Sir Paul McCartney has been spotted in Liverpool on July 29 as Liverpoolecho reports.
The former Beatle was back in his hometown for a graduation ceremony at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) this afternoon. Around 330 students from 30 countries attended the ceremony at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall after finishing their degrees.
LIPA was founded by Sir Paul and Mark Featherstone-Witty and opened in 1995 with the aim of providing the best teaching and learning for people who want to pursue a lasting career in the arts and entertainment industry.
Poet Simon Armitage was made a companion of the college by McCartney at the ceremony alongside Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan and UK Eurovision representative Sonia.
Rock legend and former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, who was not at the event, was also made a companion.
Previous honourees include award-winning musical pioneer Nile Rodgers and Blackadder stars Rowan Atkinson and Stephen Fry.
Sean McNamara, LIPA's principal and chief executive, said: "In the realm of the performing arts, creativity knows no bounds. Whether it be through music, dance, theatre, or any other form of expression, the performing arts provide us with a unique platform to communicate, and to serve as a mirror to society, reflecting our collective joys, sorrows, hopes, and struggles.
"The world of 2020, when many of our graduating students entered LIPA, was profoundly different to the one of today. The resilience and determination our students have displayed is an inspiration."
The awards are given for "outstanding achievement and practical contribution to students' learning". Poet Laureate Armitage, who has won an Ivor Novello Award and a Bafta, spent six weeks with LIPA students last year as they worked together to create a new performance of the Mesopotamian epic poem Gilgamesh.
McCartney usually visits the city for the graduation of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA), of which he is a co-founder, and those visits are usually known in advance. “This visit was a shock because we didn’t know he was here. And he just walked to us as we were taking the pictures. About 30-40 people were around, maybe. And he just stood and got pictures with everybody at the statue. He stood by himself.”
The family moved in 1995 into the home at 20 Forthlin Ave., which is now owned by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty. McCartney’s mother, Mary, died of breast cancer the following year at the age of 47. And he remembered being horrified when his mother prepared tongue for the family. "I remember vividly tongue arriving and she was trying to vary our diet and it was 'no way am I going to touch that' - because it was a tongue,"
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