Is Paul McCartney the world's most [something TK] person?

Who is the most popular/admired/respected/beloved living person? I'm not sure what the question should be, but the answer is likely Sir Paul.

Saturday Night Live chose to close its 50th anniversary show with Paul McCartney playing a medley from Abbey Road, “Golden Slumbers,” “The Weight,” and “The End,” a 56 year old album that’s a half dozen years older than SNL. Granted Sir Paul’s voice isn’t at it’s peak anymore, but, on the other hand, it’s quite a lot better than mine, yours, or most random 82-year-olds.

Why McCartney, whose most memorable SNL appearance was?

Chris Farley: You remember when you were with the Beatles?

Paul McCartney: Sure, sure.

Chris Farley: That was awesome!

Well, first of all, McCartney trumps all living SNL cast members, such as Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, and Will Ferrell. So rather than get into a dispute over who should go last, just say: “Paul McCartney has agreed to the last slot.”

Second, McCartney trumps all other musical guests. Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra aren’t around anymore. A surprising fraction of the Class of 1965 are still around — Ringo, Jagger, Richards, Dylan, Brian Wilson, and Paul Simon (who appeared).

But Paul McCartney was a Beatle and they were not.

Paul McCartney is probably the single most popular living human being in the sense that he could walk down the street in Boise or Jakarta or Riga and people would stop him and say:

You remember when you were with the Beatles?

Sure, sure.

That was awesome!

I’ve never quite figured out if McCartney is the answer to the question:

Who is the most popular/admired/respected/beloved living person?

But he’s up there for all of them.

For example, a number of years ago I tried to track down handshake links to Napoleon Bonaparte, who died 204 years ago: what are the fewest number of connections from Napoleon to a living celebrity who has shaken lots of hands?

Bonaparte gave a lengthy interview on Elba in 1814 to 26 year old Sir John Russell. This future prime minister of the UK (on and off from 1846 to 1866) helped raise his grandson Lord Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), the mathematician and philosopher. In 1965, Paul McCartney knocked on the nonagenarian Bertrand Russell’s door and asked him what to think about the Vietnam War. It’s widely assumed that John Lennon was the Political Beatle, but McCartney spent several hours on two visits going out of his way to find out what Lord Russell, as Britain’s most obviously wise elder, felt about the Vietnam War. (Russell and thus McCartney were against it.)

So, I proclaimed, the shortest handshake link from Napoleon to the current day was from Bonaparte thru the two Russells to Paul McCartney to the countless numbers of people who have shook the hand of the Beatle.

I’m sure there are other linkages, but Napoleon to McCartney sounds valid.