By Bridget Johnson, your guide to Journalism

Beatle = royalty = world news! The divorce settlement of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills was decided by a judge today for about $48.6 million, or more than $10 million for each year of the pair’s marriage (or the annual budget revenue of Comoros). Also, Sir Paul will have to fork over $70,000 per year to raise the couple’s daughter, Beatrice, and also pay for nannies and schooling. More from the AP:

“McCartney, 65, and Mills, 40, went to court last month to decide on Mills’ share of his fortune, which had been estimated at as much as $1.6 billion.


Judge Hugh Bennett, however, found that the total value of all of McCartney’s assets, including his business assets, was about $800 million.


Mills said the settlement vindicated her decision to fire her lawyers. The legal fees, she said, instead ‘could easily go to charity.’


‘Obviously the court do not want a litigant in person to do well, it’s against everything that they ever wish, so when they write the judgment up they’re never going to make it look in favor,’ she said.


‘But all of you that have researched know that it was always going to be a figure between 20 and 30 million (pounds), Paul was offering a lot less than that, which you’ll see in the judgment, and very much last minute to put me and Beatrice sadly through this … incredibly sad.’


Mills had sought almost $250 million, while McCartney had said she should receive $31.6 million, including her own assets, which the court assessed at $15.6 million.”

Dignified as always, Sir Paul had no comment. Mills prattled more about her charity work. And the British tabs — as always — had the juicy details. Namely, at The Sun: “Mucca chucksa cuppa water over Macca’s lawyer Shacka” — or, in American speak, Mills soaked Sir Paul’s lawyer with a glass of water.

“The amount was far less than the £125million she wanted.


And as the hearing ended, witnesses said Mucca calmly picked up the water and soaked lawyer Fiona Shackleton.


The brief, dubbed Shacka, had arrived at LondonÂ’s High Court with a neat bouffant at 10.15am. She left looking bedraggled at 1.50pm.


Heather, 40, last night refused to admit pouring the water, which judge Mr Justice Bennett could have viewed as contempt.


But she laughingly boasted that Ms Shackleton, 51, had been ‘baptised in court’ — and a source confirmed to The Sun that she was behind the attack.


A witness said: ‘Heather tipped the water over FionaÂ’s head.


‘She didnÂ’t throw it. It was cool, calm and collected. It trickled down FionaÂ’s neck.


‘She waited until the hearing was over. The judge would have taken a very dim view of it if heÂ’d seen it.’”

(Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)