THE ROD COUPLE

ONE is the world's greatest rock guitarist, a man famous for years of sex, drugs and drink excess. The other is the strait-laced attack dog of TV's Newsnight.

Now, unlikely as it may seem, Eric Clapton and Jeremy Paxman have struck up a friendship based on a mutual love of FISHING.

The pair are on holiday in Scotland together to fish one of the most exclusive, sought-after and beautiful stretches of salmon river in the British Isles.

Clapton, 62, and Paxman, 57, are on the River Tay north of Perth, where locals have seen them taking to the water each day with two ghillies - the fishing equivalent of caddies in golf.

Clapton - nicknamed Slow Hand - discovered the therapeutic qualities of angling while in recovery from drink and drug addictions.

Paxman, who hosts University Challenge as well as Newsnight, is a well-known fishing enthusiast, who once wrote an article headlined: "Fish Are Stupid, They Have No Rights" in reply to campaigners who want the sport banned.

The pair are staying at a stately home overlooking the Tay, owned by local aristocrat William Lindsay and currently leased to a businessman from Cheshire, who lets it out to well-heeled anglers.

They have been joined by millionaire shadow chancellor George Osborne, heir to a wallpaper business fortune and one of Tory leader David Cameron's "Notting Hill set".

On Friday, Osborne acted as host as the pair had a long picnic lunch outside the luxury riverside lodge they have been using. Osborne, 35, who has a house near Paxman's in ultra-posh Notting Hill, poured red and white wine for the fishing party, but recovering alcoholic Clapton stuck to soft drinks.

Having Jeremy Paxman - who is expected to be impartial - pictured on holiday with Osborne may cause embarrassment to BBC chiefs, who were caught up in a row after fellow Newsnight anchor Kirsty Wark holidayed with then First Minister Jack McConnell in January 2005. Ms Wark invited the McConnells to stay with her family at her holiday home in Majorca.

Controversy erupted after she was pictured with her husband Alan Clements out on a stroll with Mr McConnell and his wife Bridget.

Following the row, Ms Wark was removed from the BBC's Scottish election night coverage in May 2005.

Clapton and Paxman - who flew into Edinburgh Airport on Wednesday where they were collected by a chauffeur - are fly-fishing on the Islamouth stretch of the Tay near the village of Stanley.

The beat costs pounds 2,000 a day to hire in September, peak season for salmon.

Fly-fishing is regarded as the toughest test of an angler's abilities and involves using man-made bait designed to mimic insects on the river surface.

Fly-fishers can go for hours on end without so much as a nibble from a fish.

Paxman appeared to be having better luck than Clapton, who has a fortune estimated at pounds 130 million but spent Friday afternoon looking decidedly glum on the river bank.

They have been fishing from boats steered by their ghillies, as well as using high waders to stand in the river to cast out.

A local onlooker said: "Eric looked a bit downcast - but that's flyfishing for you. It's a test for any level of angler, even on a stretch of river as good for salmon as this."

Clapton himself has said of fishing: "It's so different to what I do for a living. It's almost like meditation for me. I treat it as rest time.

"What I like about it is that I'm no better or worse than the average fisherman. It's a leveller for me.

"It's an everyman sport, whereas what I do on stage is not and exalts me to a very unreal position."

PAXO ON FISH..

'They're stupid and they have no rights'

CLAPTON ON FISH..

'It's like meditation for me.. I treat it as rest time'

10 ACTS ERIC COULD JOIN:

Dr Hook McFly Roachford Rod Stewart The Spin Doctors Cast Ace of Bass Phish Wet Wet Wet The Waterboys

10 CELEBS PAXO SHOULD GRILL:

Michael Fish

Ling Campbell

Feargal Sharkey

Brilly Savage

David Sole

Tuna Turner Carprice

Shirley Bassey

Clam Attlee

Whelkie Brooks

COMMENT: PAGE 14

t.smith@sundaymirror.co.uk

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