I'm not gay, says Townshend

The Who's Pete Townshend has admitted to having gay affairs during his drug-fuelled past.

The guitarist and songwriter said he had sex with men "consciously" and "unconsciously" during the Sixties. He made the revelations in rock magazine Rolling Stone after his former friend Danny Fields claimed in a book that the pair had been "boyfriend and boyfriend".

Townshend, 57, who is touring the US following the death of Who colleague John Entwistle, is furious and accused Field, the former Ramones manager, of drugging him and taking advantage of him. He said: "I think there's only two cases where I've experimented consciously and I think Danny's situation might be one where it might be said I experimented unconsciously. It's a bit of a shock for me but there it is."

Townshend said: "To be honest, I can't remember much about any of it. It was to do with the fact that I was actually completely smashed out of my head.

"I'm 57, I've got a young girlfriend, I'm not gay. I'm not interested in men. I don't think I really have been."

Fields denied that he drugged Townshend to have sex with him.