Sir Paul McCartney has revealed that John Lennon once played a gig in his underwear with a toilet seat around his neck.

In an interview with Shortlist magazine, Sir Paul said the incident took place early on in The Beatles' career during a drunken evening in Hamburg.

“Occasionally, you'd think you had three shows in the evening and after the third you might party down a bit,” he said.

“Then you were told you'd got four. So I do remember John coming on once in his underpants with a toilet seat around his neck.”

Sir Paul added that there was “plenty of wildness back then”, but that the band were “a fairly sober lot compared to some of the guys”.

“We were so knackered, working the amount that we did, that we mainly slept.”

Sir Paul headlined the Isle of Wight festival last weekend, and is due to perform at Hard Rock Calling in London later this month.

(by Jason Gregory)