UK News

For Paul McCartney, his rollercoaster week went from “We Can Work It Out” to “Live and Let Die.”

And in between came a string of tabloid headlines about “A Hard Day’s Fight” and “Let It Be”.

But at least on Wednesday night he was heading back to the office to make news for all the right reasons.

He spent six days fighting a bitter divorce battle against former model Heather Mills, his wife for less than four years, as she fought for a slice of his 825 million pound fortune.

That six-day battle ended on Monday with the judge left to decide at a future date how much of the former Beatle’s fortune she should receive.

The hearings took place behind closed doors. Cue for the Beatles hit “Do You Want to Know a Secret?”.

The fight between the couple has been bitter and tortuous Cue “The Long and Winding Road”.

But on Wednesday, McCartney left the courtroom for a far more familiar stage — he was receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brits, the music business’ big night of the year.

So what did he choose to perform as his greatest hits set before music industry moguls?

There was no sign of “Love Me Do”, “You’re Going to Lose that Girl” or even “Baby, You’re a Rich Man”.

But maybe there was a message in the song list — he picked the iconic Beatles track “Hey Jude” and “Live and Let Die”, the James Bond hit by his post-Beatles group Wings.

* For all the latest Reuters news and pictures from the Brit Awards, visit our special site: Brit Awards 2008