Sir Paul McCartney has denied that his former Beatles band mate John Lennon ever tried to make a sexual advance on him.

A new book about Lennon, who died in 1980, claims that the former Beatle wanted a gay relationship with Sir Paul.

But in a new interview, Sir Paul has rubbished the claims, saying the pair only occasionally shared a bed on tour.

"I don't think (the gay claims) are true. John never ever tried anything, I slept with him a million times,” he told the Sun newspaper.

"I've seen him on tour roaring drunk, out of his mind in the early days before he sobered up and went to rehab. Roaring drunk and it was always with a female, never once.

"If you've got a little gay tendency and your roaring drunk I'd have caught him once."

As previously reported, John Lennon: The Life, also claims that Lennon had sexual fantasies about his mother.

Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow, has already criticised the book, which is written by respected biographer Philip Norman.

(by Jason Gregory)