Eno: 'Brits think Bono is conning them'

Brian Eno has said that British people dislike Bono because he is a "big kind of person".

The producer told BBC's Arena that the U2 frontman is better liked elsewhere in the world, The Observer reports.

Eno said: "Bono commits the crime of rising above your station. To the British, it's the worst thing you can do.

"Bono is hated for doing something considered unbecoming for a popstar - meddling in things that apparently have nothing to do with him."

He continued: "He has a huge ego, no doubt about it. On the other hand, he has a huge brain and a huge heart. He's just a big kind of person. That's not easy for some to deal with.

"They don't mind in Italy. They like larger-than-life people there. In most places in the world they don't mind him. Here, they think he must be conning them."

Of working with U2 and Coldplay at the same time, Eno added: "It was fine. A few jokes. I felt like a philanderer who was with another woman and might make a slip and call her by the wrong name in bed.

"I had one computer that had all of the Coldplay stuff and all the U2 stuff. I had to very carefully label each folder because I was paranoid that I might end up with the same basic track for each group and I wouldn't notice until it was too late."