Forget royalty. Forget prime ministers or presidents. When Sir Paul McCartney held a rare signing session yesterday for his new classical CD, Ecce Cor Meum, at Piccadilly Circus in London, lifelong Beatles fanatic John Hackney, from Cannock, knew where he had to be – and what to take with him.

Sir Paul was also signing his new live DVD, The Space Within US, and was in great spirits, despite the acrimony of his split from wife Heather Mills.

And with hundreds of fans and press there, the 64-year-old Beatle reminded everyone how loved he still is. Meanwhile, Heather, 38, was being interviewed on US TV claiming she would rather ‘lose another limb’ than suffer the ‘vilification’ she had been through recently.

But in London, John decided it would be the perfect opportunity to get his brand new Hofner violin bass guitar signed by Sir Paul. The instrument, an exact copy of Macca’s famous bass, was a special 60th birthday treat – though he has yet to learn a note.

To begin with, the queue outside the Virgin Megastore didn’t look too long and John was hopeful he would get to meet his idol. However, four hours later, and having moved only 20 yards, it became obvious that this wasn’t going to be his day. More depressingly, it began to rain.

“I’ve been a fan of the Beatles since I was 15 and dreamt about having that bass,” says John.

“So this was the chance of a lifetime to get it signed. Despite the rain and the queues, everyone was determined to wait it out and were in good spirits, but eventually it was obvious we couldn’t compete with those who had waited two days.

“I felt it could have been organised a little better. There was no communication with anyone in the queue from the shop, so everyone was standing there more in hope than anything else. I asked some of the publicity people if I could get in with my bass, but just got a blank look.

“But I saw Sir Paul leaving at the end, doing his peace sign, so all was not lost. Everyone was keen to get a glimpse of him and were really excited.”

Autographs

Sir Paul looked relaxed as he spent just over two hours signing the CDs and was happy to pose for photographs at the end, though it was obvious many people were going home disappointed.

Sadly, it seemed real fans like John were also competing with those out to exploit the event and sell their autographs on eBay. Some were on sale for £80 today.

John add: “Actually, most of those in the queue didn’t look old enough to even remember the Beatles. At least I saw them twice in Stoke and Wolverhampton in 1963. Not many of them can say they have memories like that.”