Some people need to get a life. In 1964, the Beatles, when interviewed about their all conquering trip to the USA were asked 'How did you find America', John quipped 'We turned left at Greenland'

No-one in the U.S. found this a flippant put down, that they weren't raving about 'their' precious homeland etc etc - do you know what they did instead those people went out and bought millions and millions of their records that gave a Liverpool group another piece of history -the top 5 songs in the U.S. Billboard, never done before or bettered since.

The quip was so obviously tongue in cheek (have you seen his previous interviews, he always plays up to the camera) and yet with a hint of truth and he did go on right afterwards to say he loves Liverpool and in his 08 interview says you can live anywhere but he'll always be from Liverpool. If he hadn't shown up for the opening ceromony it'd have been moaners about him being arrogant and thinking he was too big for it or something and if he really came to just advertise his new single, wouldn't he have 'lied' and said 'oh yeah, Liverpool is great blah blah blah' - some things don't need stating.

As an aside, some little corrections. Ringo wasn't wheeled out of retirement as he tours every few years, Ringo didn't sing When i'm 64 and around 40% of those hits weren't written in the 50s and early 60s. They are also not a roadblock when it comes to celebrating the city's famous - they are a big part of it.