PAUL MCCARTNEY DENIES ELEANOR RIGBY

Singing legend Paul McCartney is crushing hopes that an important piece of Beatles memorabilia has been unearthed and is insisting he made the Eleanor Rigby character up. A 1911 pay slip from Liverpool, England, the hometown of the Fab Four, with the name E. Rigby on it is to be auctioned off amid claims it provided the original inspiration for the famous song. An advocate for disabled children believes she was sent the document after appealing to McCartney to donate money to a children's charity. But McCartney has potentially dashed Annie Mawson's hopes of a bumper payday, and he is saying he made up the title character of the classic song. McCartney says, "Eleanor Rigby is a totally fictitious character that I made up. If someone wants to spend money buying a document to prove a fictitious character exists, that's fine with me."The pay slip is due to go on sale in London later this month.

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