'If I saw George and John again I would tell them I love them'

SIR Paul McCartney has paid a moving tribute to the two Beatles who are no longer with us.

- Mark Jefferies

Asked what he would like to say to late greats John Lennon and George Harrison, he said: "I would say, 'I love you'.

"Because growing up in Liverpool you never said that. You never told a guy you loved him, unless he was like your brother...And they were brothers."

John was only 40 when he was murdered by gunman Mark Chapman in New York in December 1980. George died at the age of 58, in November 2001, after battling cancer.

Superstar Sir Paul's heartfelt message to them comes in an interview in new documentary Beatles '64, released on Friday.

It tells the story of the Fab Four's first visit to America in the Sixties and how Beatlemania for the lads from Liverpool spread like wildfire across the United States.

John, Paul, George and Ringo Starr were catapulted to global fame after they arrived at JFK airport on February 7, 1964 and were greeted by thousands of screaming teenagers.