"I can't get no..."

Stone Richards claims the daddy of all highs

LONDON: You don't need to be a rock historian to know Rolling Stone Keith Richards has enjoyed the odd narcotic.

But the legendary guitarist and songwriter, whose fondness for drugs has been openly acknowledged for decades, astonished even his hardened fans with his admission in British music bible NME that he once snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

Richards, 63, told the magazine his unusual experiment with paternally enhanced cocaine came after his father's cremation five years ago.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father.

"I snorted my father. He was cremated, and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow," Richards said in the interview, which was posted on NME's website. Richards's father, Bert, died in 2002 at the age of 84. "My dad wouldn't have cared," he said, adding: "It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

An NME spokeswoman said the story was genuine and not a late April Fool's joke. But Richards' long-time manager Jane Rose last night insisted the rocker was joking. "Can't believe anyone took it seriously," Ms Rose told MTV News.

Richards said he was proud of his ability to survive despite the excesses of his lifestyle.

"I was No1 on the 'Who's Likely To Die' list for 10 years. Some doctor told me I had six months to live, and I went to their funeral."

But he admitted his survival was partly the result of luck.