Paul McCartney in 15 Songs is a new BBC show which reveals touching anecdotes from past and present DJs about the star and what his amazing songwriting means to them.17:09, 22 May 2026Growing up in Bolton, Mark Radcliffe saved up from his paper round to buy The Beatles’ White Album - never dreaming that one day he’d come face to face with the man behind the classic. As part of a special tribute to Paul McCartney, Mark recalled his meeting with the legend during a show at Abbey Road - where the Fab Four recorded - in 2005.‌Mark, 67, who presents The Folk Show on Radio 2, said: “There was only me and him in the room, in that room, still littered with some of the original equipment. Sitting only two or three feet away from him, I watched and listened whilst that actual guy played that actual guitar, in that actual room, as he demonstrated how he came across the unmistakable first notes of Blackbird.‌READ MORE: Paul McCartney ordered to plant new tree by council in bitter row with neighbour over felled sycamore“It was kind of an out-of-body experience. I was just thinking, ‘I bought the White Album and listened to that song a thousand times. How has this happened?’ Sometimes I wonder, ‘did it happen?’ But I’ve still got the album, numbered and signed.”‌Paul McCartney in 15 Songs, a new BBC show, reveals touching anecdotes from DJs about the star and what his amazing songwriting means to them. They look back at a career spanning six decades, 27 solo albums and 18 Grammy Awards.At 83, McCartney is still going strong, performing three songs on last week’s iconic Saturday Night Live in the US, including Days We Left Behind, the lead single from his new album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, out later this month.‌Broadcaster Bob Harris, 80, was standing outside the BBC in 1972 when he felt a tap on his shoulder. A man gave him a thumbs-up, told him he loved the Old Grey Whistle Test, then jumped into a waiting cab. Bob said: “He slammed the door and then as the cab was driving away, this little face comes in the back window and gives the thumbs-up. I turned to my friend and said, ‘You don’t think it was, do you? It couldn’t have been Paul.’”When Bob met Paul McCartney six months later at Abbey Road, he asked the Beatle, who said: “Of course it was. I love the Old Grey Whistle Test.” The two became firm friends. "That’s the way I always think of Paul,” said Bob. “Very open, friendly, smiling, thumbs-up, Liverpudlian vibe.”‌Paul Gambaccini, 77, who presents the Paul Gambaccini Collection on BBC Radio 2, was one of 73 million viewers watching The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 when four boys from Liverpool stopped an entire country in its tracks.He said: “My entire generation heard the same dog whistle.” The song that brought the house down was I Want to Hold Your Hand. In the first three days, a quarter of a million copies had been sold in America, with 10,000 copies moving every hour in New York - making it one of The Beatles’ biggest-selling singles worldwide and the second biggest-selling single of the 1960s in the UK, clocking up 1.82 million sales.Gambaccini added: “It’s hard to believe that this song was rejected by Capitol Records in America at first. I love it, because it was my introduction to The Beatles, and because Paul and I became good pals afterwards.”‌Tony Blackburn, 83, who presents Sounds of the 60s on Radio 2 every Saturday morning, remembers emailing McCartney repeatedly asking for money. “I said, ‘I played so many of your records, you must owe me a fortune.’”Never getting a reply, he encountered McCartney months later in Birmingham, saying: “I said, ‘did you ever get my emails?’ He said, ‘what were the emails about? ‘So I said, ‘well, I was asking you to send me lots of money because I played so many of your records.’ And he just laughed.”‌Actress and broadcaster Liza Tarbuck, 61, who stepped down from her BBC Radio 2 Saturday evening show this year after 14 years, picked Maybe I’m Amazed - which paints a picture of McCartney’s life just before Linda walked into it. He had been living at Jane Asher’s family home on Wimpole Street.Liza said: “He also had a neighbour who used to allow him, if there were fans in the street, to escape via the roof. They’ve [The Beatles] done Sgt Pepper. They’re also in a bad place, because they’re beginning to split up. His life at the Ashers is coming to an end. Paul is more than likely a bit bluer than maybe he’s portraying himself.”Then, one night, he caught the eye of Linda Eastman, an American photographer. Liza added: “Naturally, their love grew. It’s an incredible time in anybody’s life, the ending of something and the beginning of something new.”‌BBC DJ Gary Davies, 68, was a huge Bond fan and chose Live and Let Die, from 1973. He said: “It was quite a coup commissioning a former Beatle to write a proper rock and roll Bond song. This one had it all, with orchestrations from Paul’s favourite Beatles producer, George Martin.”It became the first Bond theme to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. But when the Bond producers first heard the finished recording, they asked George Martin who was going to make the real record - leaving him to explain that this was it!‌Zoe Ball, 55, who hosted the Radio 2 Breakfast Show for six years before stepping down in 2024, chose She’s Leaving Home from Sgt Pepper, saying: “My dad had this album, so it was the first Beatles album that I really discovered. I love Paul because he can combine important stories with stunning melodies.”Trevor Nelson, who presents the weekday afternoon show on BBC Radio 2, picked Got To Get You Into My Life. “Paul McCartney is definitely my favourite member of The Beatles because he’s the soul boy in the band,” he said. “I think the songs that he wrote were more easily covered by soulful singers and funk singers. He could have been in a funk band or a soul band, easily.”‌Mark Goodier, 64, a former Radio 1 DJ, who presents Pick of the Pops currently on BBC Radio 2, chose Band on the Run, saying: “I think the 70s is a very underrated era for Paul McCartney. The inevitable comparison to The Beatles means I think that not everybody appreciated how good the songs of that era are.”Jeremy Vine, 61, who presents his daily lunchtime show on BBC Radio 2, was 18 when Pipes of Peace reached number one in December 1983, and remembers it as much for the video as the song. He said: “The video was this famous story: First World War Christmas, the British troops on one side and the German troops on the other, pausing in their firing, just making a local decision to get out of their trenches and kick a football around. And then they returned to their trenches and they fought again. It’s a beautiful maturing of McCartney, and I think it’s a very touching song.”Dermot O’Leary, 52, who hosts the Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2, picked the closing sequence of Abbey Road - the last Beatles album in 1969 - Golden Slumbers into Carry That Weight into The End. He said: “It contains the perfect Paul lyric at the end. He said that it simply means the more you give, the more you get." He memorably performed it at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. It’s a hidden gem. Enjoy it right up to the final moment.Article continues below*Paul McCartney in 15 Songs is out at midnight on 24 May on Radio 2 and now on BBC SoundsREAD MORE: How The Rolling Stones almost died and got banned from Blackpool for over 40 years