Macca's special birthday treat

It wasn't quite what Sir Paul McCartney had envisaged for his 64th year.

The break-up of his second marriage and allegations about his estranged wife's past are a far cry from the comforting notions of holidays on the Isle of Wight and digging in the garden that he dreamed up aged 15.

So it is little wonder that when his family recorded a new version of When I'm 64, they changed the lyrics.

The former Beatle's four eldest children and his three grandchildren laid down the track at Abbey Road Studios in London to celebrate his birthday yesterday. And friends say the track, which they played to him at a low-key birthday lunch, put a smile on the singer's face for the first time in a while.

'It was such a lovely gesture that Paul couldn't help but be touched,' said a source yesterday. 'He is still pretty low but the terrible singing on the record by his family was enough to have Paul in hysterics.

'It was just what he needed.' The words were written by Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer Sir George Martin.

Sir Paul's four children, Stella McCartney and her son Miller, Mary and her sons Arthur and Elliot, James and step-daughter Heather, made the track in Studio Two - where the Beatles recorded most of their music.

As his 64th birthday approached, Sir Paul will have been aware that comparisons would be drawn between his life and the old age he had mapped out for himself.

But the date could not have arrived at a worse time. His recent split from Heather Mills, to whom he was married for four years, was compounded by a series of allegations about her younger years.

He is still in contact with Miss Mills, 38, mainly to discuss their two-year-old daughter Beatrice. But he is said to be becoming increasingly bitter towards her.

She was not at the family gathering yesterday and friends say she has lost weight worrying about the split and claims that she used to work as a call girl, which she denies.

In recent days Miss Mills has been in talks with her lawyers after two former vice girls said she was paid thousands for having sex with wealthy businessmen.