#Linda McCartney Foods

[laurolive]

Hilarious Journalism: A look back at the “Linda Tapes” The Daily Mail’s 2006 headline story (“Macca buys Linda tapes for £200,000”) is one WTH and SMH of an article.

Here’s a recap of what the “Linda tapes” were about:

In 1987-89, vegetarian writer and literary agent Peter Cox assisted Linda McCartney with her first vegetarian cookbook, Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking. He said that they made use of tapes to record recipes and ideas.

In Oct. 2006 — seventeen years after his collaboration with Linda — Cox told the British tabloid The Daily Mail that some of the tapes contained Linda’s emotional confessions: she felt trapped in her marriage and considered leaving Paul because of his controlling nature. [Daily Mail 28 Oct. 2006: “Linda wanted to leave Macca.”]

The following week, Nov. 4, 2006, The Daily Mail reported that McCartney met with Cox and paid him £200,000 in exchange for the tapes. [Daily Mail 4 Nov. 2006: “Macca buys Linda tapes for £200,000”.]

The first article (“Linda wanted to leave Macca”) was ridiculous enough — a tabloid story full of sensationalistic tabloid language. (Among the gems was Cox’s recollection that Paul’s eyes “were deader than any I had ever seen.” 😒 Did Cox meet Paul McCartney or Satan? 😈)

But the follow-up article, “Macca buys Linda tapes for £200,000,” was something else again.

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A headline spun out of thin air

Here is how The Daily Mail began the article:

MACCA BUYS LINDA TAPES FOR £200,000 Daily Mail.com Showbiz 17:00 EDT 04 Nov 2006, updated 05:47 EDT 05 Nov 2006 “Sir Paul McCartney has secretly paid £200,000 to secure audio tapes which reportedly contain explosive allegations about his marriage to his first wife Linda. The recordings — which his second wife Heather Mills wants to use as part of her divorce claim that he was abusive towards her — were handed over to Sir Paul during an extraordinary cloak-and-dagger meeting in a Central London café. “Sir Paul bought the tapes from literary agent Peter Cox, who made them with Linda when he was co-authoring her 1989 book Linda McCartney's Home Cooking.”

The rest of the article contains not a shred of information about this reported purchase. How did The Daily Mail find out about this “secret” payment? Who was its source?

When was this money paid? Where? How?

Where did the figure of £200,000 even come from?

The Mail quoted plenty of witnesses to the two men breakfasting together at a London café called Eat on Wed. 1 Nov. 2006, BUT it supplied no witnesses to any payment being exchanged or even discussed. We don’t even know if tapes were actually handed over; the witness saw only the transfer of an envelope.

WTH, Daily Mail? You gave us more details about what Cox and McCartney had for breakfast than you did about where you got your headline.

🤦‍♀️

The headline reminds me of this maxim:

What is presented without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

Just declaring out of the blue, without explanation or evidence, that McCartney paid Cox £200,000 for Cox’s tapes makes the declaration dismissible. It’s so devoid of confirmation that no reader can be expected to give it credence.

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I thought surely The Daily Mail was playing an inside joke for its own amusement by posting this OTT piece.

So McCartney and Peter Cox had an “extraordinary cloak-and-dagger meeting in a central London café.” Could someone explain to me how two persons have a cloak-and-dagger meeting (read: furtive, secretive) in broad daylight at a café frequented by the public? How clandestine could it be where patrons could recognize one of the parties and overhear practically everything he said? 🤭

SMH. Leave it to The Daily Mail to carry on like it exposed high level espionage when it basically reported that one guy passed an envelope to another guy over coffee.

After the introductory paragraph(s), The Daily Mail ditched any pretense of having a report to back up its headline, and instead turned its attention to the REAL story: 20 paragraphs of McCartney complaining about what a bitch his soon-to-be ex-wife Heather Mills was.

Well, it seemed like 20 paragraphs, brought to us courtesy of eavesdropping café patrons.

That’s when I was convinced that The Daily Mail fabricated this entire piece from whole cloth, with the staff writers particularly flexing their comedic creative writing muscles.

According to one of the eavesdropping diners:

"Paul told him he had been followed by a journalist that morning but had lost him by getting the driver to double back a few times to give him the slip. He said his driver was up the road keeping a look-out."

The Daily Mail can’t help aggrandizing its own reporters at McCartney’s expense. For all his caution to avoid journalists, ol’ clueless Paul, as per The Mail’s portrayal, failed to see that they were right under his nose. That crack team from The Daily Mail had stealthily infiltrated the café and were ready to pounce on patrons for quotes.

[a customer said,] "… they took the table next to me. Paul didn't seem to be worried about who was listening or he wouldn't have spoken the way he did.” “One diner said: ‘… the next minute Sir Paul was telling him all these things that left me unsure of where to look.’”

Good thing McCartney and Cox took a table out in the open. Good thing too that McCartney spoke loudly enough for fellow diners to hear him, or else The Daily Mail wouldn’t have had this story to give us. 😜

McCartney was reported to have said this:

“It's just my luck to have all these problems. I am really miserable, bullied actually. It just p***** me off, it is such c**p. I am being described as a b****** and it's just not true'."

What language! The Daily Mail writers must have had a good chuckle pretending that the publication for which they work is too refined to display low-class words like “pisses,” “crap,” and “bastard.” At the same time, though, it’s not so refined that it can’t regularly publish unverified hearsay.

Then we have this from a witness who also heard McCartney speaking to Cox:

“He said no one had told him what Heather was really like when he married her. He said his daughter Stella was the only one who warned him. Then he said, "She (Heather) really hates Stella".

Ah, if only someone had warned him, he would have surely listened and called off the whole marriage. PMSL. 🤣 He didn’t even listen to his own daughter. Paul “Imma do what I want” McCartney brought this one on himself, I’m afraid.

“Last week it was claimed that Stella had to be restrained from launching a verbal assault against Heather...”

What key words will readers remember from this sentence? RESTRAINED ..: LAUNCHING … ASSAULT. Much more dramatic than writing Stella had to be talked out of giving Heather a piece of her mind.

In an odd juxtaposition … to be continued.

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I thought no way would McCartney meet with Cox in public just to chat, let alone chat about such personal matters.

But…

When photos of the two men at the café surfaced, I had to admit that they must have had a personal meeting after all. Since that part was true, I guess the article couldn’t have been a TOTAL invention.

Maybe the conversation was trustworthy, even if not 100% accurate; I’m just not sure. I must say, though, that it warmed my heart to read about Paul finally regarding his 2nd wife with clear eyes and acknowledging that Stella was right. 👍

And please Daily Mail, I beg you, if you wrote anything else that was true here, let it be this quote: “One diner said: ‘They spoke about Linda at first and it was clear that both of them really adored her.’” ♥️

_____________________________

The Daily Mail article was originally accompanied by these photos of the two men together at the café, which have been reproduced on the web site Celebitchy [link]. The photos seem to support that the pair did meet in person.

Wed. 1 Nov. 2006. Paul McCartney and Peter Cox met for a half-hour breakfast at 10:00 a.m. at the café Eat in SoHo Square, London. Peter Cox’s identity confirmed from the photo on his wikipedia page [link].

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SMH to see that some people have brought up this tabloid fiction (Macca paid Cox £200,000 for tapes) in Beatles forums over the years and have taken it seriously.

Moreover, they maintain that, since Paul bought the tapes, he must be guilty and doesn’t want the truth to come out.

People need to go to the source and read the original article more critically and see it for the phoney baloney it is.

The Daily Mail’s headline made no sense. As the article stated, Cox was already legally barred from making the tapes public or quoting them. What good would it do McCartney to buy them? Cox could have made copies of them for all he knew.

🤷‍♀️

Again, WTH Daily Mail? It’s like you’re pointing arrows at your own report and saying, “This is so tabloid. Don’t believe everything you read!”

… and maybe that was the point.

In this particular article, and I’m sure others, The Daily Mail had a core story, which it surrounded with obvious tabloid elements, which I think were inserted to protect itself from libel lawsuits. The core story here looked to be McCartney’s unfiltered opinions on Heather Mills.

If Mills had sued, The Daily Mail could argue that the half-humourous tone of the piece, its unsubstantiated headline, and its implausibilities were proof that its show business section peddles unconfirmed celebrity gossip and is not meant to be taken seriously. It is strictly for entertainment purposes, and its readers know to take its articles with a grain of salt. Instant defense.

At least that’s one theory to explain this bizarro article to myself.

_____________________________

And finally, here are 3 other sources that bolster the conclusion that McCartney did not buy Cox’s tapes

No. 1

Peter Cox’s 2007 interview with John Buckman, in which he said he never sold the tapes. Per Cox’s wikipedia page 2007 to 2021 [link]:

“The ‘Linda Tapes’ “Media interest in Sir Paul McCartney’s divorce from Heather Mills McCartney resulted in much speculation concerning the contents of tape recordings made by Linda McCartney and Cox during their time together. Despite reports to the contrary, Cox has denied selling them and has called most press speculation wildly inaccurate.”

John Buckman [link] established Peter Cox’s wikipedia page on 19 Oct. 2007. He claimed that much of his material came from a private interview he did with Cox [link - Comment 1].

The statement was removed from Cox’s page on 3 Dec. 2021 [link] when it was found to contravene wikipedia rules that prohibit contributors from using their own research as a source. See endnote 1.

No. 2

Philip Norman’s 2016 biography, Paul McCartney: The Life, states that Cox didn’t give McCartney any tapes when they met in person [Norman 2016, p. 771, search term: Cox]:

“The Daily Mail subsequently reported a clandestine meeting between him [Paul] and Peter Cox…. at which Cox had handed over a large brown envelope. According to the Mail, this contained audio tapes she’d [Linda] made with Cox on which she’d talked of her victimisation by Paul, and which he was now buying for £200,000 to prevent them being used against him in the divorce. 

“In fact, the envelope contained only a copy of Cox’s book, Why You Don’t Need Meat, containing a foreword by Linda that Paul had never seen.”

Since Cox didn’t hand any tapes over to McCartney, presumably McCartney didn’t pay £200,000 for something he didn’t receive.

I have to ask, though, who was the source of this “fact” that the envelope contained only a book? BTW, see endnote 2 about accessing Norman’s book online.

No. 3

This 2017 development cautions against trusting original stories published by The Daily Mail.

In 2017 wikipedia banned The Daily Mail from being used as a source, describing it as unreliable and citing its “reputation for poor fact checking, sensationalism and flat-out fabrication.” [Link] Although this ban occurred over a decade after Cox’s original allegations appeared in The Daily Mail [“Linda wanted to leave Macca”], it has been applied retroactively to Cox’s own wikipedia page. See endnote 3.

_____________________________

GOT SOME ENDNOTES HERE

(1) Peter Cox’s wikipedia page

Wikipedia rules: A contributor can’t use his own original research or self-published content as a source for any wikipedia entry, and certainly not in a living subject’s page [link].

(2) Accessing Paul McCartney: The Life by Philip Norman (2016) online

The book can be downloaded from scribd.com if one signs up for a 30-day free trial [link]. 

The U.K. version, titled Paul McCartney: The Biography but otherwise identical, is searchable on the internet archive [link]. Enter a search term to read any pages containing that term. 

Hint 1: To read the pages preceding or following your searched item, enter the applicable page number as a search term. 

Hint 2: There may be restrictions on the number of pages you can view in an hour (“Limited Preview” message); just try again later.

(3) The Daily Mail’s poor reputation led wikipedia to ban it as a source in 2017. This also affected Peter Cox’s wikipedia page.

The sections of Cox’s page titled Involvement with Linda McCartney and The “Linda Tapes” (both viewable here), which had been part of Cox’s page from 2007 to 2021, were both removed by 3 Dec. 2021 (link1, link2) because the only source cited for them was The Daily Mail (specifically its original story about the tapes [link]).

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©️ laurolive, laurolive.tumblr.com, www.tumblr.com/laurolive, www.tumblr.com/blog/laurolive, 2024

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[warmrevolver]

Linda Mccartney your legacy lives on through your vegetarian mozzarella burgers

[gardenwalrus]

its funny because i’ve been a vegetarian since i was a kid so i actually did mostly think of paul as linda mccartney’s husband when i was a lot younger

[superbeans89]

This explains so much

[thebreakfastgenie]

I can write about other people's backstage. Like, uh, I went see McCartney's show, right? You know Paul? The guy from the Beatles? I know a Beatle, haha! So I go backstage to Paul's show, and I'm with my drummer, Liberty DeVitto. Liberty has a really good sense of humor, but it can be a little crude sometimes.

So we're backstage... and we're like, you know, it's showtime. It's just about showtime, and showtime is like dinnertime for most people. Like when I go on stage--like right now!--you know, it's like around dinnertime and I'm hungry! So, I'm a little pissed off, ya know? I gotta work and I'm hungry. I'm usually eatin'. So... but you're supposed to be a little hungry, you go on stage, you want that edge. If I--you can't eat before you go on, because, you know... Y'know, you're digesting your food, it's no good. So, uh... and then after the show it's usually too late to get anything good, so, you know, you eat junk, and that's bad to do at night, so um... you're hungry.

So we're backstage, we're at Paul's show, now Paul is a well known vegetarian, okay? So we're backstage and me and Liberty are looking for something to eat, anything, because Paul's gotta work, not us, so we can eat. We just got this extra hunger. We're lookin' around and all he had is like... crudité. Like, raw broccoli. Raw cauliflower. Carrots and crap... y'know all that? We're not expecting big slabs of beef here, just something else besides the raw vegetables. So, we go into Paul's room he's

"Hey, Billy, look at ya, how ya doing? Nice to see ya."

"Listen, man, you got anything else to eat besides the vegetables? Like, shrimp? Or, y'know even fish or something?"

He goes "no, no, I don't eat anything that's got a face."

So Liberty leans over... Liberty leans over to me and goes

"I guess Linda's shit outta luck."

Paul didn't like that. Paul didn't think that was funny.

How are ya gonna work that into a song, ya know? I don't eat anything that has a face.

[tavolgisvist]

I then introduced Mr. Klein to the other Beatles. If Paul is suggesting that I was trying to rush him and the others into engaging Klein or pushing him down their throats, that is a wrong impression. At all times, Mr. Klein had shown himself on top of the job. The only other major contenders for the manager’s job were the Eastmans – father of McCartney’s wife Linda, and her brother. I had opposed the idea of having as manager anyone in such a close relationship with any particular Beatle.

(John Lennon, 'The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-200' by Keith Badman)

AK: I can tell you what I did. I took the time to analyze the situation somewhat Machiavellian and determined the best way for me to meet John. <…> But the appointment that I made was based upon a telephone call that I made to John, followed up by a desire on both John and Yoko’s part to protect themselves. Because I think they felt that they were going to lose control if the E … See, you’re not aware, the Eastmans were already there, signed. <…> Other than the phone call I made, I would never, I wasn’t calling people and saying, listen, I’d like to see [John]. I was doing it more surreptitiously from the outside. I didn’t want them to feel pressure, because I felt that they would respond to pressure by running away. <…> SG: Then, what happened? You finally got to meet with John and Yoko, and there was an all-night session at the Dorchester hotel. And something happened in that all-night session at the Dorchester that totally won their allegiance to you. AK: This is January ’69. Yes, I mean, I’ve read what John has said. I mean, he said it in Rolling Stone. He just felt that he and Yoko both just knew … I think they wanted someone who was on their side for them. It was never for the Beatles. John said, listen, the Beatles are represented by the Eastmans, will you represent me and Yoko? SG: The Beatles’ legal affairs were represented by the Eastmans? * AK: You see, you have to read that piece of paper. SG: The piece of paper the Eastmans had with the boys? AK: Oh yes. All signed. SG: All of them signed it? AK: Yes. And Apple. <…> SG: You stayed up all night talking? AK: Yeah. I went to the extent of having vegetarian food made for him, unbeknownst to them, they would have eaten anything. I remember we talked about ourselves. We were just trying to get to know one another. They were very nervous. I was nervous. How do you really get into it then? We just did. Lennon and Yoko, I would rather not say what won them over for me. I would think that a principal thing was the fact that they really wanted someone for themselves. Apart from the Beatles. That’s really what it was. John is a very practical human being and the conflict was there, and it was his band and he was losing control, and he didn’t want to. He wanted to be protected. It was as simple as that.

(Allen Klein, 1980, interview with Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, All You Need Is Love, 2024)

Klein’s brass-tacks knowledge of the business and take-no-prisoners tactics appealed to Yoko Ono, who insisted Lennon have a dedicated protector. “Yoko told me that when she and John came to me, they were looking for a real shark—someone to keep the other sharks away,” Klein told Playboy. “Now she says sometimes I’m too moral.” <…> Klein was eager to find opportunities and enhance Harrison’s and Starr’s careers, but it was Lennon’s light that drew him, personally and professionally. They bonded. “Allen was there for John. They had the same sense of humor—John was so insightful, so wickedly funny. And Allen loved John’s songs,” Steckler said. Klein was fully aware that he’d broken the hustler’s cardinal rule, but he couldn’t help himself. “I fell in love with Lennon,” he admitted.

(Allen Klein.The Man Who Transformed Rock by Fred Goodman)

add to this

[buttahpie]

Get to know you mutual!

Thanks for the tag @warmrevolver !

What’s the origin of your username?: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul & Linda McCartney aka the song everrrrr

OTPS: McLennon forever and ever. Zelink (Link and Zelda) is also truly so near and dear to me. And I LOVE wolfstar

Favorite color: Any and all shades of green :3

Song stuck in your head: “Kiss from a Rose” by Seal has been on REPEAT for the last two days

Weirdest habit/Trait: Unfortunately I am just weird. Adorkable in a very Anna from frozen way to my dismay. I wish I had charisma or was suave but I am simply not.

Hobbies: Theatre (my whole career and livelihood, actually), WRITING!! Occasional drawing, social media content creation (I work for my theatre doing marketing) and I enjoy vlogging occasionally

If you work, what’s your profession?: I am a professional actor! I’m about to graduate with my degree in acting and I work on shows constantly! I also clean professionally to support myself more and I’m planning on starting my own private cleaning company.

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?: Honestly I have my dream job and I am so fulfilled by my work in the theatre. BUT if I could have another job I would love to be able to write stories professionally

Something you’re good at: I am good at singing and I’m finally allowing myself to say it. I’ve taken private lessons for years and I LOVE singing. I am also good at writing I think

Something you hate: bigotry. The president. Liars. Narcissists. People who support the president. Billionaires. Not getting enough sleep. Dating apps.

Something you collect: I’ve just started collecting records and vinyl and I’m quite proud of my collection already! And plays, i have loads of plays.

Something you forget: UHhhhhh I am not generally a forgetful person. I may forget names every now and then but only if it’s a person I haven’t made a connection with yet.

What’s your love language?: Quality time 100%. It’s the one I speak and receive. It is so important to me.

Favorite movie/Show: Howl’s Moving Castle, The Mummy, Surf’s Up, Pride and Prejudice, Romeo + Juliet. The Good Place, Schmigadoon, Ted Lasso, Friends.

Favorite Food: Italian food really truly is my favorite. Any and all kinds of pasta. Homemade pizza.

Favorite Animal: Cows! They have kind eyes.

What were you like as a child?: Apparently very angry and standoffish. I was difficult and mean. It was the undiagnosed autism. HOWEVER my parents say I am the total opposite now and they were so happy they loved me through the hard years because I am a joy now!

Favorite Subject at school?: Before college I loved my band and choir classes. And I loved all my English and writing classes. My favorite class I’m currently in is advanced tap dance technique! Although it’s kicking my butt right now.

Least favorite subject: Math always

What’s your best character trait: I am a generally very positive, optimistic and grounded person. People come to me with their issues, they trust me and they are cheered up by my. I’ve been described as having a “zest for life” and inspiring other people to live with more authenticity. I am very proud of this.

What’s your worst character trait: Despite this, i can be rather selfish. It’s passed down from my mom haha. I have some egotistical tendencies that I have been trying to work through for years now. Also I often struggle with empathy.

If you could travel in time who would you like to meet?: John Lennon, David Bowie, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Princess Diana

I don’t have many mutuals ahhh BUT I’m tagging: @johangeorghohman @glowing-gold and @tauruscats

[i-am-the-oyster]

GET TO KNOW YOUR MUTUALS

Thanks, @royaltyisshe64

What's the origin of your username?: I got obsessed at one point with the idea that John and Paul considered themselves the Walrus and the Carpenter, and that that made us fans the Oysters. He is the Walrus, I am the Oyster.

OTP(s) + ship name: This might be weird from what is essentially a McLennon blog, but my OTP is Paul/Linda. I'm generally not a sucker for tragedy, so as endlessly fascinating as Paul/John is, I am happier thinking about Paul/Linda. (Yes, premature death is tragic, but you all know what I mean).

Favorite color: I'm not really a "favourite" person, but I'm very drawn to deep reds.

Song stuck in your head: Femininomenon (what a banger)

Weirdest habit/trait: I asked my husband and he said "probably the Beatles stuff"

Hobbies: art/craft/collecting (but not reading) Beatles books

If you work, what's your profession?: I homeschool my kids

If you could have any job you wish, what would it be?: Irish Sign Language interpreter.

Something you're good at: Non-fiction writing.

Something you hate: Feeling like I'm not being listened to.

Something you collect: Beatles books. Actually, books related to my current special interest.

Something you forget: names, appointments, anything not written down

What's your love language?: genuine interest in my knowledge and opinion on anything, but especially my special interest

Favorite movie/show: ST:TNG will always have the most special place in my heart.

Favorite food: I have a breakfast that I eat every morning. I never thought this would happen to me, but I never tire of it. One slice of buttered toast, one fried egg, porridge with hazelnuts, a cup of low caffeine coffee.

Favorite animal: my dog. Also leaf sheep

What were you like as a child?: I was the weird kid who would bring a book about food additives in to school to show my classmates. Or eat pencil lead to make a point.

Favorite subject at school: Whatever I had a good teacher in at any given time.

Least favorite subject: Unlike prev I'm going to say PE is an acceptable answer. I'm hypermobile and it wasn't recognised as a problem. PE was just so fucking awful.

What's your best character trait?: I try to see everyone's actions as making sense from their perspective, and give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

What's your worst character trait?: I'm unreliable (aka unmedicated ADHD).

If you could travel in time, who would you like to meet?: Kid Paul McCartney. I would love to get an impression of what he was like before he met John.

zero pressure tags: @tavolgisvist @bobdylans116thdream @pauls1967moustache

[thereallennon]

get to know ur moots

didn’t realize i was enough of a moot for THE @daisychain-unchained to tag me!! ty, love ur fics!

what's the origin of your username?: this is a doozy. my main username is toxicalTomb. started as a time i mispronounced tombstone as tombstomb (toom stoom) and decided to make it my handle. then that evolved in toxicalTomb in 2023 cuz i was super into homestuck and dirk strider was my favorite character (his username acronym is tT, which is also why i sign off ao3 comments w that). just kept it. thereallennon came from my discord username, therealegbert (another homestuck reference). yep.

OTP(s) + ship name: mclennon. mclennon. mclennon. and also mcstarr when i want mindless fluff.

favorite color: greem…

song stuck in your head: POURRRRR YOUR MISERY DOWN!! (only happy when it rains by garbage). performing it live in april!

weirdest habit/trait: idk. eating skin.

hobbies: reading. writing. drawing. listening to and writing music. beatles. beatles. beatles.

if you could have any job you wish, what would it be?: some sort of musician. music is my life. my earliest memory is me singing lady gaga’s poker face while it played on mtv. i have a good ear and can keep a beat. my playing is shit, but my passion is there. im fine with a mundane job, too, as long as i can keep music close. tis a pipe dream, my dear.

something you're good at: analyzing music and obsessing over it and playing it and music music music.

something you hate: clothes i can feel. ma not trusting me. ppl only focusing on the bad things someone did. ooc beatles and beatles adjacent!!! no linda mccartney would not let mclennon happen hello!!!! she’d get her and her kids tf out of there!!!!!

something you collect: dead insects. started as a game w my younger siblings and cousins, trying to find me as many dead beetles (heh) as they could. i didn’t even ask them to! now i just have a bowl of dead bugs in my room.

something you forget: what someone said two seconds ago.

what's your love language?: touch, to the point i have to physically hold myself back from holding hands/brushing arms w acquaintances since im so used to doing it w friends and family.

favorite movie/show: a hard days night cuz im so beatlebrained. it’s a comfort film, ive got most of the lines memorized. ofc i also love get out and nope…jordan peele saev me……

favorite food: appyl🤤

favorite animal: bugs! any of them. spiders mostly.

what were you like as a child?: sad. very sad. and eager to please.

favorite subject at school: english.

least favorite subject: english.

what's your best character trait?: im funny (supposedly). im passionate and thats abt it, really, im kinda awful. and i quite like my writing.

what's your worst character trait?: moody bitch w too high of self esteem who procrastinates and has low empathy and doesn’t know social cues and only yaps about beatles beatles beatles until everyone tunes her out. mm.

if you could travel in time, who would you like to meet?: john lennon but i wouldn’t talk to him. don’t meet your heroes.

no pressure tags: @maccamacca @terminallyneurotic @shirojohnlennonswife @miscartz hey guys…..are we moots enough for me to tag you ^_^"

[torchlitinthedesert]

Transcript under the cut.

Paul

"Life had just started to get a bit messy when Linda became pregnant with Mary. Allen Klein [the American business manager] was involved iwtht he Beatles and, over the year, things seemed to get more chaotic and worrying. Then, the miracle: our Mary. The chaos got pushed to one side and all I cared about was being a dad. But there was still a lot of unpleasantness flying around, so in the end I said: "Let's get out of here, go to Scotland and be a family." It wasn't planned, but Mary came at exactly the right time. She changed my perspective to a degree where I could look at what was happening with the Beatles and think, "Does it really matter?"

If you were a dad in the late 1960s, you were part of taht first wave who got involved with the whole process of pregnancy and birth. One afternoon I remember going down to the local Family Planning Association and picking up a booklet called You Are Having A New Baby. I loved reading it: "At this-many-weeks, your baby will be as big as an orange." And then being there at the birth! In my dad's day, that would have been unheard of.

My first solo album came out in 1970 and I decided to use one of Linda's photos of me and Mary on the cover. This tiny head poking out from the inside of my jacket. These days you wouldn't do it because it feels dangerous to put pictures of your kids out there, but back then we weren't bothered. A lot of musical acquiantances warned me that being a dad would change my professional life. You can't take kids on tour, you can't have them in the sutdio. My professional life did change because I was no longer in the band, but I was still writing and recording. For the first Wings tour in 1972 we simply packed a load of nappies and toys and took the kids with us.

Later, when they were at school, I'd have a word with the headmaster. "Look, we'll be away for six weeks and I don't relish the thought of getting a call in Australia saying something happened to one of the kids." The school gave us a list of the lessons they'd be missing and we took a tutor with us, which the kids hated. They saw it as a six-week holiday. Like all parents, we were dreading the rebellious teens, but the most rebellion we had from Mary and Stella was having to listen to Wham! all day long. Looking back, I guess that wasn't too bad.

In 1998 Mary and the kids lost their mum and I lost … Linda. I knew it was my job to be “strong Dad who keeps it together”, but you can’t do that the whole time unless you completely hide your feelings. Eventually my emotions started leaking out. That’s when the roles were reversed and the kids rallied round me. We got through it, but we all struggled because she was the glue that held everything together.

Linda would have been so happy to see how far vegetarianism has come since we started the food business [in 1991]. And now Mary’s continuing the tradition with her own vegan cooking show. Yes, I’m proud of what I’ve achieved musically, but I’m also proud that Linda played such a big part in bringing vegetarian food into people’s homes.

Christmas and new year were a big family thing when I was a kid, so I keep the tradition going. Me and Nancy [Shevell, whom he married in 2011] like to go to Mary’s, the grandkids running around with their new toys. I do it for them as much as me — I want them to experience the same joy I felt at their age. That connection with family is what keeps me sane. I’ve got my fingers crossed for 2022. Like everyone, I’m hoping we’ll get a chance to do some of the things we’ve missed out on, see the people we love. It’ll be nice to have a bit more normality.

Mary

My earliest memories are split between London and the farm in Scotland. The excitement of city life versus absolute solitude. It was still exciting but in a different way: riding ponies, climbing trees, helping Mum in the kitchen. And the sound of Dad’s guitar.

It makes me laugh now, but there were some afternoons when we’d be watching cartoons and Dad would wander over with his guitar. He’d sit down and start playing this beautiful music, messing around with melodies and songs. We’d all give him an evil stare. “Dad, we’re watching telly. Go in the kitchen.” One time he said: “Do you know how many people would love to be sitting here now, listening to me play guitar?” I just shrugged. “But we can’t hear The Wombles.”

Being a vegetarian family in the late 1970s marked you out as different. Everybody said it was all Mum’s idea and she’d forced Dad to stop eating meat, but they did it as a team. I remember them discussing recipes and Dad saying he still wanted something he could slice for his Sunday roast. Mum was always excited about cooking and she inspired me. Dad’s pretty good in the kitchen — he’d make a great sous-chef. If you ask him to sort out the mashed potato, it’ll be the best you’ve ever tasted. He’s meticulous, just like he is in the studio.

Of course people made fun of Mum and Dad for being veggie. They made fun of Mum for a lot of things, saying she wasn’t a real musician, she wore odd socks and charity-shop jumpers. The real problem was that she didn’t fit the mould of the woman they wanted Paul McCartney to marry. They wanted someone who went to all the chichi parties, but Mum was more interested in feeding the animals on the farm.

Mum and Dad insisted we went to the local comprehensive school, which made me feel a bit awkward at the time. I’d be in school for a term, then off on tour. When I came back, all my friends had made new friends. Now, when I look back, I realise what a smart move it was. It kept us grounded.

Dad was almost too enthusiastic when it came to helping with homework. On my own I could knock it off in half an hour but Dad would get out the encyclopaedia, he’d be cross-referencing and drawing graphs. The teachers must have got suspicious when I gave in these ridiculously detailed essays. Dad said education changed his life and he wanted to pass that love of learning on to us.

I look at Dad and think, after all he’s been through, how has he managed to stay in one piece? He has found a way of keeping a level head, no matter what else is happening in his life. My own personal theory — I’ve not talked to Dad about this — is that he needs normality because that’s what inspires him. Real life and real people. That’s where all the music comes from.

Every year that goes by I seem to find a new level of admiration for what Dad has achieved — and Mum too. My husband and I have this game where we try to get through a day without coming across a reference to Dad or the Beatles. What usually happens is that I get to around nine o’clock, then something comes on the radio or I see an ad for the new Beatles documentary.

I do listen to the Beatles at home, but it’s the Wings stuff I play the most. Mum’s not around any more, but when she’s doing her backing vocals I can still hear her and Dad together. There’s a song called I Am Your Singer — that always gets me. “When day is done, harmonies will linger on.”

[mumintroll]

ive got no normal food left in my cupboards so my dinner is two linda mccartney sausages for starters sesame ramen for mains and alcohol free rekorderlig for dessert 😭

[ludmilachaibemachado]

Linda in London, 1973🌼🌼🌼

As a woman working in a male-dominated industry, her achievements included becoming the first woman to shoot the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, and receiving the award for US female photographer of the year in 1967🌵

Linda photographed her experience of life as a woman in music, as the only female member of Wings. She broke new ground by taking photos of her domestic life, and by launching her own vegetarian cookbooks and food brand Linda McCartney Foods, which still exists today🌺

Linda's photographs have been exhibited in over 70 cities in 15 countries. Her work hangs in the National Portrait Galleries of both the UK and the USA and she is the only photographer to have ever been honoured by three separate exhibitions at the Royal Photographic Society, Bath. In 2023, Linda was awarded a posthumous honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Arizona🌸

Via @lindamccartney on Instagram🍂

[etherealspacejelly]

Soft asks- 15 & 22!

15. Comfort food?

probably pasta. usually with tomato sauce and linda mccartney meatballs. and a shot ton of cheese

22. Name of your favorite playlist?

Gen Z nostalgia songs to hype you up. its full of 90s, 00s and 10s pop songs that i grew up listening to :]

[teenagefeeling]

so apparently a couple years paul, mary, and stella mccartney put together a cookbook of linda's recipes and i checked it out from the library today and i was leafing through it and it actually looks quite good. so many vegetarian cookbooks out there with 40 kale salad and hummus wrap recipes but like the mccartneys seem to be offering me real food which is exciting

[saint-mona]

I like to think I throw out my own Linda McCartney vibes.

I live in the country, grow my own food, raise a few kids AND I'm perpetually stoned through it all.

We're basically the same person....

[thebeatlelove]

Question for Linda McCartney/Linda McCartney Food Fans!!

So a while back I stumbled upon a Linda McCartney cooking video on YouTube. And I absolutely loved it, so I tried to find more cooking videos similar (where she is in a kitchen cooking to the audience). I have had absolutely no luck finding anything :(

So I just wanted to know did Linda McCartney ever make anymore of these cooking videos? Did these air on television or were they exclusive to an online/physical release. I was hoping to find a VHS or DVD of her cooking videos, since it was the 90s and VHS tapes were popular. But that route also led me nowhere. If anyone knows anything about these cooking videos please let us know in the comments. Thanks!