Sir Paul McCartney has said he sometimes picks up his grandchildren from school, and that it is a “joy”.
The former Beatles star said that he is “pretty normal” when it comes to his relationship with his eight grandchildren despite his fame, and that they often go on holiday together.
Sir Paul, 77, told Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio Breakfast Show that he is a “terrific” grandparent, adding: “You know, I love them and I love being a granddad.
“And we spend quite a good bit of time together. We don’t live near each other, but we go on holiday together, like Christmas. And in the summer we’ll see each other. And then sometimes me and (my wife) Nancy pick them up from school. So that’s nice.”
He said: “It’s great fun you know, because you don’t know how to do it like parenting. It’s ad lib, it’s the biggest ad lib. So when grand-parenthood comes around, it’s like, ‘OK, what do we do here?’ And so I say that joy is like picking them up at school and they love it.”
He added: “I don’t think it’s just us, I think it’s also the ice cream that’s got something to do with it! So you do all those things, you know, and you can play with them and stuff.
“And then as everyone always says there’s the hand-off factor. ‘He has just pooped his pants love, here. Over to you.’”
He said that he does what other “Grandudes do”, referring to his debut children’s picture book Hey Grandude! that was released earlier this year.
The singer-songwriter also told of a time he had his grandchildren in fits of giggles while reading them a “dirty” poem by EE Cummings.
He told Evans: “We’re out in America and they were staying with us. (Nancy) said, well, let’s have a sleepover. So four of them came over and I said, well, we’re going to do this.”
He said the children slept in their bedroom, and that “we’ve got mattresses on the floor with them and they’re all ready to go to bed”.
“I’m thinking, ‘Oh God, I’m going to keep up with my snoring anyway. I think I’ll read them a bedtime story.’
“So I’m just looking around. And of course I haven’t got many kids books, but I found a little poetry book, I think, ‘OK, this looks pretty good.’
“I just flicked through it quickly and it looked alright on the page. Like a little interesting, amusing poem. So I started to read it to them and it got dirty.”
He said that the children “loved it”.
“It’s a famous poem (by) EE Cummings. So you get the idea… it’s like, can I touch? Said he. How much? Said she. It goes on like that, what’s too far? Where you are?
“Yes, the kids are giggling away, and I’m looking, thinking, ‘God I really got myself into a corner. How I’m going to get out of this?!’”
Sir Paul has four grandchildren from his daughter Stella – Miller, Bailey, Beckett and Reiley, who are between the ages of nine and 14.
He has four grandchildren from his daughter Mary between the ages of eight and 20 – Arthur, Elliot, Sid and Sam.
The full interview is available now on The Chris Evans Virgin Radio Breakfast Show with Sky