40 Years After Live Aid, It's Still Personal for Bob Geldof
The BBC ran a report on what it called a 'biblical famine' in Ethiopia caused by drought and exacerbated by civil war. Searing images of emaciated and naked children were beamed for the first time into homes across Britain, and then around the world.
Geldof was incensed and horrified. How could this be happening in the 20th century? And what could he — an angry pop star — do about it?
On Sunday, it's 40 years since Live Aid, two epic concerts held in London and Philadelphia that he helped organize in response to that question. They were arguably the most successful charity events in history, and have a claim to be among the best gigs ever, too.
Geldof persuaded many of the world's most top artists at the time to play for free, including Queen, David Bowie, Madonna, the Who, Elton John, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney. The shows were seen by about 1.5 billion people in more than 150 countries and would go on to raise more than $140 million.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Patsy Kensit breaks shoulder in three places
Patsy Kensit has broken her shoulder in "three places". The actress - who was previously married to Oasis star Liam Gallagher - has revealed she suffered a nasty accident in June which left her in need of medical treatment, but she's now "healing" and is hoping a holiday with friends will help her recovery. In a post on Instagram, she wrote: "I broke my shoulder in 3 places 3 weeks ago!!! I'm healing and a slight boogie with my besties I'm staying with this week will be a tonic for sure ... Have a great weekend." Patsy was seen with her arm in a sling as she attended a performance of Fawlty Towers The Play in London's West End on Thursday evening (03.07.25) just 24 hours before her ex Liam was due to take to the stage for his first gig on the Oasis Live '25 Tour at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales on Friday (04.07.25). Patsy revealed the former couple's son Lennon will be at the first reunion gig, but she won't be attending. During an interview shown on ITV show Good Morning Britain, Patsy explained: "My 24-year-old son is gonna be there, and gonna have a lovely time, great for him to see all of that. I'm happy for his dad, I think it's a wonderful thing, but I won't be attending ... "I think I've said enough now about that. I send only love and light." Lennon, who was just nine years old when Oasis split in 2009 - has admitted he's going to go to as many tour dates as possible. He added to W magazine: "I can't wait. It's a massive, monumental thing, and it's going to be fantastic." Noel Gallagher's daughter Anais, also 25, will be photographing the Oasis tour and she's admitted she barely remembers their performances when she was a child as she was more interested in the sweet treats they kept backstage. She added to W: "I have memories of being super young at shows and falling asleep with ear defenders on ... The only thing I cared about was how many packets of Milky Way chocolate stars were in the dressing room." The Oasis Live '25 Tour starts in the UK in Cardiff on July 4 and will head to North America, South Korea, Japan, Australia and South America, where it will conclude in Sao Paulo, Brazil on November 25.
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rian Johnson reveals 'nothing really happened' with his scrapped Star Wars trilogy
Rian Johnson has revealed that he didn't get very far with developing his Star Wars trilogy. The Knives Out filmmaker made his Star Wars directing debut with 2017's The Last Jedi, and was rumoured to be working on another trilogy in the sci-fi franchise. Lifting the lid on what happened with the project, Johnson revealed that his talks with Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy didn't progress very far because he became preoccupied with his Knives Out murder-mystery franchise. "Nothing really happened with it," he told Rolling Stone. "We had a great time working together (on The Last Jedi), and they said, 'Let's keep doing it.' I said, 'Great!' I would kick ideas around with Kathy. "The short version is Knives Out happened. I went off and made Knives Out, and was off to the races, busy making murder mysteries." Johnson added that they had a "very conceptual" idea for his trilogy, but there "was never any outline or treatment or anything" because Knives Out came into the picture "fairly quickly after". The director launched his whodunnit franchise, starring Daniel Craig as the detective Benoit Blanc, in 2019 and followed it up with the second chapter, Glass Onion, in 2022. The third film, Wake Up Dead Man, will open the London Film Festival in October. While Johnson intends to keep making Knives Out films, he would be thrilled to work in the Star Wars universe again in the future. "It's the sort of thing if, down the line, there's an opportunity to do it, or do something else in Star Wars, I would be thrilled. But right now I'm just doing my own stuff, and pretty happy," he said.
Vogue
an hour ago
- Vogue
Let's Face It: We All Have a Wendy Jones
Anyone who has ever been in a relationship has a Wendy Jones: someone who lives and breathes so viscerally in your head they're practically part of you. You know everything about them, from the jeans they wear and the pilates studio they frequent to the names of their siblings and which Greek island they visited five years ago. You hear their voice when you close your eyes at night. You see their shadow lurking in every corner. You loathe them. You worship them. You're hopelessly addicted to them. Wendy Jones is a character in Lena Dunham's new Netflix series, Too Much. Played by Emily Ratajkowski, she is the new girlfriend of Zev (Michael Zegen), the ex of main character Jessica (Meg Stalter), whose fixation opens every episode by way of a voiceover addressing Wendy directly. 'Dear Wendy Jones,' says Jessica, before proceeding to unleash various soliloquies about her new life in London, where she has moved in search of a fresh start after her relationship of seven years with Zev came to an end. What follows throughout the 10-episode series are several social media deep dives and emotional outbursts illustrating the hold that Wendy has over Jessica's soul and spirit. She can think of little else and, at one point, pretends to watch an entire film with the man she's just started dating while secretly scrolling through Wendy's Instagram. It doesn't help that Wendy is an influencer, giving Jessica endless information and content to pore and cry over. To reduce this set of feelings to jealousy would be myopic. It's not that Jessica necessarily wants to get back with Zev. Nor is it even that she wants to be more like Wendy, with her self-made social empire and goddess-like face (this is EmRata, remember). The fixations we have on an ex's new partner run far deeper than that. I know that because I've experienced them—many, many times. Whenever an ex of mine has started dating someone new, I've seen it as an invitation to obsess. It's exciting, in a way, like the new partner becomes a blank whiteboard for me to project all of my worst insecurities onto. Generally, against my better judgement, I start by looking at her body: how does it look in comparison to mine? What clothes suit her figure that wouldn't suit mine? How much natural frizz is there in her hair when it dries naturally? Are her feet so wide that she often needs special shoes, or are they delicate and narrow, like a ballerina's?
