The ex-lover of Oasis wildman Noel Gallagher revealed last night: "He was the most boring person in the world."

Diane McGrory says the singer-songwriter - who dramatically quit the band's US tour last week after a bust-up with his younger brother Liam - was a shy mummy's boy and a flop in bed.

"He was always worried about showing his skinny body," said former fiancee Diane.

The couple met nine years ago in a Manchester pub when Noel, then 20, was a penniless, cannabis-smoking no-hoper.

They later became engaged but dental nurse Diane dumped him two months afterwards, fearing he would never change from being a "lazy sponger".

Diane, now 27, got bored with Noel's daily routine of smoking dope and sitting in his bedroom at his mum's house writing songs.

She says he was ruled with a rod of iron by his strict Catholic mum Peggy and was hardly ever left alone in the house.

"Sex was obviously a difficulty," said Diane.

They went out only once in their 14-month affair - on a day-trip to Blackpool.

'He always did what his mum told him'

And to celebrate their snap engagement they went for a drink and a curry and then home to their separate beds.

"One day I came to my senses and dumped him," said Diane. "It was the best thing I ever did."

Noel and his brother Liam have boasted they stole from cars and homes and drank and swore when they were younger.

But Diane, who has a five-year-old daughter, said: "That's rubbish. Noel was too scared of his mum to do anything like that.

"He was nicknamed the Runner by his mates because he always fled from trouble. He did exactly what his mum told him to do.

"Everybody who knows him finds this hard image a big joke."

Diane was a bright 18-year-old when she first met Noel in the Pack Horse pub in Levenshulme, Manchester.

The pair drifted aimlessly into a relationship in which Diane worked hard and Noel sat at home day-dreaming about becoming a rock star.

Diane said: "Noel was very predictable. All he would do was see his mates of a day and of an evening we'd sit in his room at his mum's house and he'd smoke dope and play his guitar.

"Everything he did was low-key and boring. We just plodded along.

"We never went to night clubs, only to friends' birthday parties and the student union because it was cheap. He never even got drunk.

"He was in his own world and he had no range of emotion. Whatever he did have in the way of emotion he just kept to himself. He couldn't even have a good argument.

"It was very frustrating being with him because he never let himself go. I was always left feeling high-and-dry, physically and emotionally.

"I gave him a lot but didn't get very much back. I don't even remember him telling me that he loved me."

Noel was too scared to tell Diane face-to-face he wanted to get engaged. He phoned her to suggest it would be a good idea to settle down like their friends.

Hard-up Noel worked for his builder dad Tommy for a week as a labourer to earn enough to buy a pounds 50 engagement ring from a catalogue shop.

But the couple's sex life never really took off. Noel shared a bedroom with Liam, who was then still at school.

'He was hopeless at chatting me up'

And his strict Irish mum Peggy wouldn't leave the lovers alone in the house.

When Peggy went to Ireland at Christmas Noel, by then 21, was sent to stay with an aunt so he would behave.

But once Liam tried to catch the pair making love. Diane says: "Noel's mum was out and we were really alone together.

"But Liam came home early and we just held each other quietly and hoped he would not notice we were in. Then we heard a ladder scrape against the bedroom window. He was outside with all his mates.

"They were going to climb up to the window to catch us in bed together.

"Noel sprang up and shouted at him. That was typical of Liam - always a big-head, up to lots of tricks.

"But he's gone so wild now I don't think he's going to last much longer."

Diane said Noel's claims about getting inspiration from the Beatles are untrue.

She said: "He never even liked the Beatles. He only had one of their albums, Sergeant Pepper, and never played it."

The only good part of the relationship for Diane was the songs Noel wrote and dedicated to her. She even bought him a pounds 50 guitar to help him write songs.

She says: "He was hopeless at chat, never one for talking. Instead he used to write songs to tell me how he felt."

Diane says Noel wrote 50 for her, including Live Forever and Don't Look Back In Anger - which years later became big hits.

"He would walk me to the bus stop after a night together and then go back to his room at home and write me a song," she says.

"I was so proud that someone would do that for me and of his talent. I took the songs into work and showed all my friends."

The first time Diane heard Live Forever played on the radio she froze and shrieked "That's my song".

She adds: "I can remember so clearly the piece of paper he wrote the song on at the top of the page he had written in huge capitals Live Forever.

"It was about me and Noel, we were always in our own little world and that song is about us."

Diane says it was the same with Don't Look Back In Anger. "The words came out of the radio and I knew them almost off by heart.

"And my friends all say Wonderwall sums up what he felt about me.

"In the video they even have Liam in a dentist's chair just like at my work.

"The song means that I was his strength, his support, a wonderwall."

But two months after the engagement Diane was sick and tired of spending nights cooped up with Noel in his tiny bedroom paying for his layabout lifestyle.

She says: "He never had any money and if we went out I had to pay. He just wanted to sit in his room smoking cannabis and listening to music. I ended up paying for him to take drugs as well.

"I used to get taxis back from his house unless he needed the money when I'd give him pounds 5 and take the bus.

"He would go and buy cannabis with my taxi fare. I realised I had nothing left for myself, he was taking all the time and the relationship had to end."

Noel was heartbroken when Diane called the engagement off after a row about her going on holiday with her girlfriends to Greece.

She says: "First he started crying and then he just got really angry and swore at me."

A few months later they got back together but when Diane finally dumped Noel he demanded his songs back.

Noel, now a millionaire, told her: "These songs are going to make me famous one day, you're gonna regret this."