Sir Paul McCartney has said he can remember being born, describing the moment in 1942 when midwives "had to pull me out" with forceps at Walton Hospital in Liverpool.
The 84-year-old musician shared the recollection on the Good Hang podcast with US actress Amy Poehler, 55, released today. He described the hospital as "a real old Victorian thing" and recalled "white tiles, very hygienic white tiles and chrome instruments and a clanging, because I was a forceps birth."
Memory may not be real
Sir Paul conceded that the memory could have been made up, saying: "I sort of think I remember that. I don't know if it's true."
He was born on 18 June at the same hospital where his mother Mary, referenced in the lyrics of 1970's Let It Be, qualified as a nurse. She worked as an on-call midwife, and Paul remembers her cycling to work to deliver babies, like the characters in Call The Midwife.
Near miss with music career
In the same interview, Sir Paul explained how he nearly didn't go into music because he was worried about leaving his £7.15-a-week job winding coil wire in a factory, where he hoped to become manager.
He described the life-changing moment when John Lennon and George Harrison turned up at the factory to tell him they had a booking to perform at the legendary Cavern Club in Liverpool. He recalled: "I went out and they said 'We've got a gig. We've got a gig at the Cavern.' So I said: 'Oh I don't know, let me think about it.' I looked at the coils, I looked at the pay packet. Yeah, £7.15 a week. Hmm."
He added: "God, I can't believe I actually questioned it but I did. I said: 'I'll get back to you.' I did and I gave up a career in coil winding management."
