From Reuters@ at
Infobeat
LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Grief-stricken former Beatle
Sir Paul McCartney has scattered the ashes of his wife Linda in
the pastures and woodlands she loved at the family farm in
southern England, British newspapers reported on Tuesday.
The
Times said McCartney had his American wife cremated in a
brief and secret ceremony just hours after her death from cancer
in California on Friday. She was 56.
``Only
Sir Paul and their four children were present after
they decided not to tell even close family and friends until
after the funeral,'' the newspaper said.
The
Mirror said McCartney and his children flew back to
Britain in a chartered private aircraft on Saturday carrying the
ashes in an urn.
``They
enjoyed the best days of their lives at their farm.
It's where Linda wanted to be laid to rest,'' the Mirror quoted
an unidentified family friend as saying.
McCartney,
who had spent only one night apart from Linda in
their 29-year marriage, has been described by friends as
``shipwrecked.''
Linda
McCartney died in Santa Barbara, California, after the
breast cancer diagnosed in 1995 spread to her liver last month.
McCartney
has been closeted in the farmhouse home in the
southern English county of Sussex, which he shared with Linda
and from which she built up a successful vegetarian food
business.
His
spokesman appealed for privacy, saying McCartney would
not be making any statement until Thursday at the earliest.
McCartney
was at his wife's bedside when she died. The
couple had been out horse-riding only two days beforehand.
The
former Beatle has asked that instead of sending flowers,
people could make a donation to cancer research or animal
welfare charities -- or simply ``go veggie (vegetarian),'' his
office said.
Linda
McCartney was a lifelong vegetarian who developed her
own line of vegetarian foods. She was also a lover of animals,
photography and music.
Throughout
their life together she photographed her husband,
campaigned with him for various causes and made music with him
-- from his immediate post-Beatle days to his most recent album
``Flaming Pie,'' in which they sang together on some tracks.
Tributes
poured in on Monday to the woman who drove Beatles
fans to tears when she married McCartney in March 1969. She was
an American socialite photographer; he the singer-songwriter in
the most famous pop band in the world.
After
the break-up of the Beatles, Linda joined McCartney's
new band Wings as a keyboard player and backing singer and
braved taunts that she could neither play nor sing.
Their
hits included the best-selling album ``Band On The
Run.'' The group's single ``Mull of Kintyre,'' recorded in 1977,
is one of the world's biggest selling singles.