Paul McCartney: More To His Life Than ‘Awkward’ Son James

Paul McCartney and his son James have been in the spotlight recently after James McCartney’s “awkward” interview on a British breakfast show.

The current media obsession with Paul’s son, James, has awakened public interest in the father. For example, the way he met Linda Eastman (James’s mother).

As she told it, they met at a club in 1967. Although she was with another man at the time, she is quoted as saying, “He looked so beautiful that I made up my mind I would have to pick him up”.

They married in 1969 and had three children together plus an adopted daughter (James was the only boy). As far as marriages go, they seem to have enjoyed a happy one until Linda’s death in 1998.

Unusually, they were both vegetarians. Paul supported animal rights groups both actively and financially. In 1999, he even spent five million dollars to ensure that the company Linda McCartney Foods would not use genetically modified ingredients.

Paul felt so strongly about this subject that, in 2009, he even wrote to the Dalai Lama to ask why he was not a vegetarian. He received the reply that the Dalai Lama had to eat meat according to the advice of his doctors.

Paul’s response was that it did not seem right that the Dalai Lama spoke so often about not harming living things but did not add “by the way,guys, I’m having a steak”.

Apart from food, Paul is also an active campaigner for a variety of causes, from opposing landmines to arguing against seal hunting to aiding victims of the Asian Tsunami. Oh, and as for politics, he issued a video endorsement supporting Barack Obama in the 2012 election!

Here is the “awkward” breakfast show interview, don’t cringe too hard!

What do you think of James McCartney’s “awkward” performance on the BBC breakfast show? Do you think James is similar to his father, Paul McCartney, and do you think he will follow properly in his father’s big footsteps? Share your thoughts in the comments below.