plates on the 18 Mirage limos to read: LOVE 1 to LOVE 18, dedicated the night to the animal illusionists who got their own standing ovation. He commented: "We have never seen this type of excitement here at the Mirage. It's like the opening, but even bigger and better." Cirque founder Guy LaLiberte dedicated the show to George Harrison saying: "We shared an emotion. We shared a vision. We dreamed about this night." Guy also introduced his parents who attended celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on the same night.

It was an all-star record turnout for a Vegas premiere and may well have been the most loaded celebrity constellation other than the Oscars, Emmys and Grammy's. Our photos from Scott Doctor show just some of the hit-makers who attended. Even the music stars were caught up in the excitement on the red carpet:

Sheila E. told us, "Cirque du Soleil us one of the most amazing visionaries, and for them to bring this to life, I can't even wait. I don't know what to expect."

Dave Stewart explained why he was there to see the show, "I was 16 in 1968 when psychedelic music exploded and The Beatles blew my mind. So I'm here to see if I can get my mind blown again."

Little Steven said the show will add to The Beatles' legacy, "This is gonna keep The Beatles' music alive, and I think it'll turn people on to The Beatles' music in years to come."

Billy Squier explained why he believed the show is a good match, "You probably would be hard pressed to find a musical group more creative than The Beatles. And you certainly won't find a circus troupe that's any more unique and creative than cirque."

Edgar Winter agreed, "What an interesting and eclectic aritistic mix, The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil. I mean, how can you lose?"

By now, you all know that I missed the glittering glamour-gala due to a long-time planned Italian vacation, but a select group of Luxe Life fans have made me feel I was right there for the epic event and platinum party. Many sincere thanks to some very good friends: ace-lensman, Scott Doctor, 'LOVE' company manager Alan Hills, my ABC network radio producer Al Mancini, Cirque heroine Brigitte Belanger, PR executive Natalie Mournier and a tip of my newsman's hat to 'Review Journal' showbiz senator Mike Weatherford, LA Times blogger Richard Abowitz, and Sun gossip guru, John Katsimodes, who all ensure this special edition of Luxe Life doesn't miss one important note from the extraordinary evening of excellent excitement.

To start, here's Alan Hill's real insider report: "What a night we had on Friday. The excitement and expectation was amazing. The red carpet was set up by 1PM and over 500 spectators were in place before the box office even opened at 2PM.

Walking the carpet at 6PM was Siegfried and Roy and the crowd went wild. It took them almost 30 minutes to make it into the theatre. Both Ringo and Paul took special time to speak with them.

Yoko Ono was the first of the "Beatles" clan to walk the carpet. She was very gracious and giving with her time. She looked amazing in a white pant suite and huge white hat. Olivia Harrison and son Dhani went next, followed by Ringo and then Paul. Also on the carpet were Robert Goulet, Megan Mullally, Ringo's All-Star Band of Edgar Winter, Sheila E, Richard Marx, Rod Argent and Billy Squier. There were over 40 additional celebrities from TV, sports and music.

Once through the red carpet media, the Apple shareholders as they are called, (Ringo, Paul, Olivia & Yoko) were all backstage in the artist's greenroom until it was time to go to their seats. They were joined by their families and Sir George Martin and his son, Giles. What a history-making meeting that was. They sipped champagne and strawberries and talked excitedly about the night ahead.

At 7:25PM, we were ready to take them to their seats. The crowd in the theatre lobby was having such a good time, we couldn't get them to go to their seats. Once everyone was seated, the night kicked off with Scott Sibella, President of The Mirage welcoming everyone from center stage and then paying tribute to Siegfried and Roy and dedicating the night to them. They both stood and were spotlighted as the audience stood and gave them a five-minute ovation. Then Guy LaLiberte, founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil, spoke about George Harrison's vision for this show and how he hoped the final product would have pleased him. Guy then dedicated the night to his mother and father who were in the house and celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on that day!

The show started and went flawlessly for 95 mintues. At the end, the cast during its final bow came out and escorted Yoko, Ringo, Olivia, Paul, Guy and director Dominic Chamagne to the stage. They circled around with the cast and at each of the four sides of the theatre, Paul quieted the audience and said, "Let's hear it for John and George." The crowd went crazy. The first time he did this, Yoko looked up at Paul and he reached down and kissed her on the cheek -- what a moment of history!

They exited with the cast for backstage pictures and to speak with the cast. There were lots of pictures and wonderful moments for the cast with each of the four and with Sir George and Gilles.

Yoko, Ringo & Olivia left via the red carpet to give glowing comments about the show while Paul taped an interview for our 'making of' documentary backstage. Then everyone headed off to the Mirage Event Center for the party! What a party! We used all 90,000 square feet of space. Every restaurant in the entire MGM Mirage Las Vegas system was represented with a section of the finest. '60s and '70s music was the rule until midnight when house dance music took over. The party was going strong until 5AM when this 40-something guy had enough -- but I was told that most of the artists were there until 8AM.

'LOVE' is launched with flair, excitement and -- of course -- much love."

Natalie Mournier picks up with details of the party:

"Following the Gala Premiere performance of 'LOVE,' 5,000 invited guests converged on the Mirage Events Center to celebrate Cirque-style. In what has become the hallmark of a Cirque du Soleil premiere, the party began at 8:30PM continuing on until 8AM the next morning with surprises and special performances for the early hours.

Designed by the Cirque du Soleil special events team in collaboration with culinary and creative partners from MGM MIRAGE (food and beverage), Moment Factory (multimedia) and Solotech (sound), the event paid tribute to 'LOVE' and to the artists, technicians and business partners who contributed to the production.

Creating two distinct, sensory experiences, the gala's party rooms were inspired by The Beatles Eastern spiritual refuge and by their film "Yellow Submarine." Guests entered the party through an evocation of the Taj Mahal and through a trippy wonderland outfitted with a psychedelic piano on stilts, a magical underwater garden and fabricated fruit trees offering edible interaction. The crowning jewel of the event was the "Midnight Tableaux," a 10-minute spectacular performed by 12 artists that signaled the close of casual mingling and the official start of the extravaganza.

The gala menu featured a wide range of MGM MIRAGE culinary experiences, showcasing selections from The Mirage, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Treasure Island, Luxor, Monte Carlo, Excalibur and New York-New York resort hotels. Participating restaurants included kokomo's, Onda, Samba Brazilian Steakhouse, Fin, Japonais, The Roasted Bean, Carnegie Deli, The Steakhouse at Camelot, Regale Italian Eatery, NOBHILL, Shibuya, Shintaro, Sensi, Osteria del Circo, Olives, Jean-Philippe Pâtisserie, Luxor Steak House, Andre's French Restaurant, Isla Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar, Social House, Francesco's, Nine Fine Irishmen Restaurant and Pub and Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.

Each room of the gala featured a specific music atmosphere; with disparate play lists that ranged from 1960s era rock and pop to techno, house and trance. DJ Alain Vinet and DJ Roger Sanchez presided over the turntables on the dance floor. The 'LOVE' gala was the culmination of six months of event planning and preparation."

The night was best summed up by Sir George Martin who admits that 'Strawberry Field's' was his favorite Beatles song and the turning point for the group: "We faced such a challenge doing this but Cirque is a great group of innovative e creative people we have enormous respect for them. Our mission was to create as much energy as possible and make it feel as if the Beatles were in the room with you. We just wanted to hit the audience right in the face with their music ­ and we did. We pulled off something really special that wont ever be done again."

Well said, Sir George.

But the interview, conducted a few weeks ago by Dave Berns, was with former Wings member Denny Laine who it turns out is now a local. Laine, guitar in hand, did an amazing job discussing the influences that went into the first generation British Invasion bands (Laine was in an early incarnation of the Moody Blues, singing lead on "Go Now"). I assume, before I tuned in, Berns asked about "Love," the new Cirque/Beatles show at Mirage. I would love to know what Laine thought of "Love."

But the story I did hear was a total reward for getting out of bed. Laine recalled being in the room when Paul McCartney pitched a song to Frank Sinatra over the phone. Sinatra, of course, did record and perform "Something," a George Harrison song, which Sinatra would erroneously or humorously credit to Lennon-McCartney. Still, I can't imagine McCartney writing a song for Frank Sinatra and then calling him up to play it. But according to Laine, McCartney played the song for the Chairman of the Board over the telephone and with Berns' encouragement Laine, from memory, reeled off a few jaunty chords and a lyrical chorus that repeated the word "suicide" a lot.

Though he was on the other end of the phone line, it was clear to Laine that Mr. Sinatra would not be recording McCartney's effort.

Heather Mills-McCartney will settle for £10 million

Heather Mills-McCartney will allegedly settle for a £10 million ($18.5 million) divorce pay-out.

The ex-model, who split from Sir Paul McCartney in May after four years of marriage, wants a quick, painless settlement - despite the fact she reportedly could have battled for as much as £200 million ($368 million).

In June, the British publication News of the World ran a story claiming that Mills McCartney once worked as a high-priced call girl. She immediately issued a statement denying the claims, and her lawyers announced that she intends to sue to paper after her divorce.

Lawyers for the 38-year-old ex-model said the News of the World's claims were "untrue and highly defamatory".

"The interests of her daughter (Beatrice, 2) are of paramount concern,"a statement said. "She will defer issue of legal proceedings until the arrangements in relation to the divorce are concluded, but intends to sue at that stage all parties, including individuals, who are intent on damaging her reputation."

A friend of Heather's told Britain's The People newspaper: "Heather is satisfied with the £10 million deal being discussed.

"She was only too aware that she could have gone into battle for a lot more. But she is still devastated over the break-up and is not in any mood for a bitter legal row."

The friend added: "She has no intention of putting up a fight. She is far too upset to even think about going down that road."

Heather also hopes to keep the split amicable for the sake of the couple's two-year-old daughter, Beatrice.

The pal revealed: "Heather and Paul have been in regular contact since they split up in May.

"They have constantly reminded each other that Bea should always remain their number one priority throughout the finalisation of their divorce."

Meanwhile, Sir Paul McCartney has assured former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr that he is doing "fine" without Heather Mills.

The long-time friends had an emotional reunion at an after show party for the Las Vegas premiere of 'Love' - a production inspired by the Beatles' music.

An onlooker told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "They threw their arms around each other it was lovely to see.

"Ringo asked him, 'Are you alright?' and Paul replied, 'I'm fine'. Ringo seemed really concerned and said 'Are you sure?' Paul smiled at him, touched his arm and said, 'I'll be all right'."

Heather Mills McCartney might be estranged from her husband, but her drive to recruit celebrities to her crusade against the fur industry is going great guns.

Yesterday, she announced on her website that she had persuaded the shopaholic US heiress Paris Hilton to stop wearing fur. The pair apparently bonded after Mills-McCartney invited Hilton over to her LA pad to watch a video of cats and dogs being skinned alive for their fur.

"Paris's decision is wonderful," she says. "As a trend setter and a fashion icon, I know she is already using her influence to persuade some of her fur wearing celebrity friends to stop wearing fur."

It's a bold statement, since Hilton is not known to sticking at things for long. Just recently she embarked on a pop career, having previously had a crack at modelling as well as acting.

Dressed in black, Heather Mills stops for a chat on her mobile as she cycles with three male friends yesterday.

Sir Paul McCartney's estranged wife, 38, was spotted heading to shops in Brighton. A pal said: "She's got friends over from the US who are supporting her through a difficult time."

Heather Mills looks miserable as she goes for a cycle ride along a seafront yesterday.

Heather, 38, - who split from Sir Paul McCartney and was then rocked by stories of her past life as a porn star - rode out near her home in Hove, East Sussex.

She hid her eyes behind dark glasses and was dressed in sombre black and grey.

An onlooker said: "I was amazed when I saw it was Heather Mills. She looked really grim-faced.

"When anyone got in her way she shot them this really evil glare, like she was not to be messed with."

Bob Dylan has topped a new magazine poll of the best living songwriters, beating off competition from Neil Youn and Bruce Springsteen.

Writers of US music magazine Paste chose Dylan to head up their comprehensive 100 Best Living Songwriters list, and readers agreed - voting Dylan ahead of Young and Springsteen.

Both top 10s also feature Elvis Costello, husband and wife Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, and Joni Mitchell.

Readers chose to add U2, PAUL SIMON and VAN MORRISON to their list - ahead of writers' choices LEONARD COHEN, SIR PAUL McCARTNEY, PRINCE and BEACH BOY BRIAN WILSON.

The magazine top 10 is: 1. BOB DYLAN 2. NEIL YOUNG 3. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 4. TOM WAITS/KATHLEEN BRENNAN 5. SIR PAUL McCARTNEY 6. LEONARD COHEN 7. BRIAN WILSON 8. ELVIS COSTELLO 9. JONI MITCHELL 10. PRINCE.

July 5, 2006 -- Hello Magazine

Paul and Yoko bond over Beatles show in Las Vegas

Sir Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono stunned the audience with their affectionate interaction at the first night of a Beatles-inspired stage show in Las Vegas at the weekend. The ex-Beatle planted a kiss on the cheek of his former band-mate's widow before taking to the stage to pay tribute to his two late friends, saying: "This is for John and George."

Despite their three-decade feud over the Beatles' legacy, the pair seemed to have put their rocky relationship behind them as they reunited for the £55 million Love show, featuring acrobatic circus troupe Cirque du Soleil. Dressed in a flamboyant white hat, 73-year-old Yoko smiled broadly as she posed for photos alongside an equally beaming Paul. Enthusiastically praising the show based on the Fab Four's music, John Lennon's widow exclaimed: "I think the show is beautiful, amazing. And John would have thought the same."

Her step-son Julian also attended the Vegas extravaganza, along with a VIP crowd including actresses Helen Mirren and Mena Suvari. "It's really beautiful to have all the families here ­ it's like a big reunion," he said. "I saw Paul and we gave each other a big hug." George Harrison's widow Olivia confirmed that old rivalries had now died down: "There's so much shared history now that we do also have a shared respect."

It was Sir Paul's first public appearance since announcing his painful split with wife Heather. The 64-year-old, who still wears his wedding ring, was greeted by huge applause and screams, proving Beatlemania is still very much alive. His former band-mate Ringo Starr, who attended the performance at the Mirage hotel with his wife Barbara, revealed his sadness, however, that John and George couldn't be there: "It was really emotional because two of us aren't here. That really came home watching this."

The 90-minute show was the brainchild of George Harrison and has been developed over many years. It takes audiences on a journey through Beatles history, incorporating excerpts from 130 of their songs and key events that shaped their world. It was George's wish to do more with the legendary band's legacy and his personal friendship with Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberte prompted the spectacular project.

Magic has returned to the former Siegfried & Roy Theatre at the Mirage - in the form of a Magical Mystery Tour.

Cirque du Soleil and Apple Corps Ltd. have joined forces to create an enchanting evening of entertainment featuring the music, words and imagery of the Beatles.

Gone are the dragons, levitations and illusions of two of Las Vegas' most beloved entertainers, whose careers were cut short when Roy Horn was injured by a tiger during a performance in 2003.

Instead, the new, $120 million showroom features a magical journey through the lives of the Fab Four - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Although the production could benefit from some tightening, with a couple of scenes needing to be either shortened, reworked or cut, the 90 minutes are filled with eye-catching costumes and scenery, Cirque's trademark breathtaking acrobatics - and music.

A few may not like the fact that classics such as "Eleanor Rigby," "Yesterday," "Strawberry Fields" and "Help!" are not played in their entirety.

Some will be disappointed that their favorite Beatles songs aren't included, but if all of the No. 1 hits were used, the show would go on for hours.

And others won't like the fact that there is no live music. Almost everything is taken from the master recordings of the Beatles, with oversight by the legendary George Martin (who produced most of the group's records) and his son, Giles.

"While we certainly respect Cirque, we wish they had incorporated some live music into the production," said Frank Leone, president of the 700-member Musicians Local 369.

"Cirque uses tracks in all of its other shows, but they are augmented by live musicians for the ambiance that only live music can create. There are five in 'Ka' and a half dozen in each of their other shows."

George Martin shrugged off the criticism.

"That would have been tampering," Martin said. "It wouldn't have been the Beatles. If we used live musicians instead of the recordings, first of all you would have gotten rid of Ringo. A lot of instrumentals are going on, but the Beatles are playing. There's nothing in the show recorded by me for this production. It's all Beatles, every bit of it."

Creators have said the show's intent is not to have a concert, but to tell the story of the Beatles by re-creating the musical world they dominated in the '60s and to immerse the audience in that world by making it part of the show in the 2,013-seat theater in the round.

That is accomplished in part by thousands of speakers, three in each seat, 20 video projectors and a dozen screens.

The story is told using metaphors and symbols, beginning with the band's final concert, held on the rooftop of the Apple building in London on Jan. 30, 1969.

The concert then segues into the blitzkrieg of World War II, when Germany bombed London and the Beatles were children, and then moves forward, highlighting the most important moments and phases of their lives.

Scenes cover everything from the early years of their success and the Beatlemania that swept the world to the transcendental meditation period with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The production covers the peace movement, the sexual revolution and many other social influences on their lives, including the drug culture the Beatles embraced, a fact not ignored in "Love."

"I Am the Walrus," one of the production's featured numbers, reportedly was written by Lennon while under the influence of acid. The song is based on Lewis Carroll's Walrus in "The Walrus and the Carpenter."

As in every Cirque production, there is more than enough exciting acrobatics, although a scene involving in-line skating (backed by the song "Help!") is out of place. It would be better suited for a more plebeian Vegas production such as "Splash!", which features motorcycles racing around the inside of a globe, or "Headlights & Tailpipes," which includes a BMX bicycling number very close to the in-line skating bit.

While the music and the visuals of "Love" provide a spectacular evening of entertainment, showgoers would benefit from a brief explanation of what they are seeing so they are not forced to try to figure everything out.

The production moves quickly and is much too esoteric for the audience to absorb all of the nuances. For example, the exploding VW, the train of light and the black bird scene, which is based on the McCartney and Lennon song "Black Bird," from 1968's "The Beatles," better known as the White Album.

"Black Bird" is especially troublesome. Although it is meant as comedic relief, it was not all that amusing and went on too long.

The words of the song are spoken by actor Fabio Esposito, rather than sung by McCartney in the original recording.

But McCartney liked the number in the show, and so it probably will stay.

Chantal Tremblay, associate director of creation, said "Black Bird" was one of those elements in the production that "pushed the envelope."

"Paul was OK with that," Tremblay said. "He thought it was a funny moment."

Martin said the Beatles were always edgy.

"When we did 'A Day in the Life' (an important scene in 'Love') I worried if we had gone too far," he said. "But Paul said no. Go further.

"They were always being dangerous."

But there is no danger in this production failing.

Combing the resources of the MGM Mirage, the musical library of one of the most popular singing groups in history and the creativity of one of the world's foremost production companies has virtually assured fans that "Love" will be around for a long time.

The Beatles legends met at an after-show party for the premiere of Las Vegas extravaganza Love, which is based around the Fab Four's music.

One partygoer said: "They threw their arms around each other - it was lovely to see.

"Ringo asked him 'Are you all right?' and Paul replied 'I'm fine'. Ringo seemed really concerned and said 'Are you sure?' Paul smiled at him, touched his arm and said 'I'll be all right'."

The show's producers were delighted that 64-year-old Sir Paul turned up for the premiere on Friday. The partygoer said: "Everyone was thrilled, especially as it was Sir Paul's first public appearance since the split.

"Not many people expected him to go the party considering what he's going through.

"But when he walked along the red carpet he got the most ear-shattering scream from the crowds and that really seemed to lift his mood."

Paul even surprised guests by appearing on stage at the end of the premiere to pay tribute to dead Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison. He shouted: "This is for John and George!"

Ringo said afterwards: "It was emotional because two of us aren't here. That really came home watching this."

Sir Paul and Ringo were joined by George's widow Olivia, John's widow Yoko Ono and his first wife Cynthia at the opening night of the £100 million ($184 million) spectacular, which mixes the Beatles music with acrobatics and theatrics from off-beat circus performers Cirque Du Soleil.

All five had been consulted by the show's bosses over which songs should be used.

There had been fears of a bust-up as Paul and Yoko have been feuding for years - and Yoko and Cynthia rarely speak.

But Giles Martin, who helped direct the music along with his Beatles producer dad George, said everything had gone smoothly.

He added: "They all have their differences but they all genuinely wanted the same thing - for the show to do justice to the music.

"It's been great for them as it's got them talking and opened channels of communication."

Yoko said: "I think the show is beautiful, amazing. And John would have thought the same."

Olivia said the old rivalries had died down in recent years. She added: "We all got together at George's memorial. No one ignored anyone and it was all very civil.

"There's so much shared history now that we do also have a shared respect."

John's son Julian confirmed that working on the show had helped to bring the band and their families closer together.

He said: "It's really beautiful to have all the families here - it's like a reunion. I saw Paul and we gave each other a big hug."

July 3, 2006 -- The Mirror

YOKO: IT'S HARD FOR HEATHER

Yoko Ono has spoken out in support of troubled Heather Mills over the couple's split.

John Lennon's widow said she knows the pressure Sir Paul McCartney's wife is under.

She added: "I feel very bad for her. I know better than anyone what it's like being a Beatle wife, nobody gives you an easy time.

"Whatever happened in their marriage I don't know. But it must be very hard for her as well as Paul." Yoko also spoke of her sadness for Sir Paul over the break-up.

And she insisted that despite a long-running war of words with the former Beatle, she still wants to see him happy.

Yoko added: "When I heard about the split I was really sad.

"The thing I keep remembering is how, just before Heather gave birth to her and Paul's daughter, he told me how happy he was. He actually said: 'I feel like I've been given a second life.'

"They were really in love and it's very sad it hasn't worked out."

Yoko spoke before the premiere of Cirque du Soleil's Love in Las Vegas, which mixes a Beatles soundscape with lavish acrobatics and robotics.

And she defended the decision to stage the first Fab Four stage collaboration in the US city.

Yoko, who got a kiss from Macca when she arrived for the show, said the performance was "amazing". She added: "The Beatles were all about innovation and trying new things, and this Vegas show definitely fits in with that.

"The music sounds so fantastic and the performances really bring the songs alive.

"Everyone involved in the show is very proud of it and John would have been, too."

Maybe he was moved by the lyrics he had just heard. Or perhaps he didn't recognise her under that hat.

Whatever the reason, no one expected the warmth of the greeting between Sir Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono at the weekend.

After the first night of a Beatles-inspired stage show called Love in Las Vegas, Sir Paul took the stage and kissed Yoko on the cheek.

It was a very public reconciliation for the two who have fought a bitter battle over the Beatles' legacy for more than three decades.

Taking the applause at the Siegfried & Roy Theatre, Sir Paul paid tribute to his two late friends, saying: 'This is for John and George.'

His words clearly impressed 73-year-old Yoko, who smiled beside him. The £55million show, featuring Cirque du Soleil, was the brainchild of George Harrison, whose widow Olivia was at the opening along with Ringo Starr and Lennon's first wife, Cynthia.

Sir Paul, 64, who was still wearing his wedding ring despite splitting from his wife Heather Mills, has had a rocky relationship with Yoko since the Sixties.

She is widely blamed for the breakup of the Beatles and has rowed with him over his attempts to change the credit 'Lennon-McCartney' to 'McCartney-Lennon' on songs such as Yesterday which he wrote.

Last year, she even suggested he was an inferior songwriter to Lennon, saying that the limit of his lyrical talent was to rhyme 'June' with 'spoon'.

Friday night's star-studded red carpet arrivals at "Love" might have seemed like the last place to experience moments of poignant human interaction. But amid the jostling of journalists, celebs and assorted PR reps, one such moment unfolded as Roy Horn stood from a wheelchair to meet Paul McCartney face to face.

Horn and longtime performing partner Siegfried Fischbacher had just finished their arduous trek across the carpet and Horn (who had been leaning on a cane) settled to an awaiting wheelchair with a bit of help from the duo's assistant, Lynette Chappell. Several feet behind them, McCartney was moving swiftly across the carpet and actually breezed past the Goulets (Robert and Vera) while calling out, "I've got to run ahead of you guys."

Just as McCartney was about to veer toward the theater, he was pointed in Horn's direction. "Hello, Roy!" McCartney said loudly, leaning closely over Horn. "How you doing, man?"

Horn grabbed the arms of the wheelchair and began to stand. McCartney's eyebrows arched as he said, "Oh, it's all right. We're cool. Take it easy, Roy." But Horn continued and stood up to shake McCartney's hand.

"Wow!" McCartney said. "Let's get a photo, OK?" And the three posed for a few impromptu shots.

Horn said returning to the theater (which has been completely gutted and overhauled over the past three years) where he and Fischbacher performed more than 5,700 shows in 13 years, was, "Bittersweet. Very bittersweet." Fischbacher added, "We are very, very excited. We were for 13 years an opening act for the Beatles - it doesn't get any better. We tried to give love to our audiences, and they are doing the same."

In the theater, just before the gala premiere performance, Mirage President Scott Sibella dedicated the show to Siegfried & Roy, whose introduction was met with a standing ovation. After the flawless performance, the production's owners and creators - including McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, Guy Laliberte, and George and Giles Martin - strode to the stage for a victory lap. When the troupe halted to pose for photos and flash peace signs, McCartney (with no microphone at the ready) shouted, "This is for John and George!"

The audience erupted, and McCartney turned to his right to find Ono, a vision in a white pantsuit and a giant foppish hat. So he grabbed his frequent antagonist and kissed her - twice. Once on her cheek and quickly again near her mouth. And for all of "Love's" magic imagery of sight and sound, nothing matched that moment.

Beatles 'Reunion': Exclusive Report

There was only one major no-show on Friday night in Las Vegas for what turned out to be - as much as it could be - a Beatles reunion.

For the premiere of Cirque du Soleil's stunning new Beatles show, "Love," at the Mirage Hotel, a group of people came who have not been in the same room since - well, I don't know -- came together for one night only. Who would have thunk it?

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison - Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison - united for a moment in time to honor the group's historic accomplishments. They are without a doubt the First Dysfunctional Family of Rock and Roll.

That would have been extraordinary enough, but also present for the event were John's first wife, Cynthia Lennon, their son, Julian, and Ravi Shankar, Harrison's great musical influence and friend. For a time after the show was over, this entire gang - as well as Apple Records' masterminds Neil Aspinall and Jonathan Clyde, plus Paul's brother in-law/business partner John Eastman, and old friend record producer Peter Asher (there with wife Wendy and Robin Williams' wife Marcia) - filled a very small space set up as a "private" party within a humongous celebration for the 4,000 people who'd come to see the first two official presentations of "Love."

They laughed together, ate together and reminisced. There was much picture taking. As on the stage when "Love" concluded to resounding thunderous applause, standing ovations and tears, McCartney actually kissed Ono. Time stopped. Hell froze over. Ono, who wore a bright white suit and a matching big white floppy hat which she wore all night, kissed him back. She took pictures with Cynthia and Julian, whose financial fate she's held in her hands often.

As a Beatle fan and amateur expert on the lives of these people, I thought maybe I was hallucinating. The whole of them, arms around each other, took victory bows in each of the four corners of the Mirage Theater's massive stage-in-the-round when the show was over. Paul, dressed in a black suit and white sneakers, looked thin and tired, maybe a little gaunt. This was not all due to flying in that day from London, but his recent marital difficulties were not the topic at hand.

Motioning frantically to the fawning, screaming crowd, McCartney quieted us down. "We have to have applause for John and George," he said of his missing comrades, and the place went crazy. "To John and George!"

(Cirque du Soleil creator Guy Laliberte, by the way, dedicated the show at the start to performers Siegfried and Roy, who had a long run in the same theater until their tiger accident. It was a classy note, and the pair was on hand to accept kudos.)

Later, in this tricked-up private area for Apple family members, Paul took a corner seat on a white couch and introduced me to his two assistants - a pair of lovely young things. He was accompanied as well by an older looking couple whom he identified as "family."

What did he think about this momentous occasion? "Love" is such a triumph for the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil its genius can barely be described (although I will try to do it justice below). After the show, McCartney was overheard saying to Ringo Starr, a little startled by the magnitude of the evening, "We were a pretty f--ing great group, weren't we?" Then he cut himself short and said, in a typical McCartney revision, "We were a pretty great group!"

Sitting on the white couch, about to receive Shankar, his wife, Ringo and a clutch of well-wishers, Paul seemed wiped out. After all, one of his heroes, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, had been in the audience along with actress Helen Mirren and husband, director Taylor Hackford, plus Edgar Winter, Sheila E. and Colin Hay (all touring with Ringo in his band), Electric Light Orchestra guru Jeff Lynne, songwriter Stephen Bishop, producer Russ Titelman, Barbara Orbison (widow of Roy), Little Steven van Zandt with wife, Maureen, actor Jason Patric, director Gus van Zant, and, improbably, billionaire Ron Burkle.

The only person missing? John Lennon's son with Ono, Sean. He'd been advertised but never showed. Ono arrived and walked the red carpet with her publicist. It was a bit reminiscent of last winter's Grammy Heroes dinner in New York when Sean was conspicuously absent. On Friday night there was no explanation, which was odd considering that Sean has been photographed out on the town in New York a lot this past month.

So it was in front of all these people that McCartney - with Ono in the white hat and all the exhaustion of bearing up from a barrage of public, embarrassing "revelations" about his soon to be ex-wife, Heather - watched "Love" in its entirety for the first time. His voice and his songs constitute a good 75 percent of the show. It would have been an overwhelming experience for anyone.

"I thought it was wonderful," he said, shaking his head, still taking it in. He'd kind of collapsed into the couch, eating vegetarian dishes that were only available in his section of the party. "It's the first time I've seen it all the way through. I have to see it again."

Within a second we were overcome by a wave of guests who wanted to find him, including Starr and wife, Barbara Bach. Across the way, maybe 20 feet at most, sitting on another couch, Ono plopped down next to Cynthia, the woman whose marriage she broke up some 40 years ago.

"Thank you for coming to my party," Ono said incongruously. Cynthia just smiled for the photographers. Later, I said to her, "I saw you talking to Yoko."

She replied, "You saw her talking to me." She paused. "It's not like she gave me her phone number and said let's get together." The first Mrs. John Lennon shook her head in disbelief. "I think they call that a photo op."

Cynthia had just received bad news that afternoon: she'd lost a close friend in Spain to cancer. She told me, "Between that and the show, I was close to tears at the end. I mean, the show really moved me. I was just at that point where I was going to start crying."

Director Hackford ("Ray," "Officer and a Gentleman") told me he'd felt the same way, too. "It's our generation," he said. "We know this music and what it means to us. It was very emotional." Mirren concurred, as did everyone else including even the guys from EMI Music - Phil Quartararo, Dave Munns and Johnny Barbis - who rep the Beatles in all recordings.

Indeed, the Cirque du Soleil show is very emotional, especially as the almost too-short 90-minute spectacular starts heading toward its finale. I think that may be what did McCartney in, seeing video of the Beatles -- really exceptionally well edited - contrasted with the entire cast of the show dancing to "All You Need Is Love."

The show - which has a magical combination of acrobatics, ballet, video, and fanciful sets and costumes - suddenly gels disarmingly. Realizing the end is at hand is almost upsetting. You want this one last trip to the fantasy that was the Beatles never to end.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The real success of "Love" depends a lot on Sir George Martin, the Beatles' producer. Watching the show, you can only think that none of this would be possible if the person who assembled the music didn't know it inside and out. Martin and son Giles have literally taken the Beatles original recordings and, in many instances, turned them inside out.

Some songs are intact, but they are few. Instead, the Martins have pieces together unexpected medleys, woven in bits and pieces of the Beatles music with other fragments, and then stitched them like elements of a tapestry into a larger setting. There's no song list, and I hope I actually caught all the little references. For example, one of the central pieces is a masterpiece rendering of "Octopus's Garden." The Martins have configured it so that another Ringo song, "Good Night," is playing behind it until the whole thing becomes a nursery rhyme. It's just splendid.

Imagine that the show begins with the opening night of "A Hard Day's Night" segued right into the drum solo from the end of "Abbey Road." These two things ordinarily would have nothing to do with each other. They are followed by a snippet of "Because" and then "Get Back," the song that sets the tone for the show. Suddenly we're in London during the Blitz, when each of the Beatles was born. "Eleanor Rigby" depicts Liverpool in World War II, and "I Am the Walrus" takes on new significance. (Director Dominic Champagne told us he loves the lyric "I am he/As you are he/As you are me/And we are all together.")

Then, quickly, it's the Sixties, all Beatlemania and Carnaby Street: "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Drive My Car," "What You're Doing" and "The Word" comprise a thrilling medley as the video projections and the actors recall an innocent time.

From then on, the plot - such as it is - doesn't really matter. "Love" begins mixing and matching all the material from "Penny Lane" and the "Sgt. Pepper" album through the "White Album" and "Abbey Road." Each number is a self-contained little gem, almost like a Joseph Cornell box stuffed full of unusual artifacts.

Some favorites: George Harrison's "Within You, Without You" features a bed that rises to the ceiling and unleashes a massive, billowing white sheet that covers all 2,000 audience members. "Lady Madonna" is a stomping percussive number depicted by many pairs of children's slicker yellow boots dancing on tricycles. "Strawberry Fields" takes place inside Cirque du Soleil's idea of a lava lamp.

With no exception, each number is its own little masterpiece. But there are bigger pieces, too, like a wild Dr. Seuss-type carnival that breaks out for "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." In "Help," teams of extreme skaters dressed in black and white like football refs are choreographed on curved ramps. This is sure to be one of the most popular numbers, and one that we see on TV as a clip. As Ed Sullivan used to say, the kids are going to love it.

Sometimes less is more, as in a cool ballet solo number by Charlotte O'Dowd performed to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." And other times, it's all about being awesome as when "A Day in the Life" becomes a multimedia event that culminates in a Volkswagen Beetle (get it - there are two of them, used as metaphors) suddenly breaks apart into pieces.

And there's a longish medley - "Can You Take Me Back," "Revolution" and "Back in the USSR" that finishes with a previously unreleased (no one could place it, and it's not from a Beatles Anthology) acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" that is breathtaking.

There are plenty of other songs, too, don't worry: "Hey Jude," "Something," "Come Together," "Yesterday," "Blackbird" and "Here Comes the Sun" - staged with remote-control miniature trains carrying little dishes of light - are all in there. There are bits of "Let it Be," "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Magical Mystery Tour." And some that I thought were missing - like "In My Life" and "We Can Work It Out" - who knows? Maybe they'll turn up in a sequel.

"Love" is just an exhilarating, phenomenal show; one that will not only revive the Beatles catalog but bring their music to a whole new generation. The fact that it works at all is due not only to the Martins, but to director Champagne (what a name) and his incredibly talented cast and crew. They mix video, light and sound in what seem like groundbreaking ways. That it all seems new and fresh and alive is a real achievement. (The huge theater is actually bifurcated four ways by see-through scrims that are also video screens.)

Now every rock group from The Stones and the Who to the Beach Boys and even Three Dog Night will want a show like this. But there's only one Beatles, and with "Love," they've participated in yet another cultural milestone.

Heather Mills will accept a £10million ($18.3 million) divorce pay-out from Sir Paul McCartney - rather than the £200 million she could have won, The People can reveal.

Pals say she wants to take the cut-price settlement rather than launch into a long legal fight.

Lawyers will thrash out the details over the next few months.

One friend said: "Heather is satisfied with the £10 million deal being discussed. She was only too aware that she could have gone into battle for a lot more. But she is still devastated over the break-up and is not in any mood for a bitter legal row."

The couple are determined to keep their divorce as amicable as possible.

We can reveal that 38-year-old Heather has:

VOWED not be seen as a gold-digger by seeking a much bigger slice of Paul's £825 million ($1.5 billion) fortune.

VIEWED a £2.3 million ($4.2 million) hideaway home deep in the country about 70 miles from the ex-Beatle's estate at Peasmarsh, East Sussex.

AGREED to allow Paul shared access to their two-year-old daughter Beatrice -emphasising that the tot's well-being is their top priority.

The friend confirmed that former model Heather has lost a stone (14 lbs) with the strain of the break-up - as The People revealed three weeks ago.

Divorce experts believe Heather could have been awarded up to £200 million settlement if the case reached the High Court.

But the pal stressed: "She has no intention of putting up a fight. She is far too upset to even think about going down that road. The £10 million figure that has been raised as a viable divorce settlement is not something Heather is going to fight over.

"Heather and Paul have been in regular contact since they split up in May.

"They have constantly reminded each other that Bea should always remain their number one priority throughout the finalisation of their divorce.

"Heather is being told that even if the legal necessities of a divorce can seem harsh and nasty this is not Paul's intention."

Heather has set her heart on buying an old farmhouse set in 200 acres near Midhurst, West Sussex, friends said yesterday.

Estate agents say the house will soon be available for around £1.6 million ($3 million) - with a separate cottage for another £700,000 ($1.2 million).

One pal said: "The property is just what Heather has in mind as a future home for her and her daughter. It is not on the market yet but she has found out all about it and is very impressed.

"Heather feels that moving there would let her get on with her life without the worry of prying eyes.

"She is desperate for some peace and quiet to come to terms with what has happened to her."

Since the split Heather has been living near her sister Fiona in Hove, West Sussex.

But the friend said: "She wants to start her life afresh once she is divorced."

Heather - who lost her left leg below the knee after being hit by a police motorcycle in 1993 -married Paul five years ago.

Ringo arrived on the red carpet with Barbara at 7pm. Paul followed at 7:05 pm. The "LOVE" performance started at 7:30pm and ended at 9pm. Afterwards there was a private VIP party for guests with an all star jam going into the wee hours of the morning.

List of celebrities attending the performance:

Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, Sir George Martin, Giles Martin, Julian Lennon, Sean Ono Lennon, Blair Harrison, Dhani Harrison, Cynthia Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mike McCartney, Brian Ray (who said it was "Fantastic"), Rusty Anderson (called the show "Mindbending"), Wix and his wife, Bill Bernstein, Denny Siewell (former Wings drummer), Corey Feldman, Nicky Wonder (Wondermints), Doug Fieger (The Knack), Siegfried & Roy, Prince, Woody Harrelson, Billy Crystal, Tony Bennett, Megan Mullally, Eddie Murphy, Busta Rhymes, Virginia Madsen, John Densmore (The Doors), Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Richards, Elisha Cuthbert, Sean Avery (LA Kings), Brian Wilson (Beach Boys), Eliza Dushku, Rachel Leigh Cook, Dylan McDermott, Gina Gershon, Jason Patric, Dita Von Teese, Shannon Elizabeth, Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford, Neil Patrick Harris, Elizabeth Berkley, Deborah Harry (Blondie), Heatherette, Dhani Jones (Philadelphia Eagles), Victoria Tennant, Roberta Flack, David LaChapelle, Danny Gans, George Wallace, David Brenner, Kevin Nealon, Wayne Brady, Paul Reiser, Chris Ferguson, Carrot Top, Melissa Rivers, Eric Idle (Monty Python), Sheila E. (Ringo Starr's Band), Rod Argent (Ringo Starr's Band), Richard Marx (Ringo Starr's Band), Hamish Stuart (Ringo Starr's Band formerly with Paul's band), Billy Squier (Ringo Starr's Band), Edgar Winter (Ringo Starr's Band), Gus Van Zant, Annie Duke, Nigel Lythgoe (American Idol), Steve and Maureen Van Zandt, Jeff Lynne (ELO), Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Phyllis McGuire, Mitsou Gelinas, Ginette Reno, Andre-Philippe Gagnon, David Foster and Humberto Gatica, Van Dyke Parks and wife Sally and Bud Cort (Harold & Maude), Quentin Tarantino.

July 1, 2006 -- Toronto Star

Paul, Ringo feel the LOVE at Vegas show

LAS VEGAS-Suddenly it was 1964 all over again.

Paul McCartney walked down the red carpet of the Mirage Hotel at the gala opening of the new Cirque du Soleil/Beatles show, LOVE, and thousands of female voices shrieked.

"Pauuuuuulllllllll!"

The publicity-shy Beatle wasn't expected to face the public, but not only did he talk to the press, he walked toward his fans, arms raised towards the air in a double "peace" sign and the cheering grew ever louder.

"I'm looking forward to an evening of happiness," he said and that seemed to echo everyone's feelings.

Ringo Starr, the other living member of the group, walked briskly through the crowd, waving at everyone, but didn't pause to answer many questions.

Yoko Ono spoke at length of how much her late husband John Lennon's legacy meant. "This is a time in the world, I think, when we need to hear what John and the Beatles had to say more than ever before. Their message of love will never die."

Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque, stepped forward to put one arm around Ono and the other around Olivia Harrison - widow of former Beatle George Harrison - who was visibly moved by the proceedings.

"This is a dream I have had for a long time," said Laliberté, "a dream that George and I dreamed together." Indeed, it was his friendship with Harrison that allowed this seemingly impossible project to take place: the first fully authorized use of the Beatles song catalogue in a stage production.

A wide assortment of stars showed up, each one with their own special reason for being there.

"I'm here because of Yoko," said Will and Grace star Megan Mullaly. "I'm one of her biggest fans."

Eric Idle, Monty Python member and author of the hit musical Spamalot, affirmed that "I've never heard a Beatles song I didn't love; I'm looking forward to every minute of the evening."

Saturday Night Live veteran Kevin Nealon observed that "I was a Beatles fan growing up. I still am. You never stop being one."

And Billy Crystal paused to think about why everyone still loved these songs so much. "It's music that makes you feel better," he decided. "What's wrong with that?"

The initial press reviews for the $150 million spectacle have been almost universally upbeat and the management of the Mirage is anticipating a minimum run of 10 years for the show.

A bittersweet coda was sounded by the arrival of Siegfried and Roy, the legendary Las Vegas duo whose act used to occupy the theatre where LOVE is now playing, until a tiger mauled Roy Horn in October, 2003, nearly ending his life.

"I'm glad to be here and to be alive," said Horn. "And we should all feel the same way tonight."

July 1, 2006 -- BBC NEWS

Beatles witness musical premiere

Surviving Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have attended the Las Vegas premiere of a musical dedicated to the band's legacy.

Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, the widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, also watched Love.

"It was emotional because two of us aren't there. So it really comes home when you're watching this," said Starr.

The Cirque de Soleil show is the first major theatrical project the Beatles' company Apple Corps has taken part in.

McCartney appeared on stage after the performance and shouted: "This is for John and George!"

'Never satisfied'

The Beatles' producer George Martin, who worked with his son Giles to create the show's sound, said: "If John [Lennon] saw the show, he'd probably say 'yeah, but it could be better'.

"He was never satisfied with anything that he ever did in his life. In his mind, he had a dream world which could not be realised."

"Sgt Pepper was done because the Beatles stopped touring. And this was done because the Beatles aren't here," said Giles Martin.

Yoko Ono said: "All this time when I was working on this show in the rehearsals, I thought 'oh, John should be here,' That's the only thing that I regret, the fact that he's not here, because he would have enjoyed it so much."

Spectacle

John Lennon's son Julian also attended the premiere, along with his mother - and Lennon's first wife - Cynthia.

The show is an acrobatic and dance spectacle set to a soundscape containing parts of 130 of the band's songs and unpublished outtakes.

It covers the 1940s when the Beatles were growing up, to the height of Beatlemania in the 60s and their later psychedelic period.

It makes references to historical events such as the death of Lennon's mother in a road accident, which is set to A Day In The Life.

Hooded figures throwing knives at a cross allude to threats made against the Beatles by the Ku Klux Klan after Lennon said The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus".

McCartney and Starr were closely involved in the project, which took several years to devise, as were Ono and Olivia Harrison.

It is being staged at the extensively refurbished Mirage Theatre in Las Vegas.

Siegfried and Roy performed there for 13 years before Roy Horn was nearly killed on stage by one of the duo's performing tigers in 2003.

Cirque's gala draws McCartney, Starr, Ono, Beatles families

If Robert Goulet had to deal with the effects of Beatlemania in 1964, he's found things haven't changed much.

The Las Vegas-based entertainer says he was trying to navigate the red carpet for Cirque du Soleil's "Love" gala Friday night when suddenly, "these big tough guys came out" and his wife, Vera, said, "Paul's right behind you."

Trying to clear a path for Paul McCartney, the man every camera was there to see, Goulet says he jostled Siegfried, who jostled Roy, as McCartney's entourage steered past the three Las Vegas legends.

Goulet said he spoke to McCartney, who "didn't know who the hell I was." His wife begged to differ.

More than 4,000 guests were invited to two private performances Friday of Cirque's fifth Las Vegas show, one that marks a rare licensing partnership with McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, all four of whom attended the early show.

Starr, wearing a star emblem on his shirt, flashed the peace sign to the crowd as he moved quickly by. Ono, wearing the biggest hat in the casino, worked the carpet more slowly, posing to stare down the top of her sunglasses at reporters and photographers from nearly 100 media outlets.

Both were hustled through a door on the far side of the "Love" gift shop, catching browsers who saw them through the window by surprise.

Before the show, Mirage president Scott Sibella addressed the crowd and dedicated the show to Siegfried & Roy, who performed in the theater space for 13 years before Roy Horn's injury from a tiger bite in October 2003.

Waiting to stroll the red carpet in the High Limits Lounge before the show, Siegfried Fischbacher said he didn't think he'd feel nostalgic for a room remodeled beyond recognition.

"I'm just happy to be able to be here as Siegfried and Roy, and I'm happy to share this with the greatest name in show business," Fischbacher said.

Cirque founder Guy Laliberte made a special dedication to the late George Harrison, whose friendship led to the show's creation. "We shared an emotion, we shared a vision. We dreamed about this night," he said.

At the end of the show, McCartney, Starr, Ono, Laliberte and music producer George Martin came onstage with the cast, circling the round platform flashing peace signs.

"For George and John!" McCartney declared to a roar from the crowd.

McCartney hugged Ono and Harrison, to great approval of those seated nearby.

The Mirage's Media Center was transformed into a party with a psychedelic theme filtered through an East Indian sensibility, sort of the Taj Mahal gone wild. The party was expected to continue the all-night tradition of Cirque's rooftop "Zumanity" premiere and a "Ka" debut staged in the MGM Grand Garden arena.

Like the other parties, this one was transformed by Cirque's apprentice production designers and came complete with a planned performance: a 10-minute "Midnight Tableaux" by a dozen performers to signal the end of the mingling and the start of dance floor action.

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