Corden and Macca in baby name deal reveal

The Gavin and Stacey star agreed to name his son after Paul McCartney in return for the former Beatle appearing in a TV sketch, it has been reported
Dave Benett
Agency18 October 2013
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

It has been revealed that James Corden agreed to name his son after Paul McCartney to persuade him to appear in a TV sketch.

The Gavin and Stacey actor had hoped to land the former Beatle's services to feature in a Comic Relief film - and he made a solemn promise to name his forthcoming baby after the musician.

The pair shared the story as they appeared on The Graham Norton Show.

Corden's son Max was born shortly after filming the sketch, broadcast in 2011, and was given a middle name McCartney.

Explaining his approach to Sir Paul, Corden said: "I laid it on very thick, telling him, 'people won't die if you do our sketch'. It makes it very difficult for people to say no.

"He said, 'bloody hell, James, I've heard some groveling in my time'. I then said, 'that's nothing - if you'd said no, I was going to say I would name my unborn child after you'. To which he said, 'if you promise to do that, I'll do the sketch'. And that's why my son is called Max McCartney Kimberley Corden."

Sir Paul, who performs on Norton's show, is promoting his latest album New and he said that his relationship with third wife Nancy Shevell had helped to inspire his music.

"Being loved-up helps," he said. "When I was writing the album in our early days, Nancy was in New York and she was five hours back so I would drop my little girl at school and I'd come home and I'd have a few hours where I didn't have anything on so I would write a song.

"I would then ring Nancy and say, 'Good morning, would you like to hear a song?'. I'd play her the song and it became a really great motivation."

Sir Paul said he had been cheered by the reaction to his first solo album of new material for six years.

"The response has been amazing. I am thrilled. When you are releasing a new album you sort of hold your breath and don't say anything too soon," he said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in