'No one does that these days': Sir Paul McCartney reveals surprising skill

Sir Paul McCartney is a proficient sheep-shearer but admitted it isn't easy to trim their wool by hand.

Sir Paul McCartney

Sir Paul McCartney is a proficient sheep-shearer.

The Beatles legend honed his skills while living in the remote High Park Farm with late wife Linda - who he was married to from 1969 until her death in 1998 - in the 1970s and the pair were so devoted to their flock, they even featured them on the cover of a Wings album.

Speaking on his 'A Life In Lyrics' podcast, he said: "I learned to shear the sheep with hand clippers. No one does that these days, it's quite hard. I did about 14 to 20 in one day.

"Just getting the sheep on its back is cool.

"And that ended up on the cover of 'Ram';.

"We did crazy things like Linda took a portrait of every one of our flock."

The 81-year-old musician admitted he initially regretted buying the farm on the remote Kintyre peninsula but Linda - the mother of his children Heather, Mary, Stella and James -was delighted by the idea of living in the countryside.

He said: "It was falling apart. I thought, 'F****** hell, this is a dump.' So I kind of left it.

"When I met Linda, she said, 'You've got a farm up in Scotland?' I said, 'Yeah but I'm not sure you'll like it.'

"But she loved it, so we brought up the kids there."

Paul - who also has 20-year-old Beatrice with second wife Heather Mills - found day-to-day life on the farm, carrying out jobs such as mending fences and tending to the animals, to be "liberating".

He explained: "These were the kind of things I'd never done in my life, so it was liberating."

The 'Hey Jude' hitmaker, who is vegetarian, previously admitted he is "embarrassed" when people see "the state" of his flock because he keeps them until they die of old age and it is unusual to see an elderly sheep.

Speaking on Radio 4's 'The Food Programme' in 2013, he said: "I live on a sheep farm so we shear the sheep, but they die of old age - and you know what, it's kind of embarrassing, because none of the other farms have got old sheep.

"They're all gone before they're old - they just die like we do. It's life, it's death, it's what happens.

"We just give them a good life and I take the wool from them. but it can be embarrassing. you know, people say 'look at the state of your sheep' and I say yes they're very old and you know there is only one alternative - send them to the knacker's."


Join the Thank Q Club

Sign up for the Thank Q Club and receive exclusive offers, fun competitions and amazing prizes - it's quick and easy to do!

Sign Up Log In

Listen on the go

Download the Q Radio app to keep listening, wherever you are! It's available on Apple and Android devices.

Download from the App Store Download from Google Play