LONDON – A hint of autumnal Beatlemania was in the air Sunday as Paul McCartney, for the second time in his life, climbed the steps of Old Marylebone Town Hall to take himself a bride.

True, thousands of heartbroken female fans crowded the building in 1969 when he married Linda Eastman, and only a few hundred showed up Sunday as he wed another American, New York businesswoman Nancy Shevell, at the very same registry office.

But the feeling this time was not regret at the loss of a bachelor heartthrob. Instead there was joy that Sir Paul, 69, revered the world over, seemed happy again.

The former Beatle raised his bride’s hand in triumph as he walked down the steps after a civil ceremony attended by close family and friends, including drummer Ringo Starr and Barbara Walters, a second cousin of the bride.

“I feel absolutely wonderful,” McCartney said as he arrived at his home after the ceremony. He was expected to sing a new song he had composed for his bride at the reception.

Gone was the memory of McCartney’s unhappy marriage to Heather Mills, which ended in 2008. Remembered was his marriage to Eastman, a serene union that lasted nearly 30 years until her life was cut short by breast cancer.

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Sunday’s ceremony was everything his wedding to Mills was not: simple, understated, almost matter of fact. By contrast, McCartney and Mills married in a lavish spectacle at a remote Irish castle that was occasionally disrupted by news helicopters flying overhead, hoping for a glimpse of the A-list guests.

Shevell, 51, vice president of a family-owned transportation conglomerate, appeared radiant in an elegant ivory gown cut just above the knee.

The dress was designed by McCartney’s daughter, Stella, who also helped concoct the vegetarian feast served at the reception at McCartney’s home in St. John’s Wood.

McCartney, who has long admitted to tinting his hair to keep out the gray, looked youthful in a well-cut blue suit and pale blue, skinny tie.

The couple married on what would have been band mate John Lennon’s 71st birthday.

The wedding party included Beatrice, McCartney’s young daughter with Mills.

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Husband ‘optimistic’ ahead of Gabor surgery

LOS ANGELES – Zsa Zsa Gabor’s husband says the 94-year-old actress will undergo an operation at a Los Angeles hospital where she also is being treated for an infection.

Frederic Prinz von Anhalt said Sunday that doctors at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center planned to reattach a tube in Gabor’s stomach that became loose and led to bleeding. The celebrity socialite was rushed to the hospital Saturday.

Von Anhalt said Gabor has opened her eyes but is not speaking or responding.

He called her a “fighter” and said he’s “very optimistic.”

Gabor has been hospitalized repeatedly since falling out of bed and breaking her hip in July 2010. She had a leg amputated in January..

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Civil rights icon marks 90th

ATLANTA – President Obama and Stevie Wonder were among those wishing civil rights icon the Rev. Joseph Lowery a happy 90th birthday.

On Sunday night in Atlanta, Lowery was praised for his living legacy as he continues to fight against hunger, poverty, racism and injustice. He has lived to see an end to segregation and the rise of the nation’s first black president, and says there is still work for him to do on issues of social justice and equality.

In a brief video tribute, Obama thanked Lowery for his friendship and counsel, saying, “I don’t know where this country would be without your leadership.”

Obama awarded Lowery the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010.

 


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