Charlie Watts hasn't read his Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards' book.

The 'Paint it Black' drummer didn't bother to cast his eyes over the guitarist's autobiography - which caused controversy when it was published because Keith mocked singer Sir Mick Jagger for having a small penis in its pages - as he saw most of the incidents described first hand.

He said: ''I don't have to [read it]. I know him. He very kindly sent me a signed copy because I love signed books - I collect them - but it wasn't for me.''

Keith upset his bandmate Mick when he released his autobiography 'Life' by claiming in the book his ex-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull had ''no fun'' with Mick in bed because the frontman has a ''tiny'' penis.

After he had completed the tome, the 68-year-old musician admitted he had found out he was ''much meaner than he thought'' when he started writing it.

Keith said: ''I learned that I'm a much meaner b*****d than I'd thought. But at the same time I realized how much Friendship meant to me, and how much my friendship had meant to other people, which I hadn't thought about before.

''It is The Rock 'n' roll life and you had to invent it as you went along. There was no textbook to say how you operate this machinery. You didn't know you were always walking on The Edge of disasters, and there was no one to turn to and say, 'How do you feel?' because no one had been there before.''