Former Beatle Paul McCartney hates being called "sir" and almost turned down the knighthood bestowed on him in January by Queen Elizabeth.
McCartney said Wednesday that he thought fellow Beatle John Lennon, murdered in 1980, would have been embarrassed by a title and would have sent it back.McCartney, 55, was knighted for his service to Britain's pop industry. He said he refuses to use "Sir Paul" and doesn't use the headed notepaper with his title bought for him by his wife Linda.
"To me the problem was how much it would change my life, not whether it was a royalist gesture. I don't take it that seriously," he said. "It's a great honor but I'm intelligent enough to find it easy to be cynical about these things."
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Birthdays: For Thursday, Oct. 9
Actor Fyvush Finkel 74
Singer Jackson Browne 49
Actor Scott Bakula 42
Sean Lennon 22
Actor Zachery Ty Bryan 16