Macca claims politicising the Beatles

London (ANI): Sir Paul McCartney has claimed that it was he, and not John Lennon, who politicised the Beatles. While in an interview with the intellectual journal Prospect, the veteran singer made the revelation that he persuaded Lennon to oppose the war in Vietnam.

He claimed the group's politicisation began after he met the philosopher Bertrand Russell in London in the mid-1960s, reports the Telegraph. However, McCartney's critics see his comments as a further attempt to revise the history of the Beatles, casting himself in a better light.

"We sort of stumbled into things," he told Prospect magazine. "For instance, Vietnam. Just when we were getting to be well known, someone said to me: ''Bertrand Russell is living not far from here in Chelsea, why don't you go and see him?'' and so I just took a taxi down there and knocked on the door," he said.

He added: "He was fabulous. He told me about the Vietnam war, most of us didn't know about it, it wasn't yet in the papers, and also that it was a very bad war. I remember going back to the studio either that evening or the next day and telling the guys, particularly John [Lennon], about this meeting and saying what a bad war this was."

But Tariq Ali, who was one of the leaders of the anti-war movement in Britain, said: "It is not my recollection at all. It is possible McCartney met Bertrand Russell, but certainly I had no contact with Paul." McCartney also claimed that he has now handed over the political 'megaphone' to younger pop stars like Bob Geldof and Bono, the U2 singer.