After Dinner Speakers: Paul McCartney, John Simpson, Skunk Anansie

McCartney was a singer, songwriter and guitarist for The Beatles, the biggest rock band of the 1960s. In 1957 Paul McCartney was invited to join John Lennon's band The Quarrymen. Eventually George Harrison and Ringo Starr joined and the new band became The Beatles. Almost all of their songs were written by McCartney and Lennon, everything from "A Hard Day's Night" and "Yesterday" to "Let it Be" and "Hey, Jude." McCartney released his first solo album in 1970, just before the breakup of The Beatles. In the 1970s McCartney formed the band Wings (featuring his wife, Linda), toured extensively and recorded albums, including Band on the Run and Venus & Mars. Throughout the 1980s and '90s McCartney continued to record and perform, and was awarded the MBE in 1997, making him Sir Paul McCartney. After Linda McCartney died of breast cancer in 1998, he became more publicly active in charitable causes. In July 2001 McCartney announced his engagement to model and activist Heather Mills; the pair were married on 11 June 2002 at Castle Leslie at Glaslough in County Monaghan, Ireland.