Paul McCartney has discussed the murder of his former Beatles bandmate John Lennon in a new interview, branding Mark David Chapman as "the jerk of jerks."
Lennon was shot dead in 1980 aged 40, by Mark David Chapman, for whom he had autographed a copy of Double Fantasy earlier in the day.
As part of The Beatles, Lennon and McCartney formed a songwriting partnership that would produce some of the most famous songs of all time. After the band broke up in 1970 though, the pair never recorded together again.
Speaking to Jonathan Ross in an interview that airs tonight (6 December) on ITV, McCartney said: "There was acrimony in The Beatles. But when he got killed we were friends. We used to call each other up and swap bread recipes."
As The Mirror reports, McCartney continued, ""I was at home when he died. I got a phone call. It was so horrific. I could not take it in that he was gone. It was a very big shock. I was so sad that I was not going to see him again. And the guy who did it was the jerk of jerks. He was not politically motivated."
Watch Paul McCartney's full interview on The Jonathan Ross Show tonight (6 December) at 10.35pm on ITV1.
