Sir Paul McCartney: 'Death rumours led people to think I was

Word spread nearly 40 years ago that the musician had died in an accident in 1966 and a series of clues on the cover of The Beatles' last recorded album Abbey Road proved it.

''I think the worst thing that happened was that I could see people sort of looking at me more closely - 'were his ears always like that? said Sir Paul.

The story - which is still one of the most popular searches about Sir Paul on Google - circulated in October 1969 after a Detroit DJ made the claim that the band had recruited a replacement, William Campbell, following Sir Paul's death.

His lack of shoes as he crossed the zebra crossing on the album sleeve was used as a pointer to the fact the real bass player was no longer alive. The pose was said to represent a funeral procession and a car number plate containing '28IF' was said to refer to the fact Sir Paul would have been 28 when the album came out - if he had lived.

In a new interview with the October edition of Mojo magazine, he said: ''It was funny really, but ridiculous. It's an occupational hazard - people make up a story, and then you find yourself having to deal with this fictitious stuff.''

The star said the 'clues' all had innocent explanations: ''I knew why I'd had bare feet - 'cos I'd kicked off my sandals. I knew the car that said '28IF' was a completely random car that had just been parked. It was madness.''

Abbey Road will be re-released in a remastered form, along with the rest of the band's original studio albums on September 9.

Source: Daily Telegraph