Why Sir Paul prefers McCartney

Being called "Sir" makes Paul McCartney cringe and he considered turning down his knighthood. The former Beatle refuses to use the title or headed paper with it on, bought for him by his wife, Linda.

Sir Paul, 55, believes John Lennon would have been embarrassed by a title and would have sent it back, he says in an interview with Radio Times magazine.

Oasis are "very derivative, but they swing OK and they think they're marvellous," he says. "I did a charity session with one of them and it reminded me a little of the Beatle recordings although, with more drugs and booze. We preferred to work straight and party afterwards."

He says of his knighthood: "To me the problem was how much it would change my life, not whether is was a royalist gesture. I don't take it that seriously. It's a great honour but I'm intelligent enough to find it easy to be cynical about these things - bring people down from Rotherham, bung them an MBE, costs you virtually nothing and they return home happy."

His new 75-minute orchestral work, Standing Stone, is to be broadcast on Classic FM radio next Tuesday.