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November 2006

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November 30, 2006 -- Contact Music

MILLS: 'I'VE RECEIVED DEATH THREATS'

Sir Paul McCartney's estranged wife Heather Mills claims she has received a number of death threats since she split with the ex-Beatle in May. Mills also insists she cannot afford to hire security in the aftermath of her separation from McCartney, which has turned increasingly ugly in recent weeks.

The 38-year-old is the mother of McCartney's three-year-old daughter Beatrice. She says, "We've had a few death threats which is pretty scary. "We don't have any funding for security."

You couldn't make it up - now Lady Mucca is trying to get Sir Paul McCartney kicked out of his own home.

The Daily Star tracked her down to a plush restaurant, where she was clutching what appeared to be legal demands for his beloved farm.

But it really wasn't that hard. . .

The self-styled victim "accidentally" let photographers snap her notes written out on a pad.

Heather and Macca lived happily at the country estate until she moved out when their marriage collapsed.

For years she basked in the good life, as he footed the bills.

Now, unbelievably, she wants even more.

But who really does deserve the luxury Peasmarsh estate?

Is it Sir Paul, a music legend who made a mint knocking out massiveselling hits across the globe?

Or Mucca, who made a few bob starring in sleazy porn pics and escorting rich Arabs across the north-east?

Whatever the result, there really is only one winner.

Heather will always be richer and more famous than if she had never met and married the former Beatle.

And that's why this Lady is a tramp.

Sir Paul McCartney's estranged wife Heather Mills is trying to divert the media glare from her upcoming divorce to the plight of dogs and cats killed for their fur.

The animal rights campaigner was in Belgium today to deliver a 250,000-signature petition calling for the trade to be banned in Europe - just hours after photos of her holding a notebook of divorce game plan scribblings were splashed over British front pages.

Mills' petition will put pressure on European ministers to impose the ban, which the European Commission proposed earlier this month. An estimated two million cats and dogs are being killed each year in China alone to fuel the trade, but the country insists it'll be difficult to stamp out the practice without this European intervention.

Speculation is increasing today that Heather Mills McCartney may attempt to file a surprise ex parte application for some of Sir Paul McCartney's assets at the Royal Courts of Justice today.

The suspicion is fuelled after the words 'contempt of courtex parte applicationThe Honourable Mrs. Justice Baron' were pictured scribbled on Ms Mills notepad yesterday.

And today, Justice Baron is the judge scheduled to hear ex parte applications at the Royal Courts of Justice.

November 30, 2006 -- The Sun

Mucca wants Linda's lovenest

Heartless Heather Mills sinks to a new low - by flashing plans to seize the beloved home Sir Paul McCartney shared with his late wife Linda.

Lady Mucca stunned photographers by holding up a notebook showing her intention to grab Peasmarsh - the ex-Beatle's £4million, 160-acre estate.

Heather, 38, scribbled: "I'm seeking an order for occupation of the matrimonial home."

The bombshell will devastate Macca, 64, and his kids who have used the mansion as their family house for nearly 40 years.The farm, near Rye, East Sussex, was a present to Linda from Macca on their wedding in 1969.

Incredibly, lawyers yesterday said Heather, who is seeking an £80 million ($156 million) divorce, could indeed oust Sir Paul from the home - if she can produce evidence of domestic violence.

Her bid for the property comes after Macca changed the locks. He forced out Heather after discovering the mansion's phone had been bugged.

Top divorce lawyer Peter Watson-Lee yesterday said: "From Heather's note it would appear she wants the matrimonial home. In my understanding of the case, this would be Peasmarsh."

Heather - dubbed Mucca because of her porn past - held up her notebook outside a London restaurant.

An onlooker said: "She wanted the world to know her plans. It's an incredibly low shot."

Her spokesman said last night: "We will not discuss private divorce matters."

Furious Heather Mills has launched another bitter legal battle with Sir Paul McCartney - to be allowed access to their old matrimonial home.

Heather, 38, was humiliatingly barred from the mansion when she arrived with daughter Bea in August and found all the locks changed.

She believes she should be allowed to visit for the sake of the couple's three-year-old youngster and held talks this week with her legal firm Mishcon de Reya.

Her battle plan was laid bare in a handwritten dossier she clutched as she met up with pals at a London vegetarian restaurant.

In the notebook, she had written: "I'm seeking an order for occupation of the matrimonial home."

Underneath, in a list of three bullet points, she added: "1) Continued access till divorce. 2) Refused access if I have court order. 3) Contempt of court. Ex parte application."

Further scribbles appear to reveal that Mrs Justice Baron will hear the case in a London court next year.

The mum-of-one's court bid marks another acrimonious turn in her bitter divorce wrangle with Sir Paul, 64.

Heather - pictured with the notes on Tuesday as she lunched with friends - has told pals she left a wealth of personal possessions at the mansion in St John's Wood, North-West London.

But she feels unable to ask the pop legend to be allowed in to retrieve them because of the way he has treated her since their split.

Friends stress that, although Heather is convinced she is legally entitled to access, her overriding concern is to provide little Bea with a stable, family environment.

The former model was left fuming when she and the youngster arrived at the gates for a pre-arranged visit four months ago to find Macca had locked them out.

To add to her embarrassment, his staff called police when her minder scaled a wall to try to let her in.

A letter sent from the former Beatle's legal team accused his estranged wife of stealing three bottles of cleaning fluid from the house.

She has also been forced to move out of their other home in Peasmarsh, East Sussex.

Heather later bought a new barn house in nearby Hove, but she has since put it on the market for £625,000 - ($1.9 million) just six months afterwards.

Yesterday, her spokesman refused to be drawn on the legal battle. He would only say: "This is an ongoing legal matter."

However, legal experts believe the length of time she lived in the couple's matrimonial home gives her the right to return there.

Stephen Foster, head of the divorce department at London law firm Stewarts, said that, as she had resided there with Bea, she was be entitled to stay until a settlement was finalised.

He explained: "The matrimonial right to occupation arises not out of ownership of a property, but by virtue of living there.

"If Heather has lived there with a child or children, she has a right to remain there unless a court makes an order otherwise.

"Her rights concern the home she was living in at the time of the breakdown of the relationship."

Mr Foster pointed out it was irrelevant who owned the property and that it was quite usual for the husband to own a house but his wife live there until the divorce is completed.

The lawyer went on: "Heather would have rights to live in the family home, whichever was considered the family's dominant property."

"If she lived there when it was the matrimonial property, then she has the right to stay there.

"The parent who is considered the primary carer tends to stay in the family home until proceedings are resolved.

"If she was kicked out, the courts would potentially have the power to make an order allowing her back in."

The couple's break-up has already become one of the messiest in showbiz history. Heather has accused Macca of being violent towards her and alleged he once lunged at her with a broken wine glass.

The anti-landmines campaigner is reported to be seeking an £80 million private settlement, although she has said she intends to give most of the money to her favourite charities.

Both she and Macca currently share time with Bea.

Heather has allowed her estranged husband access to their daughter whenever he wishes in order not to upset the youngster.

However, both parents are said to be fighting for custody of her.

Sources close to the pop idol have branded Heather a "fantasist".

And Macca has vowed to publicly challenge Heather's claims that he was a violent husband.

CONTEMPT OF COURT EX PARTE APPLICATION

If a court order is issued but then ignored by Sir Paul, Heather could make an ex parte application.

This is a legal proceeding brought by one person in the absence of and without representation or notification to other parties.

But this would be an extremely unusual move in such circumstances and a judge would likely ask to hear Macca's version of events before making a decision.

I'M SEEKING AN ORDER FOR OCCUPATION OF MATRIMONIAL HOME

Heather wants to regain access to the North London home she shared with Sir Paul. She thinks it would be a stable environment for Bea. An occupation order is rare and usually obtained when domestic violence is an issue. Her notes imply Heather wants to keep Macca out of the home until the divorce is finalised.

CONTINUED ACCESS TILL DIVORCE

Suggests Heather is seeking unlimited access to the house in St John's Wood until the bitter court battle is over.

She feels she has the right to come and go from the property she was locked out of - for the sake of her daughter and to pick up her own personal possessions.

It is where they lived as a family before the split.

REFUSED ACCESS IF I HAVE COURT ORDER

Friends claim Heather feels she can't ask Macca for her possessions back because of his behaviour towards her. She was locked out and could seek a court order to gain access. If she was still refused access, she would have the right to take further action as Macca would be in contempt of court.

HIGH HOLBORN

The central London location of her law firm Mischcon de Reya. Heather has had several meetings at the offices since the marriage split was announced and has spent countless hours thrashing out her case with experts.

Her lawyer Anthony Julius, is nicknamed "Anthony Genius" after winning Princess Diana a £24million settlement when she split with Prince Charles.

THE HONOURABLE MRS JUSTICE BARON

She works in the High Court Family Division.

Before being a judge, she handled several major divorce cases. She once described the £570,000 legal fees paid by one couple after a six-year divorce battle as "horrific".

Big note: The notes suggest she is seeking a highly unusual court order.

Heather Mills appears to have let slip further secrets of her £800 million ($1.5 billion) divorce battle with Sir Paul McCartney.

She's been photographed clutching a ring folder on which she has scribbled a series of notes relating to her legal fight.

The notes suggest she is seeking a highly unusual court order - which lawyers say is mainly obtained in domestic violence cases - to keep Sir Paul out of the 'matrimonial home'.

The notes, clearly in view to photographers as Ms Mills walked towards Victoria Station, are headed: "I'm seeking an order for occupation of the matrimonial home."

It is then followed by three, numbered bullet points. The first says: "Continued access till divorce," while the second is illegible.

The third refers to a "contempt of court" and beneath it is written "ex parte application". The final piece of the page on view contains the name "The Honourable Mrs Justice Baron".

This implies the judge set to hear the case is Mrs Justice Baron QC, a brilliant divorce barrister appointed to the High Court in 2004.

Before becoming a judge, Florence Baron acted in a number of high-profile divorce cases, representing among others Victoria Spencer in her divorce from Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer.

It is not the first time Ms Mills has revealed details of the case. It was discovered she was being represented by Mishcon de Reya, the firm that represented Princess Diana in her divorce case, when a folder with the firm's name emblazoned upon it was photographed on her knee.

A leading family lawyer said today an occupation order was rare and usually only made in cases where domestic violence was a major issue. It is likely the order refers to her current home in Hove rather than the house in Peasmarsh, East Sussex, where McCartney lives.

Ms Mills, 38, has accused Sir Paul of being violent towards her on four occasions during their relationship in court papers leaked to the press. The former Beatle has vehemently denied the accusations.

Ms Mills and McCartney, 64, earlier this year promised an amicable divorce. But it has become one of the most bitterly contested of recent times.

What Heather scribbled down:

1: "I am seeking an order for occupation of the matrimonial home" An occupation order under part IV of the Family law Act 1996 is rare and usually obtained where domestic violence is an issue in divorce cases.

2: Continued access till divorce Likely to refer to her right to visit McCartney's current properties until divorce. It is not thought to refer to their daughter Beatrice.

3: Largely illegible

4: "Contempt of court. Ex parte application" Contempt of court may refer to the leaking of highly explosive court papers, in which she alleged he had being abusive towards her.

5: The Honourable Mrs Justice Baron This refers to Dame Florence Baron QC, appointed a High Court judge in 2004. "An absolutely brilliant barrister and reckoned an absolutely first rate judge," said a lawyer. Has she been appointed to the case?

The 38-year-old former model was accompanied by her personal trainer, Ben Amigoni, 22.

She did not attend any court hearing, but was seen standing outside the Queen's Building, which houses most of the High Court's Family Division courtrooms.

Sir Paul and his wife, who have a three-year-old daughter, Beatrice, announced in May that they are to end their four-year marriage.

November 28, 2006 -- Daily Mail

Heather Mills feels a right heel as no one turns up to shoe auction

Only a few days ago Sir Paul McCartney was signing autographs for hundreds of fans during a rare public appearance in London.

Today it was the turn of his estranged wife Heather Mills to step into the limelight. Unfortunately, nobody else bothered to turn up.

Mills, who is fighting a bitter divorce with the former Beatle, was at Finsbury Circus to launch an auction of celebrity shoes on eBay to raise funds for the Mines Advisory Group charity.

Few people were present for the launch, in stark contrast to Sir Paul's appearance at Virgin Megastore for a record signing last week.

In fact the only members of the public who paid any attention were a couple of office workers eating their sandwiches in the square.

Several celebrities have donated shoes for the auction, including signed white leather ankle boots from David Bowie, signed Adidas trainers from Coldplay's Chris Martin and silver strappy Jimmy Choo's owned by Hollywood star Susan Sarandon.

Pamela Anderson has, ironically, donated a pair of Stella McCartney white PVC stilettos signed by the designer.

Given the loathing alleged to have been felt by Sir Paul's daughter for 38-year-old Mills, this last item is of particular interest for collectors of celebrity oddities.

Mills, whose claims that 64-year-old Sir Paul who is said to be worth £850 million, abused her during their marriage have been strenuously denied, left without taking any questions from journalists.

FIXATED on Princess Diana, who she sees as a kindred spirit.

OBSESSED with reading biographies about the tragic royal.

CONVINCED she is being bugged and her telephone is being tapped.

"She has read every Diana biography out there," said a pal. "She feels she is misunderstood as a cold-hearted gold-digger, in the same way Diana was portrayed as being unstable.

"And the fact she hired the same lawyers as Di is no coincidence either."

Before she filmed her interview for US TV show Extra in LA this week, Heather, 38, watched Diana's famous interview about her marriage on Panorama for tips on how to win public sympathy.

Worried pals also fear the ex-model is suffering from paranoia. One said: "She's convinced telephone calls are being bugged and keeps numerous mobiles to confuse people. She also thinks people are recording her conversations when she's in restaurants."

Heather's recent trips to America are seen as a bid to pave the way for a move across the Atlantic, where she hopes to become a TV agony aunt.

The friend said: "She feels people there are more sympathetic. She's had loads of meetings with TV bosses. And she's started talking about her spirituality, but some people think that's because she knows Americans are big on religion."

Heather is determined to have custody of three-year-old Bea and has told pals she won't hold back from making revelations about Sir Paul's drinking if necessary.

But last night a friend of Sir Paul's dismissed the allegation, saying: "It sounds like when things don't work she just makes something else up."

Since her split from Sir Paul McCartney, she has been shocked to read hundreds of venomous emails sent to her website from around the world. Heather has been left so distraught by some of them she has asked her staff to weed them out.

The messages were all sent using an email facility which has now been removed from the website and didn't appear online. It means genuine fans have been unable to communicate with her.

A source said that one reads: "Heather, you are nothing but a bloody gold-digging disgrace... go to your bloody minefields, preferably without a detector."

Another begins: "Dear Heather, you are now - quite comfortably - the most loathed person in the British Isles. Congratulations... it's one hell of an achievement."

Many others are unprintable, referring in revolting terms to her amputation and others suggesting she has changed little since her days as a pornography model. One of the less vitriolic messages reads: "One-legged bitch! How dare you do this to Paul! Die, ugly dog!"

In an interview on American TV last week, Heather put on a brave face about her problems and spoke of the warmth she has had from well-wishers.

She said: "When all this happened I just thought everybody would blame me so I sort of had my head down. But I get nothing but support - people want to come up and give me a hug."

Earlier this year, Heather's website featured a section for letters of support from her best friends, who were all named.

However, all of the names have now been removed as Heather braces herself for more hurtful abuse. A source close to Heather said: "She talks about how much support she is getting from the public - but she is deeply upset about how people have turned against her. The reality is she often gets abuse in the street when she goes out.

"She really doesn't understand why people despise her so much - these letters have frightened her with their intensity. It's like the planet has turned against her."

Letters to the website from the public are now screened by the site's "webmaster" before being handed to Heather's sister Fiona for a further culling. Heather has the right to veto any letters. The site also has an entire section dedicated to a long letter of support from Paul, written and posted prior to their bitter separation. While most of the letters are from Britain, many are from the US, which has been gripped by news of the divorce proceedings.

One from across the Atlantic reads: "You are a money-grabbing bitch. You saw Paul was vulnerable and jumped in. Now of course you have had his child so you are set for life.

"His kids were right about you. You will never be a lady! Why don't you go and get a proper job and see what it is really like in the real world. Linda was his real wife. You are a nobody. Now clear off and disappear."

Letters flooded into her site after her appearance on US talk show Extra when she said: "I would rather someone come up and chop off all my limbs than go through what I went through."

Messages of support to Heather on the website include one from David Nix, chairman of the Donor Family Network, who says: "Heather has been a fantastic patron for the Donor Family Network and has supported our work for many years."

One from Wayne Pacelle, president of the animal charity The Humane Society of the United States, says: "We are so grateful for her passion and her tireless efforts on behalf of animals."

Keith Kelly, director of The No More Landmines Trust, said: "We are proud that Heather Mills McCartney is our patron and thank her for her past, present and future support."

Some of the attacks sent to Heather's website - they were filtered out by her aides and did not appear...

FROM USA: If you didn't marry him for the money, it certainly appears you are divorcing him for the money. Sleep well.

FROM UK: You preach goodness and kindness but look at what you are doing. You have become someone greedy and unscrupulous. Search your heart and may God have mercy on you.

FROM SWEDEN: How can you preach on behalf of animals when you treat humans this way. You put shame on your race and on women in general! Shame on you... you should have stayed in porno.

FROM USA: Heather "Walter Mitty" Mills has finally got what she wanted... a pile of cash out of poor old Macca! Yes, the master plan worked perfectly (and with a child into the bargain). It gives a whole new meaning to the term gold-digger.

FROM USA: Listening to the talk at the local store regarding Heather's proposed move to the US, I felt the need to mention that, this being Paul and Linda's old stomping grounds, Heather would probably catch a lot of hostility if she moved here.

FROM USA: Heather, your antics lately are too much. Have you considered a career move into comedy?

FROM UK: Heather, you are nothing but a gold-digging disgrace. You are not liked by the British people. Go to your bloody minefields, preferably without a detector.

Lady Mucca mucks in and picks up her daughter from school after risking a fine by leaving her 4x4 on a double yellow line.

Sir Paul McCartney's wife Heather - dubbed Lady Mucca because of her porn past - then went shopping with Beatrice, three, in Brighton, East Sussex.

The illegal parking by Heather, 38, who is currently in a divorce battle with singer Sir Paul, 64, outraged onlookers. One said: "She's going to get a fortune. You'd think she'd go to a car park and spend a few quid on a ticket."

The estranged wife of Sir Paul McCartney has placed her £625,000 ($1.2 million) barn conversion in East Sussex on the market and is now looking for a home in Los Angeles.

Heather, 38 had been considering leaving the country ever since her marriage split from Sir Paul, 64.

But she finally became convinced during last week's business trip to the US in which she gave her first TV interview about the divorce.

The friend said Heather was overawed by the warmth of the reception she has received in America.

She has also been approached by a number of TV companies offering various "exciting projects".

A friend said last night: "Heather has decided to cut her ties with Britain. Apart from her immediate family she feels she has nothing keeping her here any more.

"She is tired of being vilified for marrying the wrong person and has decided that situation is unlikely to change, at least for the time being. She is selling her barn which she bought after she split with Paul and wants to start afresh."

Heather has made a number of trips to the US in recent months and last week spoke of the support she has received there.

She said well wishers often came up to her in the street to let her know they were behind her.

"I get nothing but support ­ people want to come up and give me a hug," she told the entertainment show Extra.

The sale of her home in East Sussex also suggests that she could be prepared to give way in the custody battle over the couple's daughter Bea, three.

She bought the five-bedroom Grade II listed barn conversion, after splitting from Sir Paul in May.

The 18th century property is close to her former husband's 950-acre Peasmarsh estate, meaning shared custody was easier to arrange.

But she has spent little time there, preferring to stay at her beach front home in Hove, and has now decided to sell up.

The traditional property, which has stunning rural views, is expected to fetch up to £625,000, making her a healthy £75,000 ($140,000)profit.

The friend added: "Heather's main concerns are her daughter and her charity work.

"She wants to do what is best for Bea but that does not necessarily mean she has to stay in Britain.

"Perhaps in the future, when things calm down, she could have a normal life here but at the moment that is out of the question.

"The USA seems like it is offering her the best chance of finding happiness at the moment."

Local sculptor and Beatles fan Steve Barber is appealing for help with an ambitious project to create a new Beatles museum.

The 51-year-old hit the headlines after completing a masterpiece sculpture of his hero Sir Paul McCartney and estranged wife Heather for their wedding in 2002.

And after moving back to North Staffordshire following a three-year stay near Sir Paul's home on the Mull of Kintyre he is hoping to build a permanent tribute to his favourite band. Plans are still in their early stages but Mr Barber is already looking for people or pottery companies who want to be involved in the project.

He said: "It is going to be a sculpture museum.

"It doesn't simply have to be earthenware pots and it could be different things for different parts of the museum."

Anyone who would like to be involved can contact Mr Barber on 07821 193293.

Macca's hot breakfast...and Heather's cold coffee

Sir Paul McCartney has not done much smiling lately as the fallout from his acrimonious split from Heather Mills continues but the former Beatle looked a picture of happiness as he went out for a morning stroll with his daughter Mary.

The pair met up for breakfast at Richoux Café in St John's Wood before Macca escorted his eldest child back to her car.

They would certainly have had a great deal to discuss as this week has seen the release of The Beatles Love Album.

Mary McCartney, like her late mother Linda, is a professional photographer.

She has taken portaits of Tony and Cherie Blair's son Leo and photographed Madonna and Guy Ritchie at their wedding.

Now she's also taken a dislike to this oil portrait - for making her look too stern.

The former model, 38, agreed to sit for the 7ft high artwork to raise funds for one of her landmine charities.

However, she complained to painter Sarah Macdonald afterwards: "I just don't think I look very kind.

"As the press portray me as hard and cold, I wasn't keen on the sternness of it."

It shows her sitting on the steps of the home she shared with Sir Paul McCartney, a white jumper wrapped around her shoulders and a steely look etched on her face.

Sarah, 28, first suggested the idea to the campaigner two years ago to help her Adopt-A-Landmine organisation.

Mum-of-one Heather finally invited the artist into the mansion in Peasmarsh, East Sussex, and posed for photos to help her.

She finished the painting three months later, in March last year, after more than 450 hours at the easel.

But Sarah, of Witney, Oxon, was disappointed that Heather appeared to give it the brush-off.

She said: "It was the longest I had ever spent on a painting and I was really proud of it.

"As it was for charity I wanted to make Heather look determined and ready to spring into action, as though she was ready to take on the world.

"I thought she would like the idea that she looked up for any challenge.

"Unfortunately, she did not seem as keen on the finished painting as I was." Heather, now in a bitter divorce battle with pop legend Macca, outlined her misgivings in an email to Sarah.

But she went on: "Aside from that, it is a masterpiece. Well done." A spokesman later said that although Heather had felt it was not the the ideal time to auction it, she would not stand in Sarah's way.

He added: "If Sarah thinks she can raise money for charity by selling it, Heather is happy for her to go ahead."

by Victoria Newton

Where are Heather huggers?

I'm still waiting for anyone who has hugged Heather Mills in the street to ring my hotline on 020 7782 4036 so I can put them in touch with a psychologist...

The designer has paid £4.75 million ($9 million) for a backpackers' lodge in Notting Hill, West London, and will do it up for £2 million ($3.8 million).

Stella, 35 expecting any day -plans a nursery and giant kids' bathroom for the baby and son Miller, 20 months.

She also wants a gym, media centre and dressing rooms for her and hubby Alasdhair Willis, 35.

Estate agents say the value will then soar to £8.5 million.

Virgin Megastore - Piccadilly was heaving with Paul McCartney fans this lunchtime, many of then had started queuing late last night (Tuesday) and early this morning (Wednesday) to guarantee a wristband for the signing.

Security was tight and rows of barriers were set out for the special signing area on the first floor of the shop. Paul arrived to cheers around 12:35pm and walked up through the store waving and saying hi to fans. Following a brief photo call in front of the signing desk decorated with both Ecce Cor Meum and The Space With US promo posters, Paul settled down to greet and sign away for the few hundred lucky fans.

She has been busy telling the world that the groundswell of public support for her during her split from Paul McCartney has been so intense that strangers just come up and hug her in the street.

Yet so far the photographers more or less tailing Heather Mills's every move are yet to capture such a scene.

However, as Sir Paul met his fans for the first time since the May break-up yesterday, it became immediately obvious he is still held very dearly in the public's heart.

More than a thousand devotees of the 64-year-old former Beatle turned up to wish him well at a record signing yesterday.

Braving drizzle and the biting cold some fans had waited for up to three days camping on the pavement demonstrating their love for their hero.

Danny Jones, 45, from Anfield was one of the first in the queue to see Sir Paul - and said the star was putting on a brave face about his marital woes. Mr Jones, who came to get his copies of Sir Paul's classical album Ecce Cor Meum [Behold My Heart] and his DVD The Space Within Us signed said the former Beatle put on a brave face about his marriage.

"I asked him about his marriage and he said: 'I'm fine," said Mr Jones, a singer in a Beatles tribute band.

Such is Mr Jones' love of the Fab Four that he has named his four-year-old son Jordan Daniel Thomas John Lennon James Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Patrick Jones after the Beatles.

He said: "I've always idolised Paul all my life. I named my son after the Beatles."

Mr Jones, who arrived at 1.30pm on Monday, who also came to show Sir Paul his son's birth certificate had little time for Heather.

"She's a gold digger basically. She should lay off him, and think of the baby."

He brought with him camping equipment and a sleeping bag, and fried sausages on a camping stove on the pavement to keep himself going through the chilly nights.

At the front of the queue was Joaquin Baltrons, a 40-year-old bank worker from Lloret de Mar, Spain, who flew to London especially for today's event.

Mr Baltrons queued since 9.30am on Monday morning to wait for his hero.

"I am his number one Spanish fan. I've seen him at 25 concerts. 'I've been here for more than 51 hours but it's definitely worth it. This is the seventh time I will have met him."

Mr Baltron presented Sir Paul with a book filled with pictures the fan had taken over the years.

"I've followed him since he was in the Beatles and ever since he left; he was always my favourite."

One fan told how meeting Paul was the most important moment in his life.

Clutching his signed CD and DVD to his heart, Clifford Price, 27, a sound engineer, said: "I'll put this in my coffin when I die."

Gemma Kelly, 23, originally from Sydney but now working in Edinburgh said: "I've been obsessed with the Beatles, so I took a couple of days off work to camp out on the street."

Referring to Heather McCartney claiming that fans hugged her, she said: "I love Paul and I think Heather is a bitch. I can't believe she claims people hug her in the street."

Madeleine Carswell, 22, an IT worker, came from Jersey to see the star and had queued 19 hours overnight to see Sir Paul.

She said: "I've been a massive Beatles fan all my life. I thanked him for everything he's given us over the years."

Sir Paul, who entered via side entrance to the Virgin Megastore at Picadilly Circus in central London, wearing jeans, a white shirt and tie and dark jacket, smiled but refused to answer questions to waiting reporters as he entered the store.

Fans were limited to one copy of the £13.99 CD and £17.99 DVD. One fan said that he expected that the signed discs would soon be on E-Bay and would be selling for around £500 ($950).

Melissa Chavez, 20, a student from Texas studying in London said: "It was absolutely amazing to meet him, well worth the wait. I told him he was incredible and he told me that he wasn't and I shouldn't say things like that."

Shiho Obika, 25, from Tokyo, Japan, had flown to London specially to meet her idol.

She said: "I've only ever seen him in concert before. It was absolutely amazing to meet him in person. I've dreamed about it for so long."

It has been called the McCartney PR war. Despite the estimated £825 million fortune separating the two factions, this has become a battle over hearts and minds as much as money.

The opposite sides have adopted very different tactics. Sir Paul, 64, has maintained what he hopes is a dignified silence. In a BBC radio interview this month, he said: "There are certain things in life that are personal, and I think a relationship with a partner is intensely personal and I prefer to keep it that way."

His 38-year-old estranged wife, for her part, also kept silent - until legal documents leaked last month revealed that she had accused Sir Paul of verbal abuse and violence. She promptly threatened to sue at least three newspapers. Now she has decided to come out all guns blazing in a tabloid television interview in America.

Yesterday, as Lady McCartney went on the offensive, declaring that she had married for love and was devastated by the negative media reaction she had received, Sir Paul's publicity machine was on an altogether different mission.

He was at the Virgin Megastore in Piccadilly, Central London, for a signing session after the release of his soberly entitled classical album Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart).

More than 500 fans, many of whom had been camping outside the store since Monday, queued to meet their idol as he made his first public appearance in Britain since the divorce battle turned bitter.

When he appeared at the side door, a couple of girls had the chance to reassure him with calls of "Paul, we love you" before he was swiftly escorted upstairs and out of sight. Reporters were banned from the top floor by an army of bouncers and publicists.

Kevin Phillips, a social worker from Barnet, North London, was among the crowds waiting to meet Sir Paul. "His ex has been all over the TV all morning, but this seems fairly low key," he said. "Mind you, all his lawyer has to do is stand up in court and say, 'He used to be a Beatle, my lord'. Game over."

Fans were told that they could ask the star to sign only two items - a copy of Ecce Cor Meum, his classical meditation on love and peace, featuring two Oxbridge boys' choirs, priced £10.99, or a copy of his new live concert DVD, Paul McCartney: The Space Within Us, priced £17.99.

"It is a bit cynical," said Mike Knowles, 35, a film producer from Derbyshire and former employee of the Vegetarian Society. "Where has the innocence gone? People are feeling sympathy for someone they don't know. Just because he goes around smiling and holding his thumbs aloft doesn't mean he is a good bloke.

"Then again, here I am, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, just because I listened to Pipes of Peace when I was 10, in the daft belief he has some connection to my life.

"He is so practised at PR - he basically made the model. It's the battle of the publicity machines, and at the moment his seems to be winning."

The album underwhelmed the music critics - comments ranged from "maudlin sentimentality" and "vacuous tosh" to "a feeble cod-classical meditation whose flailing vapidity of the music is matched only by the toe-curling triteness of the words". But there was no doubt among fans as to which partner, so far, was making the most dignified journey to the divorce courts.

Sir Paul seemed relaxed, joking with fans, and treating some to a cappella renditions from the back catalogue.

"It was amazing," said Allison Trautman, 20, from Los Angeles, who could not make a signing in New York two weeks ago. "I spent 20 hours waiting to see him for 20 seconds but it was more than worth it."

Asked whether his appearance belied the strain of his marital problems, she said: "His hair was slightly grey around the sides. It was definitely 'Freedom from Heather' hair."

Chris Redmond, 24, an actor, said that Sir Paul was in high spirits: "He seemed quite chipper to be honest, even though he was surrounded by the usual moody guys in black."

Lucy Atkins, 28, from New Zealand, said: "I told him he looked gorgeous. He had such a nice smile. I was surprised how happy he looked considering what that woman's said about him."

THE PR PLAYERS

In Heather's corner:

# Phil Hall, former Editor of News Of The World and Lady McCartney's personal publicist, is now sharing his brief with The PR Office, which has represented Mishcon de Reya, her solicitors, for several years

# Chief among the strategists is Shimon Cohen, chairman of The PR Office, who prides himself as a "reputation management specialist"

# At Mishcon de Reya, Lady McCartney's divorce is being masterminded by Anthony Julius, a litigator with a fearsome reputation

In Sir Paul's corner:

# His solicitors Payne Hicks Beach have vowed that the star will "vigorously" defend himself against allegations made in leaked papers

# Alan Edwards, Sir Paul's publicist. His PR firm, The Outside Organisation, has also represented the Beckhams, the Spice Girls and Jamie Oliver

# Mark Borkowski, an expert in public relations, says Lady McCartney's media strategy has backfired spectacularly. "If they lose this case the stakes are very high for Mishcon de Reya"

# Max Clifford, the showbusiness expert, said: "She has done herself no favours. Her PR campaign has been a disaster"

Macca's estranged wife was snapped schlepping a heaping pile of luggage through London's Heathrow Airport after returning from her exclusive tell-all interview with "EXTRA."

The blonde expressed her pain over the split with Sir Paul and how devastating her failed marriage is by saying, "I would rather someone come up and chop off all my limbs than go through what I went through."

November 23, 2006 -- Contact Music

Heather Mills a deperate housewife?

"If Heather Mills can act I'd be interested. It would be fascinating." Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry considers writing Sir Paul McCartney's estranged wife into his hit TV drama after learning she's a fan of the series

---

November 22, 2006 -- Daily Mail

Yes, they still need Sir Paul, though he's 64

They still scream, you know. More than 40 years after the heyday of Beatlemania, Sir Paul McCartney enjoyed a stirring - and timely - reminder of the loyalty of his fans when he made a rare public appearance at a record signing in the West End today.

People queued round the block in their hundreds to catch a glimpse of the former Beatle. When he did arrive, they greeted him with an expression of approval that has remained a constant since he was one of four young moptops with the world at their feet - they screamed.

The sound, while perhaps not quite as loud or hysterical as the days when the lads had to run between limos just to escape being mobbed by wild-eyed teenagers, was a welcome reassurance that McCartney is still a crowd-puller.

His divorce may be about to cost him a large fortune, his estranged wife Heather Mills may be hogging the airwaves in the US, and he may have recently suffered the indignity of being photographed looking lonely and dishevelled on his way home from the pub - but Sir Paul, it seems, still holds the same place in the public's affection as he always did.

He arrived at the Virgin Megastore in Piccadilly - where he was signing copies of his new classical album and DVD - looking fresh and cheerful, rather than a 64-year-old in the throes of a bitter and expensive divorce.

As he hurried up the stairs inside he gave the jostling crowds a little wave and mouthed "Hello".

Outside some of the fans - who came from as far afield as Japan, Australia and Mexico - had queued through two cold nights to await his arrival.

First in line was Joaquim Baltrons Rodriguez, 50, who flew from Costa Brava in Spain to start his vigil at 9am on Monday. He brought a home-made leather-bound book with anecdotes and photographs of the 20 years he has spent following his hero around the world - which he hoped to present to him.

New Yorkers Roger Smith 44 and Rose Marie Curreri, 53, even got passports especially so they could fly over and come face-to-face with Sir Paul.

And what were their views on Ms Mills? It seems no one had a good word to say for her. Venessa Leslie, 27, from Texas, said: "She deserves none of his money whatsoever. I never liked her in the first place."

Sir Paul McCartney still inspires devotion worthy of Beatlemania, judging by fans at a rare public appearance.

The excitement caused tears, laughter and a little hysteria among those who queued for two nights on pavements outside a London record store.

Sir Paul was promoting his new classical album Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart).

In the light of his recent divorce dramas, Sir Paul declined to meet with the press, posing only for photographs as he signed autographs.

Fan Selena San Miguel, 20, studying in London but originally from Texas, was almost overcome by the moment.

"My mouth was moving but nothing seemed to be coming out - in the end I managed to say 'Texas loves you'.

"I've listened to the Beatles since I was a baby, my parents are huge fans so when they heard Paul McCartney was in town they told me I had better get my ass over here."

Bec Walker, 20, from Manchester, was still shaking from the experience.

"I was so excited I wasn't sure I could go through with it, I only just about managed to say anything," he said.

"This has just meant so much to me, I can barely put it into words, I can barely speak. I have just been sat on the pavement crying my eyes out.

"I only got 20 seconds with him but to be that close was unreal - he was a quarter of the Beatles and I love his solo music.

"Everything about him just inspires me - I became a vegetarian because of him. I would have waited all year for this."

Frank Bayjens, 51, from the Netherlands, had flown in the day before to meet his idol.

"He is one of the most important people in my life," he said.

"I have been a fan for 40 years, I saw the Plastic Ono band in 1969 in London But I never met John so it was great to meet Paul at last.

"I gave him a CD I have been making as an homage to him and maybe he will listen to it when he has a quiet moment and maybe let me know what he thinks about it."

He added: "I haven't heard the new album yet, for me the pop music is the main thing."

Angela Ballard, 50, from Stratford-upon-Avon, said: "I have seen every UK tour since 1973 but this is the first time I have met him.

"I wanted to come today because I wanted to show my support in connection with the divorce.

"It's very sad it went wrong and he got it so wrong - what a waste!"

She admitted that the wait had been very hard work: "I have never done something like this before. It was very uncomfortable and very cold but I felt I had to come."

Rosemary Preston, 54, from Woolwich, is a veteran: "I have met him several times before and he is always very nice.

"The last time was in Liverpool and I asked to sign my arm, as I was raising money for charity, and I was so pleased with it I had it tattooed on.

"But sleeping on cold streets is too much for someone my age. I think this will be my last time."

McCartney fans at book signing

Sir Paul McCartney got back to what he does best today by signing hundreds of autographs for die-hard fans who had waited through the freezing cold night.

The Beatle, who is said to be crushed by allegations made in his bitter divorce battle with former glamour model Heather Mills, appeared in London's Piccadilly to launch his latest work.

Scores of fanatics clutching copies of his CD Ecce Cor Meum waited patiently in the cold and rain for a glimpse of the cherry-haired rocker.

The long and winding line of enthusiasts snaked round Virgin's flagship store, but were not left disappointed despite the superstar sliding in the side entrance.

Sixty-four year-old Paul looked dapper in jeans, blue top coat, shirt and tie, as he happily stopped to wave and pose for fan pictures despite the helter skelter events of the past year.

The multi-millionaire's two-hour stint even brought praise from members of the police, despite the Knight of the Realm's previous run-in with law in the 1960's for possession of cannabis.

One overjoyed cop, who refused to give his name, said: "He has always been there through my life. He's just a really great gent. He's part of Britain's popular culture and seeing him this morning has made my day. It goes to show his popularity by the amount of fans who are here."

Self-confessed Beatle maniac Bec Walker, 20, from Manchester, has been a fan since the age of ten. She said: "He's everything to me really. It's hard to explain how much I love him. There's been a great camaraderie between all the fans waiting outside. I was so nervous when I met him.

"Everyone went really quiet when he turned up because they were so nervous. He had this effect of making people go jelly-legged. I was so pleased to meet him. I hope he finds happiness again soon. I hate Heather and I wish she'd just crawl back under her stone."

Clifford Price, 27, a sound engineer from Blackheath, London, said he was slightly disappointed that Sir Paul had stopped personalising the autographs but could understand why he would be so tired.

He said: "Meeting him was magic. I'll probably put the CD and DVD in my coffin when I die. I think it's amazing after the year he's had.

"The whole world loves him and that is shown by the amount of support that turns up wherever he goes. The things that Lady Mucca said are just wicked and outrageous. He was married to Linda for a long time and they were a couple that were truly in love. He's too much of a man to ever raise his fist to a lady."

Lucy Atkins, 28, from New Zealand, confessed to making the heart-broken icon blush. She said: "I told him he looked gorgeous and thanked him for his music and everything. He went really shy and told me to stop it, but said I could come again. He looked very nice, had such a nice smile and really soft skin.

"I was surprised how happy he looked considering what that woman's said about him."

Michael Barton, 28, from Sheffield, said: "I can't believe he stayed as long as he did, a whole two hours. Frankly, what he's been through would have crippled an ordinary man his age. It's amazing that he still works as hard as he does because he does not need the money. It shows you what a great musician he is and what a love he has for his profession.

"It would be best for all of us if that old page three girls just hops off and leaves him to make albums."

The former Beatle looked relaxed and laughed and joked as he made a rare public appearance at the Virgin Megastore in London's Piccadilly.

Devoted fans from across the world had been camped out since Monday morning for the chance to come face to face with Sir Paul.

It was the first time the music legend had met his British fans in person since his divorce battle with Heather Mills turned bitter.

At the head of the queue was Joaquin Baltrons, a 40-year-old bank worker from Lloret de Mar, Spain, who flew to London especially for today's event.

He had with him a leather-bound book he had written chronicling his time following Sir Paul on tour, which he wanted to give to the star. He said: "I've been here for more than 51 hours since 9.30 on Monday morning but it's definitely worth it. This is the seventh time I will have met him.

"I've followed him since he was in the Beatles and ever since he left; he was always my favourite.

"I want to give him the book that I have written, it is about my life following him on tour. There are many photos in the book and there are only two copies of this book in the world. One is mine which he has autographed for me and the other I want to give to him. It is a Christmas present from me."

Sir Paul, 64, is promoting his latest album Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) and new live concert DVD Paul McCartney: The Space Within Us.

More than 250 die-hard fans had the opportunity to meet their idol, with hundreds more queuing outside around the block for a glimpse of the star.

After his meeting with Sir Paul, who was smartly dressed in a dark-coloured suit and tie, Mr Baltrons said it had been an emotional experience.

He said: "I don't remember anything. I said to him 'hello Paul' in Spanish and he answered me in Spanish but I can't remember what he said. It was a very emotional experience. I gave him my book and he seemed very pleased."

Students Melissa Chavez, 19, Jose Galvan, 19, Selena San Miguel, 20, and Sarina Gamez, 18, from San Antonio, Texas, said their two-day wait had been worth the effort.

The foursome, who are studying at Imperial College, London, said they decided to join the queue after learning about the signing through Sir Paul's fan club.

Miss Chavez said: "It was absolutely amazing to meet him, well worth the wait. I told him he was incredible and he told me that he wasn't and I shouldn't say things like that."

Referring to the Beatles song I Am The Walrus, she added: "I also asked him who the Walrus was and he said sometimes it was him and sometimes it was John, depending on how they felt."

Shiho Obika, 25, from Tokyo, Japan, had flown to London specially to meet her idol.

She said: "I've only ever seen him in concert before. It was absolutely amazing to meet him in person. I've dreamed about it for so long."

Paul McCartney signed a copies of his DVD ' The Space Within US' and classical album 'Ecce Cor Meum' for a fans during a signing session at the Virgin Megastore in Picadilly Circus, London today. (more later)

Devotees of the former Beatle were camped outside Piccadilly's Virgin Megastore, waiting for him to arrive to sign copies of his new classical album and DVD. Sir Paul, 64, appeared at 12:30 pm, but many of his followers turned up as early as 4pm yesterday.

They came from as far afield as Florida and Australia. There were couples in their sixties who remember the Beatle from before a certain Heather Mills was born.

Heather Mills has insisted she would rather chop off her limbs than go through the break-up of her marriage to Macca again.

She told an American TV interviewer: "It's been devastating. I'd rather have all of my limbs cut off - and that's the God's honest truth."

Heather, 38, speaking publicly for the first time about her bitter split with Sir Paul McCartney, 64, also insisted she has been unfairly branded a villain. She said: "I'm a good person. I was just madly in love. Blindly in love."

An emotional Heather Mills appeared on TV in America last night to deny she is a gold digger and insisted: "I did nothing wrong except fall in love."

Heather, 38, said she had been genuinely besotted with 64-year-old Sir Paul McCartney and had suffered untold anguish over their bitter divorce battle.

She added: "I was just madly in love, blinded by love. Totally, totally madly in love. I'm a good mother, I'm a good person. I fell in love for the right reasons. I loved unconditionally."

But Heather told an interviewer on US show Extra that her four-year marriage to the ex-Beatle had turned into a nightmare. She added: "I would rather someone come up and chop off all my limbs than go through what I went through."

The ex-model, who lost a leg in a road accident, said: "It's a fact because if your limbs are chopped off you get another limb and there's light at the end of the tunnel.

"When you're vilified for doing nothing but falling in love with an icon - I'd rather have all of my limbs cut off. That's the God's honest truth."

Heather, who has three-year-old daughter Beatrice by Sir Paul, said the marriage had been so damaging she had vowed never to wed again. She added: "Never. I'm not saying that I wouldn't fall madly in love or have a soul mate or anything like that.

"But I would never go through this again. It's too devastating. I mean most people know divorce is devastating anyway but to go through it so publicly even when you haven't said a word or done anything."

Heather said she had been surprised by the degree of support from the public - with well-wishers even coming up to her in the street.

She said: "When all this happened I just thought everybody would blame me so I sort of had my head down.

"But I get nothing but support - people want to come up and give me a hug."

Heather, speaking publicly about the split for the first time, refused to comment on allegations that she worked as an escort girl in the 80s. The interviewer asked her: "What rumours do you want to put straight? What have you heard about yourself."

Heather smiled and replied: "I don't know. I can't remember. There are so many." But she took a swipe at her critics, saying: "What has happened in my life, has been my life. Who are people who live in glass houses to throw stones?"

Heather, who refused to discuss the divorce, said giving birth to Beatrice was her "greatest accomplishment".

She added: "I tried for a long, long time - two ectopic pregnancies and six miscarriages. They told me I could never have children."

Extracts from the interview were broadcast across America last night. Further extracts will be screened tonight

The interview is being interpreted as Heather's attempt to boost her image.

She suffered a stream of negative publicity after the leak of divorce papers in which she claims Macca was violent towards her. The Mirror revealed exclusively in May that he and Heather were splitting.

Sir Paul, said to be worth £825 million, filed for divorce in July, citing Heather's "unreasonable behaviour".

"I would rather someone come up and chop off all my limbs than go through what I went through," says Heather Mills McCartney in a shocking new interview.

"When you're vilified for doing nothing but falling in love with an icon ... I'd rather have all of my limbs cut off, that's the God's honest truth," she told "Extra" in a two-part series.

Mills McCartney, who has been widely accused in Britain of having been a prostitute, is embroiled in a potential $600 million divorce from Paul McCartney. Tonight, the mother of 3-year-old Beatrice will reveal that in the past 18 years she has suffered two ectopic pregnancies and six miscarriages.

But despite the bitter divorce, she says the common folk just love her.

"When all this happened, I just thought everybody would blame me, so I sort of had my head down. ... I get nothing but support, people want to come up and give me a hug." Yeah, like Brutus hugged Caesar.

We've often said that there are no limits to who the Gallagher brothers will sh*t talk, but the thing is there's REALLY no limit to who the Gallagher brothers will sh*t talk. The Beatles, and John Lennon in particular, have always been the obvious inspiration behind, um, everything Oasis has ever done. But when Oasis' new record Stop the Clocks, a greatest hits package, went up against the Beatles' Love on the UK charts, the pressure made the Gallaghers go places we thought even they wouldn't dare.

"It's a pointless exercise," Noel Gallagher reportedly said about Love, adding that he shut the album off "after five songs." Liam was more to the point. He called the tracks "rubbish."

Um, brothers Gallagher? If you had a real record to pit against Love this might have been the right moment to point out that this "new" Beatles record is mostly just a collection of audio snippets woven together by Sir George Martin into something resembling a cohesive song that will inspire the bodily contortions of your average Cirque du Soleil-ist. But your record is a not-so-awesome collection of greatest hits you are releasing to fulfill your contract with your label. And you are not John Lennon. You aren't even Pete Best or Jane Asher.

You have a non-record out. They have a non-record out. But they are the f*king Beatles, so they win. Get over it.

Heather Mills told last night how she would rather "have all of my limbs cut off" than endure the pain of her marriage break-up.

The former model, who lost her leg after she was hit by a motorcycle, said coping with the public backlash against her was far more painful.

And speaking for the first time about her split with Sir Paul McCartney, she described how she struggled after being "vilified" for falling in love with an "icon."

Interviewed on US entertainment show Extra - the recording was aired across America last night - Heather said: "I would rather someone come up and chop off all my limbs than go through what I went through.

"It's a fact, because if your limbs are chopped off you get another limb and there's light at the end of the tunnel.

"When you're vilified for doing nothing but falling in love with an icon I'd rather have all of my limbs cut off - that's the god's honest truth." She told how she decided to break her silence over the split because she had received strong support from the public.

Heather claimed: "When all this happened I just thought everybody would blame me, so I sort of had my head down.

"I get nothing but support, people want to come up and give me a hug."

When asked if she would marry again, she replied: "Never, I'm not saying that I wouldn't fall madly in love or have a soulmate or anything like that, but I would never go through this again.

"It's too devastating. I mean, most people know divorce is devastating anyway, but to go through it so publicly, even when you haven't said a word or done anything."

She added media attention had affected her and Paul's three-year-old, Beatrice, and claimed "She has to go out separately from me that's very bad."

Heather also insisted she married the Beatles legend for love.

She said: "I was just madly in love, blinded by love, and totally, totally madly in love."

And hitting back at claims she is a "gold-digger", Heather said: "I fell in love for the right reason. I fell in love unconditionally."

But she claimed the four-year marriage to Macca "just didn't work out" and blamed media intrusion for the break-up. The 38-year-old former model, dubbed Lady Mucca over her porn past, also said she will never get over Sir Paul, 64.

Heather agreed to the TV interview because she is keen to launch a career in the States. Other US telly appearances will follow in a bid to take on Sir Paul in the PR war being waged over their divorce.

She wants to drum up public sympathy like Princess Diana did in her famous 1995 Panorama interview where she said of Prince Charles: "Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him."

She was asked by interviewer, Danya Devon if she was after Macca's cash - it has been reported she has turned down a £30million settlement. She replied: "Eighty-five per cent of my income goes to charity. The word gold digger doesn't go with that.

"If I was a gold digger, I would have a lot of money in my bank account. I'd be worth millions."

She also denied having an affair with her personal trainer Ben Amigoni, who has recently been her constant companion.

Heather said: "I haven't got a lover. I'm focusing on my daughter. It's totally made up."

Heather flew from London to Los Angeles for the Extra interview, taped last Friday, and returned to Britain yesterday. She is legally restrained from discussing her divorce in Britain. Dressed in a canary yellow frock for the interview at the swanky Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, Heather argued the public perception of her was wrong.

She said: "I'm a good mother - I'm a good person. I have had so much public support, people hugging me in the streets. I didn't know that many people cared.

"You get to know who your friends are and I haven't lost any friends."

She also insisted that any perception of her as cold is wrong, explaining: "Of course I have a sense of humour. People don't get to see that side of me."

Heather told how she believes her greatest accomplishment is her three-year-old daughter over whom she is battling Sir Paul for custody. She said: "I tried for a long, long time - two ectopic pregnancies and six miscarriages.

"They told me I could never have children." As to how her relationship with her parents - which she has described as "a crazy awful childhood" - had shaped her as a mother, she said: "It's made me so protective."

She also identifies with characters on Desperate Housewives, who battle to juggle motherhood, a career and relationships.

She said: "When I'm stressed. I just go and watch their characters. So I think I have the look of Bree and I think I'm very like Lynette.

"I've always got soy milk stains all over me and haven't been able to brush my hair properly, so I can relate to that."

Insiders on Extra say Heather handed them a list of demands before the interview - refusing to talk about the porn days or claims she worked as an escort girl for rich Arabs in the 1980s.

Asked what rumours she wanted to put straight, Heather smiled and said: "I don't know. I can't remember, there are so many."

She has been called a gold digger, a fantasist and worse - but Heather Mills insists she married the multi-millionaire Paul McCartney for love, not money.

In a TV interview to be broadcast in the US, the former Beatle's estranged wife makes wide-ranging claims in what is being seen as an attempt to boost her public image.

As well as saying that she fell in love with McCartney "unconditionally", Mills, 38, told the Extra programme that:

· Eighty-five per cent of her income goes to charity.

· She is not having an affair with her trainer.

· She will never marry again.

· Supporters hug her in the street.

"I'm a good mother - I'm a good person," she said in the interview, which is to be broadcast next week. "I fell in love for the right reason. I fell in love unconditionally."

Mills - is reported to be in negotiations with ITV over a post-divorce interview.

The US interview is being interpreted as an attempt to counter the negative publicity she garnered after the leak of divorce papers in which she claims that Sir Paul, 64, was violent towards her.

Mills said her daughter with Sir Paul - three-year-old Beatrice, whose custody arrangements have not been determined - was her "greatest accomplishment" and described her tumultuous road to pregnancy. "I tried for a long, long time...two ectopic pregnancies and six miscarriages. They told me I could never have children."

Sir Paul, who is believed to be worth £825 million, filed for divorce in July, citing Ms Mills's "unreasonable behaviour".

During the interview Mills does not directly comment on the proceedings, including the deposition in which she alleged physical and verbal abuse. Sir Paul has denied the claims.

Ms Mills appears to be in no hurry to find another husband. When asked if she would ever marry again, she responded with a resounding "Never".

Giles Martin, who co-produced the 'new' Beatles album LOVE with his father George, says Paul McCartney can't be enjoying the messy divorce from second wife, Heather Mills.

"It's all been getting heavy," Martin said. "And I think it's very sad what's happened with him, because I think he did throw his life into (Heather) at maybe the cost of -- not the relationship with his children, 'cause I know Mary and Stella very well, and they are back together again, and they're back happy -- but there's obviously a certain point where he did.

"Paul's, like, very single-minded, like, 'She's my wife and that's it.' And with it all exploding, for whatever reason, it's very sad. Any breakup of any relationship is a nightmare. If you're doing it publicly, I can't imagine."

Martin says ultimately Paul has the support of his children.

"They're really nice, actually. It's funny. Stella is surprisingly nice for someone who works in fashion. I'm being absolutely honest. I saw her this summer and Mary came with her, they were with their kids, they're just really sweet. I haven't seen James in a while."

Still, at a trying time like this, Martin thinks McCartney must be missing first wife Linda, first and foremost.

"He's a strong man," Martin said. "I think he'll be hurt by it. And I think he'll miss Linda through the whole thing, I really do. She was his best mate. And she was a very nice woman.

"When I was a kid, she was lovely to me. So was he actually, funnily enough. I was really interested in music, obviously. And my mom and dad were always like, 'You should get a proper job.' And I remember going down to see them both, and he drove me home, and he said, 'So you're writing songs.' And I said, 'Yeah.' And he said, 'That's such a great thing to do, you know. And it's not easy. 'Cause I don't find it easy at all. And I'm Paul McCartney. And so, if I don't find it very easy, don't feel bad about not finding it easy to write songs.' And that was great for me. And then I was on telly once with my dad conducting, I was playing guitar, and Linda took a photograph of the television and sent it to me. And said, 'I'm so proud that you were on telly.'"

Larry Decker is a local singer-songwriter who has played with a band called the Shy since 1981.

Decker's niece, Stephanie, was Web-surfing when she found maccaradio.com, an Internet radio site dedicated to the Beatles. After corresponding with the music director from the station about plans by her family (mom, dad, brother, sisters, grandma, aunt and uncle) to see Paul McCartney, her stories were forwarded to Mark Haefeli.

He's a producer best known as director and writer of the "McCartney in Red Square" DVD. As it turned out, Haefeli was looking for such stories to document during McCartney's U.S. tour for a possible new DVD. A contact and some video interviews followed.

On the night of McCartney's show earlier this year at the Palace, Decker says, the clan stopped at the troupe's dining area: "Mark said, 'Have some food and soft drinks and I'll be back,' " Decker recalls, "As I started to eat, I heard my sister-law, Jody, let out a little scream. When I looked up, I saw Sir Paul, mild-mannerly, walking into the room. My jaw dropped, my heart sped up and my brain said: 'This isn't happening. I'm leaving.' I think I had an out-of-body experience."

He continues: "Paul was kind, attentive and genuine to me, my wife, my 75-year-old mother and my brother and his family. He shook each of our hands, looked us each in the eye and made us feel that he really cared about us. He fulfilled my every expectation of what I thought of him."

The big climax? " Mark had e-mailed me and told me my family would be "prominently featured" in the DVD, and he wasn't kidding!" The family gets about five minutes of coverage.

Ben Amigoni, the 22-year-old titan who "trains" Heather Mills, was spotted buying lacy little things at La Bra Lingerie in West Hollywood. Photographers recently recorded his overnight stay at her London pad, even though she's claimed to estranged husband Paul McCartney it's only about the abs.....

Heather Mills relates to TV counterparts.

"When I'm stressed...I just go into watch their characters. So I think I have the look of Bree, and I think I'm very like Lynette. I've always got, like, soy milk stains all over me and, you know, haven't been to brush my hair properly, so I can relate to that".

-- Desperate Housewives fan Heather Mills, to Extra in an interview to air tonight and Tuesday.

The former model, who as well as a being a vegan is an ardent animal rights campaigner, says she has thrown herself into her work since her four-year marriage to Sir Paul McCartney imploded earlier this year.

Heather, 38, is hoping to have her specialist eateries open sometime next year.

She told US TV show 'Extra': "I've been developing a vegan fast food chain and vegan food markets."

Heather's business idea mirrors the vegetarian meal range released by Paul's late wife Linda, who was a strict vegetarian and campaigned tirelessly for the welfare of animals.

Heather is a prominent member of animal rights group PETA and has been involved in many high-profile demonstrations.

Last year, the blonde lost her false leg during a protest at the headquarters of Jennifer Lopez's fashion label, Sweetface.

Heather - who lost her left leg from below the knee after being run over by a police motorbike in 1993 - stormed into the offices to protest against the label's use of fur.

She lost her prosthetic leg after security guards tried to physically move her out of the building.

This week, NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg went into a studio in Washington, D.C. and got linked up with her guest in New York and was quite excited.

SUSAN STAMBERG: Sir Paul, I am thrilled. You are my first Beatle. And I've been in broadcasting for 110 years.

Sir PAUL MCCARTNEY (Musician): Well, you are not my first NPR.

STAMBERG: Now, Scott. Did you ever talk to him?

SIMON: No. But actually, we go on an annual cruise in the Greek islands together, our two families.

STAMBERG: Lovely.

SIMON: So it would be a conflict of interest for me. But other than that, I also happen to know that Steve Inskeep did, and Fred Child did, and Michele Norris did...

STAMBERG: Yeah.

SIMON: ...and Renee Montagne, and Martin Goldsmith, and the Car Guys, if I'm not mistaken, have all interviewed Sir Paul.

STAMBERG: But Sir Scott, you can't take this personally, and I hope you won't. But I did get a chance to talk with him this week, and here's why. He was rehearsing at Riverside Church in New York for a concert that was held at Carnegie Hall this past Tuesday. It's a new spiritual choral that he wrote, and that' what was on the program. But the concert started with some classicized versions of McCartney pop tunes.

(Soundbite of concert)

Mr. ANDREW STAPLES (Tenor): (Singing) I will hold you for as long as you like. I'll hold you for the rest of my life.

Ms. KATE ROYAL (Soprano): (Singing) I know my heart can stay with my love, it's understood. It's in the hands of my love, and my love...

STAMBERG: The tenor Andrew Staples. The soprano Kate Royal. Sir Paul McCartney's most recent work is an oratory of that he calls - well, let's have him pronounce it.

Sir MCCARTNEY: We call it Ecce Cor Meum, or Behold My Heart.

STAMBERG: Thank you. The piece is written for orchestra, soprano and mixed choirs; and in the mix, a boy's choir.

(Soundbite of concert)

STAMBERG: I happen to think that that is one of the loveliest sounds in the world, the sounds of children singing.

Sir MCCARTNEY: I love it too. It is a great sound.

STAMBERG: I know that you sang in your church choir when you were a little kid in Liverpool. What are your memories of that?

Sir MCCARTNEY: You know, it's funny. We were rehearsing here at Riverside in New York and going backstage behind the altar completely reminds me of - I worked at a little church called St. Barnabas in Penny Lane in Liverpool. And seeing the robes and seeing the accoutrements and things backstage completely reminded me of being a young teenager. I didn't have a sort of wide experience at that time of much more than going to school on my street, so any little thing that was different I always found exciting. It was good for the imagination.

(Soundbite of concert)

STAMBERG: Paul McCartney says the title of this choral, Ecce Cor Meum, came to him when he was in another church.

Sir MCCARTNEY: I was sitting in the pews, looking around at the architecture, and I spotted this crucifixion. And underneath it, it said Ecce Cor Meum. So I spent a few minutes trying to work it out, dredging up my schoolboy Latin, and I remembered that ecce meant behold, I remembered Ecce Caesar. And so I got that bit and then I worked cor out - to do with corona and coronary - and worked out that that meant heart. And then meum was pretty easy. So I thought that must be mine. So behold, heart, mine.

And I then, as I started to sort oft think about that, I thought, well, I won't make the work essentially Christian because I like to bridge all religions. So I will keep mine accessible to Jewish people, to Muslims, to any religion, really, and Christians too.

But I thought, well, what does behold my heart mean to me? And it seemed to me that it was sort of let me give you my spiritual views, let me give you an idea of what I hold important in my heart. So you know, things like truths, love, peace, spiritual welfare, and things like that, that have always seemed important. I thought, well, it's a pretty good basis for the piece.

(Soundbite of concert)

STAMBERG: This is music of sadness, not exclusively that, but it's certainly bears that, in grief over the death in 1998 of your wife, Linda. She died while you were writing this piece.

Sir MCCARTNEY: That's right. She was very much a part of it in the beginning. And then when she passed away, I really couldn't write and I spent quite a period obviously grieving. But then when I came out of the worst of that period, I was able to get back writing. And so in the middle of this piece you will hear what we call the interlude, brackets Lament. And that's really probably the saddest part of the whole piece, and that was what got me back into writing. I was able to sort of write out my grief.

(Soundbite of concert)

STAMBERG: You have a history with classical music. You started writing it around 1991. And I wonder what - what does classical music let you do, Paul McCartney, that the music may be you're most famous for does not?

Sir MCCARTNEY: I really - the major difference to me is the length. It's like writing a short story or a novel. I love doing both. I think, you know, short stories are great. Short songs are fabulous. It's nice to have to condense something down and get it all said within three to four minutes or so. But I like the idea of being able to stretch and being able to bring themes back, vary them. So it's just a bigger painting.

STAMBERG: This was - it was performed in London in early November. And forgive me, but from what I read, the critics didn't jump up and down in glee. They said that the music was kind of simplistic. I think the word pleasant was used. Is that worse than calling something interesting?

(Soundbite of laughter)

Sir MCCARTNEY: I think it is, isn't it? Yeah. Like she's an interesting woman.

STAMBERG: Right.

Sir MCCARTNEY: You know what? When I started, people said to me, now look out, Paul, the critics are going to have their pencils sharpened for you. And I know that. I mean Sergeant Pepper was damned by the New York Times. She Loves You was called banal. So I'm kind of used to it.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Sir MCCARTNEY: It's the people who count. I'm not really interested in critics. I'm not going to write anything for them. I can write atonal, rough, tough stuff that they might like and think, wow, he's really far out, dude. But that's not me. I write melody. It's what I like to do. And if someone comes along and thinks it's a bit sweet, so he shouldn't come next time.

(Soundbite of concert)

STAMBERG: There's a section in Ecce in which the lyric goes: here in my music I show you my heart. That's a lovely notion and it's probably as true for your classical music as it is for everything else you write.

Sir MCCARTNEY: The context of that is that in the future we may be apart. In other words, I won't be around forever. But here in my music I show you my heart. So even after I'm gone, you'll know who I was. You should listen to this piece and you'll see what I value. You should listen to Eleanor Rigby and you'll know what I think is important. You should listen to any of my music and the message is in the music.

STAMBERG: This work I know took you eight years to finish. These days you're going through an awful - very rough divorce from Heather Mills; scandal stuff all over the tabloids. Does this music give you a refuge from all of that, Sir Paul?

Sir MCCARTNEY: It's - yeah, music generally is a great refuge. All my life, I've often said - and I know this with other friend of mine who've composed - if you're not in the greatest of moods, you can go off, you can find yourself a little corner somewhere, and if you're able to write a song or play some music, it's often a great healer. And you've written out your anger, or your grief, or whatever it is.

STAMBERG: How lucky you are. But I think it's also true for all of us. I mean that's what great art does for us too, I think.

Sir MCCARTNEY: I think so. You know, I think so many people come up to me and say your music has really helped me through college with this. I just didn't know what to do with myself but I listened to your music. My children grew up with Beatle music. And I love the fact that even people who don't write it feel this. It's a magical thing for all of us.

STAMBERG: Thank you so much for talking.

Sir MCCARTNEY: Thank you very much.

STAMBERG: A pleasure to talk with you.

Sir MCCARTNEY: It was a pleasant interview.

SIMON: Sir Paul McCartney talking about his oratorio, Ecce Cor Meum, with NPR's Dame Susan Stamberg. You can hear the entire Carnegie Hall performance on our Web site. Just go to npr.org/music.

LET IT BE £100,000 ($189,000)

Heather forks out to whisk pals off for trip as she denies having a lover

Heather Mills is whisking 40 friends away on a lavish £100,000 birthday bash abroad.

Her party plans come as she told a TV show that she and fitness instructor Ben Amigoni are NOT lovers - and she will NEVER get married again.

But she and Ben, 22, were filmed getting up close and personal in a training session for the show.

Heather chose a US entertainment programme called Extra for her first interview since the breakdown of her marriage to Sir Paul McCartney.

On the show she said: "Ben is not my lover. I haven't got a lover. At the moment I'm focusing on my daughter. It's totally made up.

"I will never marry again. I'm a good mother. I'm a good person. I fell in love for the right reason. I fell in love unconditionally." Heather - who according to ex-Beatle Macca is demanding an £80million ($150 million)divorce pay-out - also denied she was a gold-digger.

She said: "If I was a gold-digger I would have a lot of money in my bank account. I'd be worth millions and millions. But 85 per cent of my money goes to charity."

However, she is spending thousands of pounds to fly her guests to a ski resort in Slovenia and then be pampered, wined and dined.

She says it is to thank them for their support, but Macca's pals see it as a cynical attempt to win over mutual friends who are torn between sides before their court battle in the New Year.

Heather, 39 on January 12, made a secret trip to the Lake Bled resort last week to lay plans for the party's visit.

A close friend said: "She wants to spoil everyone to show that she's the generous one. But it's being seen as a ploy to rally support.

"She also wants to make it clear she's not as mean as Macca."

On the guest list are her sisters, Fiona and Claire, former PA Anya Noakes, fitness guru Ben and a former flame, known only as Milos.

As Heather parties, Macca, 64, is expected to be looking after their three-year-old daughter Beatrice at his estate in Peasmarsh, Sussex.

George Martin's role in Fabs lore as the plummy, paternal facilitator of those moments cannot be underestimated. Appropriately, Love is a labour of precisely what it calls itself. Where the originals couldn't be bettered - A Day in the Life, All You Need is Love - they rise up fully formed among the ever-shifting landscape of Beatles fragments.

It wasn't so long ago that Martin saw Paul McCartney. At a 40th wedding anniversary party held by Martin and his wife Judy, the silver-haired producer recalls a touching exchange between mentor and musician. "It was just a lunch with some friends, really," he remembers. "The only showbusiness people there were Cilla Black, Rolf Harris and Bernie Cribbins. But dear Paul drove 130 miles to be there. Anyway, as he was leaving he said, 'It's lovely to be an ordinary person again'.

"At which point," adds Giles, "we got him to do the washing-up."

Heather Mills, the estranged wife of Sir Paul McCartney, has claimed that she will never marry again, in her first interview since the official announcement of their split.

The divorce battle has been an exceptionally savage one, with aides on both sides leaking details of the demise of their marriage.

Speaking on the Warner Bros show Extra, the once- topless model says: "I have had so much public support ... people hugging me in the streets ... I didn't know that many people cared. You get to know who your friends are, and I haven't lost any friends."

If reports are to be believed, Sir Paul and Heather are both determined to win custody of their daughter, three-year-old Bea. In her television appearance, the 38-year-old lists her greatest accomplishment as being a mother. "I tried for a long, long time ... two ectopic pregnancies and six miscarriages. They told me I could never have children."

As to how her relationship with her parents, and her childhood, which she said "was a crazy awful childhood", had shaped her as a mother, she says: "It's made me so protective ... She is my greatest accomplishment."

As for her future, her plans include developing a vegan fast-food chain and vegan food markets.

The full interview will be broadcast on Tuesday and Wednesday in the US, but it is not known if it will ever be aired in the UK. The show is being promoted with the line: "Why you'll never look at Heather in the same way again."

HEATHER: I'M NOT AFTER $$$$$$
RIPS REP AS GOLD DIGGER IN BREAKUP WITH BEATLE

Embattled Heather Mills, embroiled in a nasty divorce from Paul McCartney, says she's no gold digger.

"If I was a gold digger, I would have a lot of money in my bank account; I'd be worth millions," Mills tells "Extra's" Dayna Devon in a two-part interview airing next week.

"Eighty-five percent of my income goes to charity. The word 'gold digger' doesn't go with that."

Mills, who talks haltingly about McCartney, says she really did love the ex-Beatle, to whom she was married for three years, and with whom she had a daughter, 3-year-old Beatrice.

"I fell in love for the right reason," she says. "I fell in love unconditionally. I'm a good mother, I'm a good person."

Mills, 38, agreed to talk to "Extra," ostensibly about her divorce from McCartney, which has gotten ugly since it was made public last spring.

She even flew from London to Los Angeles for the sit-down, taped yesterday, because she's legally restrained from discussing it in Britain.

But Mills seemed to clam up when the questioning got around to McCartney.

"I have had so much public support . . . people hugging me in the streets. I didn't know that many people cared," was all she would say.

"You get to know who your friends are - and I haven't lost any friends."

When asked if she'll ever marry again, however, Mills is quick to answer.

"Never!" she says.

Mills also pooh-poohs rumors that her trainer, Ben, is now her lover.

"[He] is not my lover," she says. "I haven't got a lover.

"At the moment, I'm focusing on my daughter," she says. "[The romance] is totally made up!"

Mills didn't sign a pre-nup, which entitles her to a portion of McCartney's vast fortune, valued in the billions.

The divorce settlement is expected to be one of the largest of its kind ever - if not the largest.

In divorce papers leaked to a British newspaper this summer, Mills charged that McCartney was physically and verbally abusive, one time even pushing her into a bathtub.

She also charged that McCartney didn't want her to breast-feed their baby Beatrice, and claimed that McCartney said, "They are my breasts - I don't want a mouthful of breast milk."

Mills also claims that McCartney forced her to put off an operation because it interfered with the couple's holiday plans.

McCartney, 64, who has vehemently denied all the charges, hasn't said much about the divorce of late, preferring to keep a low profile.

Rumors that he was lining up a interview on British television to tell his side of the story haven't yet panned out.

Mills says that her image as "cold" is all wet.

"Of course I have a sense of humor," she says. "People don't get to see that side of me."

Mills, an ex-model who lost a leg in an auto accident, allegedly has a past as a high-priced call girl, catering to the likes of billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.

Khashoggi doesn't deny that he knows Mills, and she says only that she met him at a party.

Earlier this year, nude photos of Mills that were published in a sexually explicit German book were also published in British newspapers.

Mills admitted posing for the photos, but said they were supposed to be used for educational purposes.

McCartney's first wife, Linda, died in 1998 after a battle with breast cancer.

The two-part interview with Mills airs Monday and Tuesday on "Extra" (7 p.m., WNBC/Channel 4).

Heather Mills is set break her silence next week in a U.S. television interview to be broadcast around the world, but will refuse to answer questions about her split from Sir Paul McCartney.

The model is being quizzed by entertainment show 'Extra' in Los Angeles, for a programme that will air next week.

It was expected Heather would speak about the split, but her bitter divorce from Sir Paul will be off limits. Her spokesman said Mills will only discuss a vegan cafe in New York.

Heather and Sir Paul, who announced their four-year marriage was over in May, were catapulted into the headlines last month when divorce papers claiming he mistreated her were leaked to the media.

Through his lawyers, Sir Paul said he would "vigorously" defend himself against the accusations.

The spokesman said: "Heather has told me she is doing an interview for an old friend about a vegan cafe in New York.

"She will not be talking about her private life in any way at all."

He added that the interviewer had agreed they would not talk about the split. The spokesman did not want to give details about the cafe.

A section on Extra's website promoting the interview says: "Heather Mills has set off a media frenzy! But Sir Paul's ex is only talking to Extra, and we're counting down to the exclusive."

Sir Paul, 64, has spoken only briefly since the break-up, saying he does not hold grudges and is optimistic about the future, but it was more "dignified" to keep personal matters private.

Heather Mills last night insisted: "I'm no gold digger."

She said she would be a millionaire (?) if she didn't give all her money to charity.

Talking for the first time since her divorce from Sir Paul McCartney turned bitter, she said she did not wed the multi-millionaire for his money.

Speaking to US TV show Extra, she said: "I fell in love for the right reasons. I fell in love unconditionally.

"Eighty-five per cent of my income goes to my charity. The word gold digger doesn't go with that.

"If I was a gold digger, I would have a lot of money in my bank account. I'd be worth millions and millions.

"I'm a good mother, I'm a good person."

The 38-year-old former model, dubbed Lady Mucca over her porn past, also denied having an affair with her hunky trainer Ben Amigoni.

He has been a constant companion in recent weeks.

She declared: "He is not my lover. I haven't got a lover. I'm focusing on my daughter Beatrice."

But she refused to answer questions about claims in leaked court documents that ex-Beatle Sir Paul, 64, beat her - a claim he strongly denies.

The interview, which will be screened in the US next week (Monday & Tuesday), will infuriate Sir Paul who has refused to speak publicly about their bitter split.

November 17, 2006 -- Macca Report Exclusive!!!

Heather talks to Extra

Heather Mills was in Los Angeles today taping her interview for "Extra.

The return to KLOS will be kicked off on Thanksgiving Sunday with a six-hour 'Breakfast with the Beatles' marathon (11 a.m. - 5 p.m.) hosted by Carter.

"I'm delighted to have BWTB back on KLOS after a 20 year hiatus," said KLOS program director Rita Wilde.

"Chris has done an amazing job of making the program his own. You can't fake the enthusiasm he has for the music. He has a deep appreciation for the band and treats them with the reverence they deserve. Maybe that's because Chris is a great musician in his own right [Dramarama]. I love the Beatles and their music and so do thousands of other people in Southern California, most of whom I heard from when his show disappeared from terrestrial radio. We are very happy to have him here!!!"

WEBMASTER'S NOTE: Chris did many interviews with Paul McCartney and is seen in the "Back in the US" DVD. Hear BWTB LIVE

Denise Hewitt claimed she and Mills worked together as glamour model and also entertained Arab businessman during the 1980s. The claims were dismissed by Mills - but Hewitt claims she may be subpoenaed to testify if McCartney and Mills' battle ends up in court.

The 42-year-old tells British newspaper the Daily Mail, "I've heard that I may be called by Paul McCartney's legal team to appear in court to give evidence over their divorce. "I actually don't want to get involved. However I know they can always subpoena me to appear."

She will give an interview to coast-to-coast celebrity news show Extra to be screened next week (Thursday, November 23rd).

Mills, 38 - dubbed Lady Mucca because of her porn past - has said in court papers the ex-Beatle abused her.

She arrived in Los Angeles yesterday, carrying a red folder packed with papers.

An Extra insider said: "This is the interview everyone wanted."

Sir Paul's estranged wife arrived stateside amidst a messy divorce from the former Beatle. Earlier this month, London tabs leaked what they claim are court documents from Mills' camp, detailing alleged physical abuse by McCartney, who vigorously denied the allegations. The sparring Brits have a daughter, Beatrice.

In a recent BBC Radio interview, Paul said he hopes a "certain dignity" will be maintained throughout the divorce. A little late.

Miss Mills' "EXTRA" interview will air next week.

An Exclusive Traveling Photographic Exhibition Featuring Images Taken From "Each One Believing", The Access-All-Areas Book Of Life On The Road With Paul McCartney

In Chicago November 17 ­ December 31, 2006

Inspire Fine Art is delighted to announce the 2006 exhibition of a unique photographic show that faithfully captures Paul McCartney's life on the road. Based upon the book "Each One Believing: Onstage, Off Stage and Backstage", published by Chronicle Books, the exhibition consists of over 40 photographs taken by photographer Bill Bernstein over the course of the most successful tour of McCartney's post-Beatles career.

'Each One Believing: The Tour,' illustrates McCartney's first solo tour in nearly a decade and includes images taken onstage and backstage during a journey which saw sold-out concert performances in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Rome, Moscow and more. Poignant and candid, funny and illuminating, this is an intimate road trip with Paul McCartney like no other.

Bernstein captures the excitement evoked by the grand lighting of stage sets; the heightened energy of the band in mid-song; and the intimate shots of Paul alone playing at his 'Magic Piano" or onstage with his beloved Hofner guitar.

"The response that 'Each One Believing' has received has been overwhelming," said McCartney. "Everywhere we go people tell us how much they enjoy the unique balance between the engaging photographs and first-hand written accounts and events from the tour. It seemed a natural when we were approached to put the exhibit on the road and so we did."

Photographer Bill Bernstein had unprecedented on stage, off stage, and back stage access providing dynamic images both of Paul's public appearances and the quiet one-on-one moments. Exhibition and sale prints will be signed by McCartney.

A relaxed-looking Mills, 38, strode happily with a companion through the city's airport clutching a large ring binder packed with files.

After settling down, Mills went for a late dinner with friends at her favourite vegan restaurant, Vegan Glory, in Hollywood.

In the latest twist, Mills has put up for sale her art deco seafront home in Hove for £2 million ($3.8 million) and her barn house in Northiam, East Sussex, for £625,000 ($1.2 million) - six months after buying it.

The barn cost £550,000 ($1 million) and she paid for it with the proceeds from her London flat which Sir Paul, 64, bought for her. The pair are now gearing up for a fierce court battle for the former Beatle's £825 milliion ($1.5 billion) fortune.

Response to the American premiere of "Ecce Cor Meum," Paul McCartney's new classical long-form composition, was overwhelming: a 10-minute standing ovation at New York's Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night. And that was before a single note of music was performed.

It's been 42 years since the Cute Beatle's first U.S. appearance and he is still greeted by screaming fans. "Paul, Paul, Paul," they chanted as he took his seat in the dress circle, surrounded by friends such as Elvis Costello, Conan O'Brien and Jerry Seinfeld.

If the crowd came to hear even the faint echoes of famous Beatle songs, they got them. "Ecce Cor Meum," Latin for "Behold My Heart," bears the McCartney signature: crisp, clean and easily hummable melody lines. These brief tunes emerge from a very somber and conventional (at least by the standards of this genre) piece, peeking every so often through traditional, often predictable "classical" arrangements.

In the liner notes for the work's release on CD, McCartney states: "Writing it has been a great learning experience for me. Apart from some piano lessons as a child, I've never had a lesson in composition or notation . . . " -- a reminder to all those who savaged his 1991 "Liverpool Oratorio" to cut him some slack. McCartney is a modern master of the three-minute melody, but he's still wrestling with the complexities of the symphonic form. Still, despite its structural limitations, "Ecce Cor Meum" is a genuinely sad and moving work.

Commissioned in 1996 to inaugurate a new concert hall at Magdalen College in Oxford University, its completion was delayed by Linda McCartney's illness and subsequent death from breast cancer two years later. The anguish McCartney experienced from the death of his spouse of nearly 30 years served as its deepest source of inspiration. The composition went through several permutations before McCartney finally recorded it earlier this year at Abbey Road Studios in London with the Academy of St. Martin's in the Fields, conducted by Gavin Greenaway and featuring soprano Kate Royal.

"Ecce Cor Meum" could easily have been called "A Requiem for Linda." Its release serves as a reminder of a satisfying and dignified union, a tonic to tawdry reports about the dissolution of McCartney's second marriage to ex-model Heather Mills.

Although spiritual in nature, "Ecce" is not a religious work, according to McCartney. Composed in four parts -- "Spiritus," "Gratia," "Musica" and "Ecce Cor Meum" with a graceful oboe "Interlude (Lament)" -- the composition would, however, sound very much at home in a high Anglican church on serious occasions.

From the opening eerie chant of "Spiritus, spiritus lead us to love" -- ably sung for this performance by the Concert Chorale of New York and the American Boychoir with the Orchestra of St. Luke's conducted by Gavin Greenaway -- immense sadness permeates the music. This is especially evident in the final section, where Kate Royal -- reprising her soloist role in the recording -- sings, "Ecce cor meum, behold my heart / there in the future we may be apart / but here in my music I show you my heart," like a modern Eurydice bidding farewell to her Orpheus as she vanishes into the underworld.

Love and loss have been constant themes throughout McCartney's musical career -- even his early Beatles compositions had a wistful, melancholy feel to them -- and this new work reflects that sense of longing, especially in its quieter passages. Observing McCartney eagerly watching his newest work performed -- as he leaned way back, clutching his knees in a childlike pose -- one could sense the wonder that music still holds for this cultural legend. He's brave to keep exploring and taking risks, even if some of the results are more conventional than one might hope for.

The concert opened with an hour's sampling of other McCartney compositions featuring Royal, as well as tenor Andrew Staples. Accompanied by the Loma Mar Quartet and the St. Luke's Chamber Orchestra, they included an instrumental piece titled "Nova" -- which sounded like something that might have resulted if Bernard Herrmann and Aaron Copland had produced a love child -- and a sentimental, waltzlike arrangement of an old McCartney favorite from his first solo album, "Junk."

PHOTOS: © Bob Gannon (Click to enlarge)

Paul McCartney was seen several times throughout the day during rehearsals. A back door had been barricaded to each side where fans gathered waiting for a glimpse of Paul. Twice Paul came back and signed for everyone on each side and a third time he signed for one side as the crowd enveloped him and he had to push through. Each entry was sans security. Not a good sign these days!

Prior to the performance of "Ecce" there was a preshow of McCartney music played by the Chamber Orchestra and the Loma Mar Quartet. Paul was ushered in about fifteen minutes before the start of the show in the First Tier Center Section. Other celebrities in the sections adjoining him were Elvis Costello, Jerry Seinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Paul Newman, Alec Baldwin, Judy Collins, Lorne Michaels, John Eastman, and Diana Krall. Paul arrived greeting friends and family to a thunderous applause which he immediately reacted to waving to the crowd and giving the thumbs up. The applause continued all the way up to the beginning of the pre-show.

The preshow was a tribute to Linda. The songs: "My Love" Kate Royal and the Loma Mar Quartet, "Warm And Beautiful" Kate Royal and the Loma Mar Quartet, "Calico Skies" Kate Royal and Andrew Staples with the Loma Mar Quartet, "Golden Earth Girl" Andrew Staples and the Loma Mar Quartet, "Somedays" Andrew Staples and the Loma Mar Quartet, "Junk" Kate Royal and Andrew Staples the Loma Mar Quartet,Nova" (A Garland For Linda) Chamber Orchestra, "The World You're Coming Into" (Liverpool Oratorio) Kate Royal and Chamber Orchestra, "Ghost Suite" (Liverpool Oratorio "Ghosts from the Past") Kate Royal and Andrew Staples with Chamber Orchestra (strings),"Celebration" (Standing Stone) Kate Royal and Andrew Staples the Chamber Orchestra and the Loma Mar Quartet.

Kate Royal & Andrew Staples again did a superb job at delivering the songs. At the end of the pre-show, again a standing ovation was directed at Paul who waved, talked to friends and then left to give a radio interview as the performance was being broadcast. There was a 25-30 minute intermission. Paul returned to his seat to more cries of "Paul" and scattered applause but the lights started to dim denoting the stat of "Ecce"

Ecce Cor Meum was performed by Kate Royal, The Orchestra of St Luke's conducted by Gavin Greenway with the Concert Chorale of New York and the American Boychoir with Colm Carey again manning the organ. They went through Spiritus, Gratia, Interlude (Lament), Musica and finally Ecce Cor Meum.

As the performers and conductor were taking their bows, Paul arrived at the side of the stage. Paul was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and a red tie. He made a short speech thanking all involved and finishing thanking the audience. He took his bows and was handed quite a few bouquets of flowers and gifts. I had a shirt made up for Paul with his face super imposed on a Beethoven bust and a coke can on the back that said "McCartney Classical." I called to Paul softly since he was feet in front of me and he looked down at me. I pumped once and threw it to him and he caught the shirt despite having a bunch of flowers in one arm and a microphone in the other. The white crepe paper hearts then began to fall from the ceiling as Paul bid everyone farewell. He then walked off stage and was followed by everyone else shortly after him.

It makes sense that Paul McCartney - the ex-Beatle now dabbling in divorce and classical-music composition - should cause a panic at Carnegie Hall.

It was between these staid walls that Paul and the boys from Liverpool nearly caused a riot among teen girls 42 years ago. Last night, plenty of Hollywood aristocrats came out to make utter fools of themselves.

You could hear Paul coming long before he arrived.

"Paul!" a woman shrieked at the top of her lungs. "Paaaauullll!"

And then, Sir Paul walked through the hallway. Really, he clawed and jostled until two big bodyguards nearly knocked over an old lady to get him through.

In the way stars flock like lemmings to a cliff, lots of celebs showed to see the U.S. premiere of Paul's latest composition, called "Ecce Cor Meum" - Latin for "Behold My Heart."

Jump-start my heart is more like it.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward stepped out of a golden SUV with a huge stencil in the window announcing it was a "hybrid."

Paul is friends with Paul. "I'm looking forward to the experience," Paul N. said.

Jerry Seinfeld was there. Woody Harrelson. Alec Baldwin was there, as was Elvis Costello and Steve Buscemi.

And Linda Dana, 50, came from St. Louis - because she loves Paul.

But she's married.

"I could be single!" Linda said.

Paul walked tentatively to his seat in the first tier. And the yelling started. People kissed his cheeks. He stood up and waved to the auditorium like a conquering hero.

Then he sat next to a blond - an employee, I think - who looked like Heather Soon-To-Be-Ex McCartney. Except this blond had two legs.

"Ecce Cor Meum," I hate to report, was a mess - a mash of classical styles which never really built to any moment. I realized it was reaching a climax when the kettle drums broke into my coma.

At the end, Paul thanked everyone, then sneaked out. A single guy has to move.

Mills has informed her modelling agency MOT Models that she is available for jobs and wants to start working as soon as possible.

A source told Closer magazine: "She knows she's got a very hard time coming up with the divorce but she doesn't see why her life must stop completely."

"Heather wants to look and feel good so she's been dead set on getting fit so that modelling jobs do arise. She's a survivor and will work for her money if need be."

Let's face it; she was never exactly a top modelexcept in German sex guides.

Will we still need him when he's 64? You betcha we do!

Beatlemania made an emotional return to Times Square yesterday when Sir Paul McCartney was greeted by hysterical fans clamoring for the chance to hold their idol's hand in his time of trouble.

The superstar musician, who turned 64 in June, was left in no doubt whose side New York City is taking in his increasingly toxic divorce battle with Heather Mills.

Hundreds of well-wishers packed Virgin Megastore to get signed copies of his new classical CD and concert DVD - and express their support as his 38-year-old estranged wife demands an estimated $150 million settlement.

Some broke down in tears after patting McCartney on the back and telling him to stay strong.

"I think she should take some money and disappear," said Sharon Friedman, 54, a secretary from West Brighton, Staten Island. "Today was my dream come true. My heart is beating. I'm all jittery inside."

In scenes reminiscent of the Beatles' 1960s heyday, groups of women waved signs reading: "We love U Paul."

One die-hard follower, Cecilia Noworyta, 53, from Chicago, who rented a $515 room across the street at the swank Marriot Marquis, spent three days camping out on the sidewalk to be first in line.

"My knees are shaking," she gushed.

After meeting her hero, Debbie Levitt, 50, of Rego Park, Queens, wearing Beatles earrings and a Wings necklace, said, "I told him he looks fabulous and just remember that everyone loves you."

Nevertheless, the singer/songwriter appeared weary during his two-hour stint at the store, signing his classical album "Ecce Cor Meum," an ode to his beloved first wife, Linda, and a live-performance DVD called "Paul McCartney: The Space Within Us."

Music from "Ecce Cor Meum" will be played by a variety of artists at a special concert tonight at Carnegie Hall.

Fans were hoping the event would take McCartney's mind off the ugly divorce proceedings back in England, where mud has been slung by both parties through claim and counterclaim.

Whatever the outcome, he can take heart from the huge amount of support in New York, shown by the rapturous applause he received from fellow diners at the city's Il Gattopardo restaurant when a fan shouted, "We are with you all the way, Paul!"

Earlier this year, London's News of the World claimed that Mills, embroiled in a nasty split from Paul McCartney, once worked as a prostitute for rich and powerful clients including reputed arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi - an allegation she has denied while admitting she did meet Khashoggi at a party.

Now, celebrity interviewer Daphne Barak has landed a sit-down with Khashoggi in which she asks whether he employed Mills for sex acts. "Was Heather Mills paid for sex - or wasn't she?" Barak asks on a short teaser clip from the interview available on her Web site, daphnebarak.com, which has been viewed by Page Six and will be released next week.

"Who cares?" answers Khashoggi, who then giggles and gives Barak a sort of "high-five" handshake.

According to Britain's Mail on Sunday, Khashoggi, who is shown in the interview tape admiring photos of the scantily clad former model, goes on to say: "How does she know names, places, if she wasn't one of the girls? Maybe if she says she came to my party, she came."

The Khashoggi interview comes on the heels of a report that McCartney - who was promoting his new CD in Times Square yesterday - has offered Mills a settlement worth nearly $190 million, if she agrees to grant him custody of their 3-year-daughter, Beatrice.

Meanwhile, McCartney's supporters say one of Mills' charges against the ex-Beatle is disturbingly similar to what happened to her mother. As The Post previously reported, Mills says in her divorce petition that McCartney shoved her into a bathtub in May 2003 - a charge McCartney denies. Now her stepdad tells London's Daily Mail that Mills' mom once told him her own ex-husband had pushed her into a bath. "Heather is simply a very confused woman for whom reality and fantasy have become blurred," Charles Stapley said.

A Quinton-based charity is proving popular with the rich and famous after its latest celebrity backer was revealed as Sir Paul McCartney.

Despite being embroiled in a messy divorce, the ex-Beatle found time to help the National Blind Children's Society.

It follows on from a £10,000 ($19,000) donation made by David and Victoria Beckham.

The charity wrote to Sir Paul asking for his support and he responded by offering a personally signed copy of his book High in The Clouds.

Co-written with Geoff Dunbar and Philip Ardagh, it tells the adventure of Wirral the Squirrel.

The charity auctioned it off at a recent fundraising event in Birmingham and raised £1,600 ($3,050).

Sir Paul also agreed to let the charity use High in the Clouds for its CustomEyes large print book service.

A spokeswoman said: "We were so excited to receive support from Sir Paul McCartney.

"Celebrity help is so valuable because it raises awareness of our work and if you are going to have famous support, who better than Sir Paul?"

Paul arrives at Virgin!!!

Paul arrived (in a black Audi) at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square around 12:10pm and left after 2pm. He signed over 300 autographs, and was chatty with fans. Security was loose and fans were allowed to take photos. Paul personalized every autograph and occasionally sang along to his music playing in the background. (more later)

His most devoted followers queued for two days outside the Virgin Megastore in Times Square for the chance to meet their idol.

Many gripped his hands as he spoke to them and emerged in tears, overwhelmed with emotion.

Afterwards they said they had avoided asking the star about the breakdown of his marriage.

New Yorker Susan Roazzi said: "I told him that we believe in his goodness and wish he and his family peace.

"He said 'Thank you very much'. He seemed very warm and responsive."

If all goes well, the former Beatle "and friends" will return to McCartney's hometown for a concert in May 2008 at the historic waterfront, the Liverpool Echo reported Monday.

Cabinet member for special initiatives, Mike Storey, spilled the beans about the McCartney gig at a private meeting with top accountants.

"We desperately want an opening event with Sir Paul McCartney and that negotiation is happening and I tell you it will happen. It will be Paul McCartney and friends," said Storey.

Critics of the year-long Capital of Culture have questioned whether the event will manage to attract the right caliber of acts, but the former Beatle's concert would be a major event for the city in 2008.

Following Paul McCartney's in-store signing session today at Virgin Megastore, Times Square, New York City, Paul McCartney will make an exclusive special appearance at Virgin Megastore's flagship store in London on November 22nd to sign copies of his classical album Ecce Cor Meum and brand new live concert film DVD Paul McCartney: The Space Within US.

This is a wristband only event. For the chance to meet music's greatest icon, pick up your copy of the DVD and/or CD on Wednesday 22nd November at the No.1 Piccadilly Megastore and you will receive your wristband to meet Paul McCartney. Paul will sign only these products, limit of two autographs per person. Time and space are limited.

Ecce Cor Meum, Paul's third classical album, was released on EMI Classics in September and has remained in the classical top ten since. It received its world premiere performance on 3rd November at the Royal Albert Hall and will be performed in the US tonight at the internationally renowned Carnegie Hall.

This week (13th November) Warner Music Vision released the DVD Paul McCartney: The Space Within US, which contains a never before released concert and behind the scenes footage from Paul's critically acclaimed 2005 US Tour. The US Tour ran for 11 weeks and saw Paul play 34 shows across America. The out-of-this world, feature-length concert film delivers live performances of more than two dozen Beatles, Wings and McCartney solo classics spanning four decades. It includes footage from Paul's personal wake-up call to the astronauts aboard the international space station, as well as 35 minutes of exclusive bonus material and featurettes including new interviews with McCartney and his band, the pre-concert film, sound-check songs, and more. Among the musicians, celebrities, dignitaries and fans interviewed for the film; President Clinton, Tony Bennett, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Vedder, Alec Baldwin and many more.

Macca returns to on SNL

Paul was a surprise guest on Saturday Night Live (November 11th).

He was in a sketch with Alec Baldwin, Martin Short and Steve Martin around midnight ET. Paul walked in and they said, "It is Paul Simon!" There was a huge applause for Paul and a few screams.

Alec Baldwin looked quite surprised, almost in shock, when Paul walked on. It was obvious he had no idea Paul was going to show up.

Paul showed up at the end of the show with the cast and gave Christine Aguilera several kisses!

Macca hasn't been on SNL in 13 years. The last time he appeared was February 13, 1993 and Alec Baldwin was the host.

CLICK TO WATCH

Loving dad Paul McCartney has secretly offered Heather Mills a staggering £20 million ($38 million) EXTRA for custody of their daughter Beatrice.

He hopes the whopping sum-on top of the £80million payoff his wife is claiming as a divorce settlement-will stave off a bitter court battle over their three-year-old child.

The sensational move comes despite public assurances from both Sir Paul and Heather, 38, that they would take care of Beatrice jointly. If a deal is done it will mean his four-year marriage to the one-legged ex-model will have cost Macca an astonishing £100 million ($191 million).

The former Beatle, worth £825million, ($1.5 billion) has been openly discussing his offer with friends and family members over the past fortnight.

A pal said: "Paul only wants what's best for his little girl. She means everything to him.

"But his fear is that if Heather gets custody then she could make things really difficult for him in the future to have proper contact with Bea.

Pocket

"He is worried she will slowly cut him out of his daughter's life and he couldn't bear that."

The pal went on: "Paul wants the divorce and custody of Beatrice settled in a one-off transaction."

"He has told Heather, 'It's simple-I get Beatrice, you get your money and that's it'.

"Essentially the £20 million goes in her pocket and is over and above her divorce settlement."

The well-placed source -who has already revealed to the News of the World the McCartneys' ketchup battle and Stella's hatred for Heather-added: "Paul has taken the attitude that with his wife everything boils down to money."

Upbeat Macca openly discussed his plans during a series of birthday parties for his daughter two weeks ago.

He revealed how he's confident of raising Beatrice at his 160-acre estate in Peasmarsh, Sussex.

A top family lawyer revealed Macca's move to get sole residence has a strong chance of being agreed in the courts.

Family mediator Helen Howard said: "If both agree in writing a judge is likely to approve."

She has twice viewed the 300-year-old Grade II listed property, which is set in an acre of land in the village of Peasmarsh, East Sussex.

The six-bedroom house is largely hidden behind oak trees and stands at the bottom of a long gravel driveway. The 900-acre estate of her estranged husband is easily reached along a nearby lane.

Built in 1722, the farmhouse retains its exposed beams and timbers but has also been extensively modernised and boasts an indoor swimming pool, three reception rooms and triple garage. In the large garden there is a summerhouse, ornamental pond and sheltered patio area.

A source said: 'Heather was very impressed with what the farmhouse had to offer. It is private and she could drive to Sir Paul's home in minutes. She sees it as the ideal location.

'She was so keen that she asked for a repeat visit.'

Since her split from the former Beatle, Heather has been dividing her time between a £2 million ($3.8 million) Art Deco home in Hove, East Sussex, and Sir Paul's Peasmarsh estate, which she uses when he is travelling or performing.

The former model also recently bought a £550,000 ($1,053,525) five-bedroomed converted barn nearby and it is understood that she plans to use it as an office for the companies she has recently set up with her sister Fiona.

McCartney and his first wife Linda moved to Peasmarsh in 1975 and lived there together until her death from breast cancer in 1998.

A piece of spiritual music, written in part right after the passing of his wife Linda, Ecce Cor Meum is the first piece of choral music McCartney has written to include a children's chorus. Hosted by NPR's Fred Child and WNYC's John Schaefer, the special will also include an interview with McCartney during intermission.

McCartney up for best icon title

Sir Paul McCartney is among the 10 famous faces to be shortlisted for the nation's top living icon honour.

Only three women appear - singer Kate Bush, fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood and model Kate Moss.

Other names vying for the top position are playwright Alan Bennett, actors Sir Michael Caine and Stephen Fry, and singers David Bowie and Morrissey.

Listeners of the BBC Two programme The Culture Show can vote for the winner, to be announced on 16 December.

"It's a striking list - no Queen, no Maggie, no JK Rowling, " said producer Edward Morgan.

"Best of all this is a totally open race. Any of the 10 could win," he added.

The shortlist of 10 was whittled down from a list of more than 500 people nominated by the BBC show's audience.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR PAUL!!!

Noel Gallagher has jumped to the defence of Paul McCartney, as the former Beatle continues his acrimonious divorce battle with Heather Mills.

The Oasis songwriter, who experienced his own divorce struggle from Meg Matthews, has called the media storm around the couple's relationship "ridiculous".

Speaking as he tours North America to promote the upcoming "Stop The Clocks" greatest hits, Noel said: "I know what he goes through, man, getting divorced, and your f*ckin' soon-to-be ex-wife is just being a f*ckin' absolute lunatic.

"I've been there. I feel for him because she's putting all these stories out there that he's a wife-beater and he's an excessive drinker. And he's a hippie, man.

"And it's so f*ckin' ridiculous. But, no, I feel for him because he's quite a dignified chap, and he's one of The Beatles, and it's not a very nice end to a period of his life, is it."

Impersonating a journalist; falsely claiming she'd been abducted; walking out on Paul McCartney, then denying a split - will the real Heather Mills please stand up, says Peter Wilson.

Steve Haywood had just walked back into his office after lunch when one of his colleagues at their small London TV production company called him into the boardroom to meet a job applicant, a journalist named Heather Mills. "I'd never met her but she was a friend of my partner, Moira, so I popped in to say hello," recalls the TV executive. "I said: 'Hi, Moira says you had a nice lunch together this week.' She said: 'Yes', and we chatted for about 10 or 15 minutes about her work and knowing Moira and stuff."

Moira Haynes, who works for the Citizens' Advice Bureau, had recently co-operated with Mills, a journalist on national Sunday paper The Observer, on a front-page story about proposed cuts to disability benefits. Mills, it seemed, now wanted a job presenting a new current affairs series for Haywood's TV production company; Haynes's praise of her newspaper work would certainly help her chances.

The only problem was, the attractive blonde sitting at Haywood's boardroom table in early 1998 was not Heather Mills. Or at least not that Heather Mills. The smiling job applicant was the former model Heather Mills, who had lost a leg in a road accident five years earlier, and who would one day marry the former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.

The reporter says her namesake had been claiming credit for her journalism work for about a year already, even showing off cuttings of her articles; but Haywood had no idea at the time. "It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen," he says now, of the former model's performance. "I've seen people spinning their CV before, but never actually pretending to be somebody else. She was a really quick thinker. She would have had no idea that I had this indirect connection to the other Heather [the journalist], and when I suddenly walked in and started talking about Moira and their work together, something inside her must have said: 'Oh God!' But she was as smooth as silk."

The truth only came out when Haywood got home that night and told Moira he had met her friend. "I said: 'You never told me Heather is so good looking,'" he recalls. "Moira said: 'Well, she is nice looking but not that good looking.' I said: 'Yes she is,' and we had a bit of a row about it." Both Heathers are tall and blonde but the journalist, now 50, is 12 years older than the former model. "Then I said: 'And you never told me she has lost a leg!' and Moira said: 'That's because she's got two legs.'"

He settled the matter by phoning a journalist friend on The Observer's sister paper, The Guardian, and asking how many legs Heather Mills had. "Three, you idiot," was the reply.

"It was the first time I have ever tried to identify somebody by the number of legs they have," says Haywood - but he had finally established that the woman at the interview was not who she seemed to be. The TV job went to somebody else.

Eight years on, Lady Mills McCartney's credibility is at the heart of what could be the most expensive celebrity divorce in history, as lawyers squabble over the former Beatle's fortune, which is estimated at £825 million ($2 billion). It has already become one of the tackiest divorces ever seen, with Mills lodging a divorce petition in which she accused the British music legend of beating her four times, including once when she was pregnant and another time when he supposedly stabbed her in the arm with a broken wine glass. She threw in some humiliating details, such as an account of having to phone her husband's psychiatrist for advice one night when a blind-drunk McCartney lay in a bathtub covered in his own vomit. The embarrassing claims were promptly leaked to the press.

Despite saying they want to maintain a dignified silence for the sake of their three-year-old daughter, Bea, McCartney and his wife have both used proxies and unidentified friends to wage the most vigorous "he said/she said" media battle since the royal matrimonial wars of Charles and Diana.

This battle is all about their public reputations - the divorce judge will pay little attention to the media war when it comes to dividing up the family assets - so at the moment their credibility is their most important asset. And that is where Mills is at a disadvantage. She has hired Princess Diana's divorce lawyers (and McCartney is represented by Prince Charles's), but unfortunately for her the battle of reputations and credibility has proved much more one-sided than the war of the Windsors. Whereas Diana brilliantly positioned herself as "the Queen of Hearts", Mills has earned herself such a disastrous public image that she makes Yoko Ono look like a popular Beatles wife.

Press critics generally restrained them-selves while she seemed happily married to McCartney, but the knives came out as soon as she lost the protection of his money, popularity and connections. British newspapers stopped portraying her as a former top model who had bravely overcome her disability to campaign for charity; suddenly she was an attention-seeking ex-prostitute and soft-porn model who had shrewdly won "Our Paul's" heart when he was still vulnerable after the death of his wife Linda.

A "reputation management" firm hired by Mills's lawyers has warned reporters that she is already taking legal action against three British newspapers and is likely to launch more writs over the "false, damaging, and immensely upsetting statements about her"; but the press have been undaunted. When she threatened to sue Britain's biggest--selling daily paper, The Sun, it reported her threat the next day under the huge headline "BLOODY LIAR". Beneath the words: "Come on Heather, what exactly did we get wrong? Is it that you're a ..." the paper printed six multiple-choice boxes with the direction "Please tick appropriate boxes", and the options: "Hooker, liar, porn star, fantasist, troublemaker, shoplifter."

Mills's reputation management firm has refused to discuss allegations against her, including that she passed herself off as the reporter Heather Mills; but the journalist has no doubt that her namesake has problems with the truth. "I found out some time later that in 1998 she showed quite a few people cuttings of my articles as if she had written them," she told The Weekend Australian Magazine.

The former model was once challenged when an article "by Heather Mills" appeared while she was overseas on holiday - but she quickly replied that she had taken her laptop computer with her, and submitted the article from abroad.

"I didn't see any point in confronting her, but what bemused me about it was that it was all so crazy - she was bound to be caught eventually," says the journalist Mills, who now writes for the satirical magazine Private Eye. "It is just extraordinary that she thought she could do that and not get caught."

A senior psychologist, who asked not to be named, says a surprising number of people tell lies which appear doomed to be exposed. "There are two factors at work. One is that their own experience might tell them that they can get away with telling lies. If you have only got away with one lie out of 10, you might decide the risk of failure outweighs the potential gain - but if it has worked nine times out of 10, you could think it's worth going for it.

"The other [factor] is cognitive dissonance, where we don't always act rationally. That's how we manage to keep smoking, drinking and driving over the speed limit. You know that those things are all bad for you, but you do them anyway because you think: 'It's not going to happen to me.'"

Michael Berry, a professor of forensic psychology, says even if the allegations of dishonesty against Mills are true, it is probably unfair to portray her as a calculating gold-digger. "I don't think she has got the skills of a conman who sees him [McCartney] as a mark," he says. "She seems to believe the stories she tells herself ... and realigns her view of the world." Why? To make herself seem more interesting and likeable, he says.

He adds: "I can't diagnose her, but from what I have seen in the media there is enough there for me to believe that she has clearly had it [a problem with the truth] for a lifetime."

Mills's account of her early life, too, has been hotly disputed by her father, stepfather and first husband Alfie Karmal, who have all accused her of exaggeration and outright lying. In her 1995 autobiography Out On A Limb, which was updated in 2002 as A Single Step, Mills told of a tough childhood in northern England with an abusive father who was eventually jailed for fraud, then with a de facto stepfather who had little interest in her or her brother Shane and sister Fiona.

Five pages of the book are devoted to an incident of sexual abuse when she was about eight years old. She and her schoolfriend, "Margaret, the girl who lived in the next-door flat", were due to be taken away to a swimming carnival by their swimming coach, a Mr Morris, but instead he locked them in his flat and abused them. "He kept us imprisoned there for three days and nights. I never found out what he did to Margaret during that time - afterwards she wouldn't talk about it - but fortunately all he did to me was fondle me," she says in the book. "I didn't like it but it didn't make me cry the way Margaret used to cry every night after he'd taken her into his bedroom."

After detailed descriptions of the ordeal and the rising tension in the small flat, Mills recounts how the coach sent Margaret out to buy food with the warning that if she ran away he would kill Heather. The coach eventually went out looking for Margaret, "then suddenly there was a loud knocking on the door. Frozen with fright I sat in the corner of the room as the knocking turned into a different noise ... Now it sounded as if someone was hitting the door with a big hammer. Then, all at once, the door crashed open and six or seven policemen burst into the room. It was the most welcome sight I had ever seen in my life."

In June last year her childhood friend, Margaret Ambler, sued Mills over the matter. Ambler said only she had been abducted, and Mills had falsely put herself into the middle of the story. Ambler's High Court writ argued: "The whole account of what took place in Mr Morris's flat over a period of days is an invention ... In particular, the claimant [Ambler] was never taken into his bedroom at night, Mr Morris did not threaten to kill the defendant [Mills] ... and police did not break down the door of the flat."

Both girls had been molested by Morris over a period of several months, but the account in the book contained "a substantial amount of false and invented information", the writ stated. Demanding up to £50,000 ($123,000) compensation for misuse of private information and invasion of privacy, Ambler said the details given in the book were enough to identify her, and she had suffered from depression since it was published. Mills's father, Mark Mills, backed Ambler's version, telling reporters: "I have no recollection of her [Heather] being abducted. I don't know why she'd claim a thing like that."

Mills refused to comment on the lawsuit but settled out of court, paying undisclosed damages.

Her autobiography goes on to tell how she ran away from home at 14, at one stage living under a bridge at Waterloo Station in London (a notorious spot for down-and-outs), and how she was convicted and placed on probation for stealing gold chains from a jewellery store to buy a moped.

Yet school records suggest she was at school until 16, and her stepfather Charles Stapley has said that much of her account is overblown. She didn't really leave home until she was 20, he says - although her sister Fiona has largely backed her version against the growing assaults from the press.

Mills had turned herself into a small-time "glamour" model before her accident in 1993, when she was knocked down by a police motorcycle while crossing a road in central London. The tragedy began her intense relationship with the press, which has been longer lasting and even more tempestuous than her marriage to McCartney.

Instead of slumping in self-pity, the then 25-year-old amputee negotiated from her hospital room to sell her story for a large sum to a tabloid newspaper - dropping in the salacious detail that she'd had sex with her boyfriend in her hospital bed when he came to visit.

She used her new profile to become an inspirational counsellor and fundraiser for the disabled, and to win TV presenting work. The media adored her - the Daily Star gave her its Gold Star Award, The Times honoured her with its Human Achievement Award, and she was presenting an award for the Daily Mirror at the Pride Of Britain ceremony in 1999 when she met Paul McCartney. They married in 2002.

While they were together many commentators grumbled that she didn't seem to accept he was the big star, not her - but the real attacks did not start in earnest until they separated. The press has vilified her, gleefully publishing photos from a sex manual she posed for as a young model, and alleging she had once been a prostitute; she has responded by issuing writs, blaming the press for her marriage breakdown and telling a few fibs.

On May 6, for instance, she publicly and furiously denied any split, vowing: "We will 100 per cent sue on this because it is total rubbish." Her sworn divorce petition has since revealed that she left McCartney a week earlier, on April 28, after realising that the marriage "had irretrievably broken down".

Her falling-out with the British press seems as irrevocable as her break-up with McCartney, but she has lost none of her appetite for being in the public eye. She has let it be known that she wants to become the high-profile face of charities working for women who have suffered domestic abuse. Sir Paul McCartney might splutter in disbelief, but Heather Mills's latest chosen identity is as Britain's best-known battered wife.

In her autobiography, Out On A Limb, written after she famously lost her leg in a road accident in 1993, Charles emerged as one of the many villains who blighted the troubled childhood of this beautiful young model, whose steely determination to triumph over adversity made her a charity campaigner and media star.

For when Heather went to live with her mother and Charles in London aged 15, after her father Mark was jailed for fraud, she claimed she ended up homeless, sleeping in a cardboard box after the former Crossroads actor issued Beatrice with an 'it's her or me' ultimatum.

'Oh, it was all nonsense,' claims Charles, now aged 81, 'a complete fantasy. I never issued any ultimatums. Heather is simply a very confused woman for whom reality and fantasy have become blurred.

'I felt dreadfully sorry for her when she came to live with us at 15 and I feel sorry for her now, because I believe her terrible childhood is the root of all her problems. All she's ever wanted to do is make something of herself, to escape her past.

'But the person I feel most sorry for is her three-year-old daughter Beatrice, because this divorce is now so full of hatred that the child has taken a back seat. The anger and animosity has drowned out any rational thinking and young Beatrice has become secondary.

'The one person I certainly don't feel sorry for is Sir Paul McCartney. He was a grown man when he married Heather, he knew what he was doing.

'But you know how it is in some divorces. You try to be amicable, then one side says something which is taken the wrong way and it all escalates.

'I don't know if the accusations she has made about Sir Paul being violent towards her are true or not, but while I know more than most of Heather's tendency to embellish the truth, 'I do know that her terrible childhood was no lie. I believe Heather is fighting for a settlement which will allow her to bring up her daughter comfortably - security she never had as a child.'

Charles hints that Heather's childhood was much more difficult than even she is prepared to admit.

Not that Charles knew any of this when he first met Beatrice Mills on Monday, November 6, 1978, when he was appearing in a play called Worm's Eye View by R.F. Delderfield at the Newcastle Theatre Royal. Beatrice, the Scottish-born daughter of an RAF officer, was the wife of Mark Mills, an ex-Army officer and chairman of the Playgoers Club.

'It was a Monday night and all rather embarrassing, because the cast outnumbered the members of the Playgoers Club by about three to one,' says Charles, a dapper, handsome chap who was already on his third marriage and had four children from his previous two.

'I turned round and saw this beautiful young woman in a green dress, whom I went over to chat to. She told me she was a mature student at Newcastle University, studying a master's degree in psychology, and she struck me as the most amazing, intelligent woman.'

Charles invited Beatrice, 17 years his junior, for a drink the following day and, despite knowing she was married with children, the couple fell in love. 'We were what the Italians call "simpatico". On the Monday we met and on the Friday I asked her if she would like to join me in my hotel room, and she agreed.'

When Charles left Newcastle to take up a role in Crossroads in Birmingham, Beatrice stayed in touch with phone calls and letters, visiting him one weekend after telling her husband she was attending a seminar.

During their stolen time together, Beatrice told Charles about her life and how unhappy her marriage was to Mark, who she claimed beat her black and blue - allegations he has always vehemently denied. Devout Protestants, her Scottish family had disowned her when she married Mark Mills, a Roman Catholic, whom she'd met at a dance.

Aged 28 and the mother of two children, Shane and Heather, Beatrice had decided to study medicine and passed four science A-levels before accepting a place at medical school. She was two years into the course when she was involved in a terrible car accident, in which her left leg was crushed.

Doctors rebuilt her leg with steel pins, he briefly met her three children, Shane, Heather and Fiona, then 13, 11 and nine, whom she'd decided to leave with their father. He appears to have fretted little about taking Beatrice from them.

'Beatrice was at the end of her tether,' he says, 'she couldn't take any more. It was a tumultuous decision for her and she always felt bad about leaving the children behind, but there was no way we could take them with us.

'An actor's life is a precarious one and after three marriages I was impecunious and we just didn't have the money to take the children. For my sins, I fell in love with a married woman with three children, but love is a strange thing and she felt she had to be with me.

'But one cannot deny that Heather lost her mother during her most vulnerable and formative years, which obviously had a terrible effect on her, especially because Beatrice saw them only once in the years before she came to live with us.'

Indeed, while the children had been in care after their mother's accident, eightyearold Heather was molested by a swimming pool attendant, who committed suicide the day before he was due to stand trial.

And yet Charles concedes that Beatrice so immersed herself in her new life that she rarely talked about her children. 'She was typically Scottish,' says Charles. 'She was not extravagant in showing her emotions, although she was a deeply passionate woman.'

Beatrice found a job at the Royal Marsden hospital as a psychologist specialising in pain control. She and Charles moved to Clapham, South-West London, into the home of an elderly bachelor whom they had met at their local church. He lived on the top floor and they on the ground, and the couple cared for him when he suffered a stroke.

'One day in 1983, we received a phone call to say Mark had been jailed for fraud and did we want the children taken into care?' recalls Charles. 'This prompted much discussion because our living arrangements were hardly ideal, but our landlord agreed for Heather and Fiona to have the spare bedrooms in his part of the house, while Shane was sent off to live with a grandmother in Brighton.

'I remember driving with Beatrice in a hired van to pick them up in Newcastle. We loaded the van with their clothes - it was so full Shane had to lie on top of everything while the girls squeezed in the front with us. They all seemed very but the wounds refused to heal and Beatrice had to stay in hospital for a year. During this time, with no relatives to help and Mark working at the University of Durham, the children were taken into care.

'I remember Beatrice telling me that the week after she came out of hospital, she was cooking lunch, hobbling around on crutches trying to juggle saucepans, when Mark stormed into the kitchen and kicked her crutches away in a temper because his lunch was late,' says Charles, who now lives alone in a council flat in Stockwell, South London.

'Another time, she collapsed at university and was taken to hospital. When staff saw her body covered in bruises, they told her to leave her husband immediately, but she didn't have the money to go.

'After the accident, she couldn't go back to her medical course because she'd missed too much work and was not fit enough, so they suggested she switch to psychology instead. One thing that always rankled with her was that she got a 2.1.

She said she would have got a first if Mark hadn't attacked her and pushed her into a bath on the morning of the exams.'

In 1979, Beatrice begged Charles to take her away from her miserable marriage. When he went to pick her up, relieved to be leaving. Shane seemed terrified of his father.

'We found out that Mark had put a big roster on the wall with chores for all the children. They had to do all the food shopping, cooking and cleaning while he sat in his big leather recliner listening to Wagner...he ruled with a rod of iron and, we later found out, was abusive. Beatrice felt terrible about that.'

Heather and Fiona have since publicly revealed that after their mother left, their father - who denies their claims - turned his violence on the children, treating them like slaves and forcing them to steal, because there wasn't enough money to put food on the table.

'It was very difficult for the girls,' says Charles. 'Heather was 15 and Fiona 13. Here they were with their thick Geordie accents and blonde hair, trying to fit in in London. The only school we could get them into was very mixed and a bit rough, and they were regularly bullied by other girls, because they stood out so much.

'Fiona never gave us any trouble at all, but Heather started to run wild. She would disappear on a Friday night and we would go trawling through the pubs and clubs with pictures of her, asking people if they'd seen her.

'Beatrice was frantic with worry. Heather was physically mature for her age and her mother was terrified she'd come to harm. We later found out she'd started doing topless modelling with a photographer she was seeing.

'I never felt I could get involved. I wasn't their father and felt it wasn't my place to discipline Heather, so I stood back.

'But I did feel very sorry for her - she seemed such a troubled, confused young woman.'

In the midst of all this, Charles was diagnosed with stomach cancer and spent five weeks in hospital after having his stomach and part of his oesophagus removed. Weeks of radiotherapy followed, during which time he says he was too ill to have much to do with the girls.

'I didn't really see them at all,' he says, 'and Beatrice was consumed with her job and looking after me.

'The only time she ever lost her temper with me was when I said, half in jest, that my cancer had been brought on by the stress Heather was causing. Beatrice was furious and shouted: "How dare you!" She loved her daughters, although her situation was often fraught.'

Beatrice was devastated when Heather was arrested after stealing from a jeweller's shop, where she was working after leaving school, selling the gold chains she had taken to buy a moped. After this, she started stealing from her own mother to buy clothes.

'Heather always wanted things, especially clothes, and she decided that she would get what she wanted from life,' says Charles. 'She took money and jewellery from her mother to buy a leather jacket, which I admit made me very cross.

'We didn't have any money at all to give her. Beatrice didn't get a proper salary for her work - she was paid only out of spare hospital funds - and I was earning nothing because I couldn't act.

'Why did Heather behave like this? I think it was because she wanted to make something of herself, change the person she was - it was a form of escapism. She was incredibly insecure and confused, and until she comes to terms with what happened, I think she always will be.'

Charles insists that far from being driven from the home to live rough and then join the fair, as Heather claimed in her book, she would spend weekends with a fairground worker, sleeping in the back of his lorry. Charles says she lived with him and Beatrice in Clapham until she met her first husband, Alfie Karmal, when she was 18.

Beatrice and Charles approved of Alfie, a divorced father of two ten years Heather's senior, because he offered her the love and security she craved, but Beatrice never lived to watch her daughter get married.

She died unexpectedly six weeks before the wedding, on May 6, 1989, after developing a blood clot following a routine operation on her damaged leg. She was 47.

'It's ironic that, had Beatrice lost her leg after her accident, like Heather, she would probably still be alive today,' says Charles. 'As it was the doctors were determined to save it and so gave her years of problems and pain.

'I remember all of us standing round Beatrice's bed. She was already brain dead and we had to decide when to switch off the life support machine. Suddenly all the machines started bleeping and she died before our eyes.

'Heather and Fiona rushed over to their mother to embrace her and then hugged me, crying "it's so unfair, it's so unfair". Heather was devastated by the death of her mother, very upset, as was I.'

Charles was invited to Heather and Alfie's wedding, but stayed for just one glass of champagne at the reception, because he felt aggrieved they'd gone ahead with such a lavish affair so soon after Beatrice's death. He hasn't seen Heather since.

Indeed, Charles admits he almost forgot about her, until the accident which turned her into a media celebrity. Knocked down by a police motorcyclist answering an emergency call in Kensington, the story of the gorgeous young model battling against a lifetime of tragedy made for compulsive reading.

'I felt very sorry for Heather, and I went out and bought a get well card for her,' says Charles. 'Then I read something in the paper when she said something nasty about her mother, and I thought, "right, let her just get on with it," and I never posted it.

'Over the years I have admired her work for landmine victims - she has done some good - but I was astounded when she married Paul McCartney. That I would never have predicted. I wished her well, and I was thrilled when she called their child Beatrice after her mother - because her mother was the one good thing in her life.

'I don't think Beatrice ever forgave herself for leaving her children, but she was in love and she couldn't stay with her husband. For once she put herself first, but neither of us realised the terrible effect it would have on Heather. It is all so very sad.'

He may hang out with Kylie and Elton, but fame certainly hasn't gone to Jake Shears's head. The Scissor Sisters singer is still razor-sharp when it comes to spotting a hanger-on - which is why he has no time for Heather Mills.

The flamboyant frontman of the glam rock New Yorkers claims she snubbed him when he met the McCartneys backstage at a gig. Then was all sweetness and light when she realised he was a member of the band who U2's Bono rates as "the best act in the world".

"I hate to say this, but I found Heather to have her nose really stuck up in the air," says Jake, 28. "I met her once with Sir Paul and, honestly, she didn't give me the time of day.

"You'd expect someone to be a little gracious or just pleasant when you meet them for the first time, but Heather was nothing like that.

"Then someone must have told her who I was and suddenly it was a completely different situation. She couldn't have been more charming. But by then my mind was made up."

So it's no surprise to hear who he is backing in the bitter McCartney divorce.

"Let's just say I'm on team Macca with this one," says Jake, who has even written a song called Paul McCartney on the Scissor Sisters' current album, Ta-Dah.

"He was lovely to me when I met him, a really nice guy. My heart goes out to the man over all this divorce stuff. I'm sorry, it just does.

"He came to me once in a dream and gave me a really good talk, and the next day I wrote the track that's on the album.

"I feel like the man deserves a bit more peace of mind than having to deal with all this at his time of life. My dad is 78 years old and I can't imagine my mum putting him through all that drama.

Scissor Sisters album Ta-Dah is in shops now.

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