UNITED KINGDOM: PAUL MCCARTNEY MEETS FANS AND SIGNS COPIES OF HIS BOOK OF PAINTING AT LONDON BOOK SHOP WATERSTONE'S

Record ID: 708266

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: PAUL MCCARTNEY MEETS FANS AND SIGNS COPIES OF HIS BOOK OF PAINTING AT LONDON BOOK SHOP WATERSTONE'S
  • Date: 13th December 2000
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (DECEMBER 13, 2000) (REUTERS) SV OF WATERSTONES BOOK STORE IN PICCADILLY /QUEUE OF FANS WAITING TO GET BOOK SIGNED CU, POSTER ON WINDOW ANNOUNCING MCCARTNEY'S ARRIVAL "PAUL MCCARTNEY AT WATERSTONE'S PICCADILLY, " PAINTINGS" SCU (SOUNDBITE English) FAN FROM MANCHESTER SAYING: It's Paul McCartney, he's so talented he's one of the greatest living songwriters anyway obviously the Lennon McCartney magic anyway, and he's lovely. He's still a lovely gorgeous bloke, even though he's 58." SCU (SOUNDBITE English) FAN SAYING: That's what makes Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney he even in the Beatles, he had four or five new directions between 1962 and 1970, it's innovation and tireless creativity and new directions all the time, that's what makes Paul McCartney so special you know. (What do you make of his artwork then?) I've seen a little bit I haven't seen a great deal so it's difficult to say but it's just him expressing himself in a different way. Some of his songs I don't get on with but it's just each to their own isn't it. HAV, CROWD OF PEOPLE WAITING TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF MCCARTNEY WHEN HE ARRIVES SLV, PAN OF CROWD OF PEOPLE ALONG PICCADILLY (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS, MCCARTNEY'S CAR PULLING UP/MCCARTNEY GETTING OUT OF CAR/MCCARTNEY WAVING AND HOLDING UP HIS BOOK OF PAINTINGS AND WALKING TOWARDS SHOP ENTRANCE (4 SHOTS) VARIOUS, MCCARTNEY ENTERING BOOK SHOP WITH FIRST FAN TO GET BOOK SIGNED (FAN FROM POLAND) AND WALKING TOWARDS ASSEMBLED PRESS AND CUSTOMERS INSIDE SHOP (2 SHOTS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SLV MCCARTNEY POSING WITH FAN LOOKING AT HIS BOOK OF PAINTINGS (2 SHOTS) CUTAWAY OF PHOTOGRAPHERS SCU MCCARTNEY KISSING POLISH FAN SCU, MCCARTNEY POSING ALONE WITH BOOK AND PAINTING ON EASEL CUTAWAY TO MEDIA SCU MCCARTNEY WITH BOOK SCU (SOUNDBITE) MCCARTNEY SAYING: Let's get the people in. (BANGS HIS FIST ON THE TABLE) WHY APPEAR FOR A BOOK SIGNING PAUL? Well It's just a good idea, people do that when they've got a book out. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PAINTING FOR? About 18 years now ...because I was always a bit loath to do the celebrity painting bit so I just decided to do it for myself but actually Linda persuaded me to exhibit it and so I finally got round to it and they asked me to do a book and I enjoy doing it a lot. SCU PILE OF MCCARTNEY'S BOOKS/ WAITING FANS/CUSTOMERS SCU GIRL HAVING HER MCCARTNEY BOOK OF PAINTINGS SIGNED BY MCCARTNEY VARIOUS, OF PHOTOGRAPHERS/ FANS GETTING BOOKS SIGNED SCU FAN HOLDING BOOK WITH MCCARTNEY'S AUTOGRAPH SMV, MCCARTNEY SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS WITH BOOKS IN FOREGROUND OF PICTURE SCU (SOUNDBITE English) FAN REACTING TO MEETING MCCARTNEY: Heaven, it was gorgeous, I never expected it would be like that. I just expected an autograph and 'hello' or something and a handshake maybe but it was fantastic, nothing like it, fantastic, absolutely.'
  • Embargoed: 28th December 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAF0O01JBY09LK4ETGK9315UZCQ
  • Story Text: London's Piccadilly Circus almost came to a standstill, when former Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney arrived at a West End book shop to do some 'paperback writing' - he signed hundreds of copies of his latest offering - 'Paul McCartney Paintings' - an illustrated volume of his oil work.
    Sir Paul McCartney proved that Beatlemania lives on, when hundreds of fans lined London's Piccadilly to catch a glimpse of their hero when he arrived at a well known London book shop. Many of the fans had been waiting overnight outside with little more than a flimsy blanket to keep them warm.
    But for one fan who had flown in from Poland in the hope of meeting McCartney, the trip was well worth it. Her 31-hour wait outside the store paid dividends when she was given the number one position in the queue.
    Excited fans almost crushed McCartney when he arrived at lunchtime on Wednesday (December 13) for the book signing of his latest offering, which came just one month after McCartney had exhibited his artwork in New York, USA and Bristol in the UK.
    'Paul McCartney Paintings' is the first book of paintings from the former Beatle and contains colour reproductions of more than 80 of the several hundred paintings that McCartney has created since he began painting regularly in private in the early eighties.
    Asked why he decided to display his artwork in the first place, McCartney revealed it was thanks to his deceased wife Linda.
    "I was always a bit loath to do the celebrity painting bit so I just decided to do it for myself but actually Linda persuaded me to exhibit it and so I finally got round to it and they asked me to do a book and I enjoy doing it a lot, he said.
    McCartney's passion for painting is said to have begun when he was a school boy in Liverpool. He began seriously collecting art in the sixties but didn't actually start painting himself until he turned the age of forty when a chance conversation with painter Willem de Kooning gave him the confidence to take up the brush.
    Having painted more than 500 canvases to date, McCartney says his main theme is freedom and fun and that painting 'has to be enjoyable otherwise there is no point in doing it'.
    The book 'Paul McCartney Paintings' was published by Little Brown & Co in September this year and came about as a result of McCartney's art exhibition in Siegen , Germany in 1999.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register