Young bob geldof biography book
Is that It?
Bob Geldof formed Band Aid, orchestrated Live Aid, and is the driving force behind Live 8. He has rallied the forces of rock performers all over the world and inspired millions to raise millions for the starving in Africa. He has met with world leaders and demanded that they change their aid policies. He has travelled in Africa and seen famine first-hand, and he has overseen the disbursement of the millions that Band Aid has raised.
In this vividly honest autobiography, written with wit, candour and characteristic energy, Geldof recounts his extraordinary childhood in Dublin and schooldays that were both horrifying and funny. He describes the origins of New Wave music and the beginnings, triumphs, and eventual eclipse of the Boomtown Rats. He writes of his years with Paula Yates, the formation of Band Aid and its achievements and he writes of his hopes for the future. Widely admired, Bob Geldof is nonetheless ferociously independent and remains the most charismatic and controversial public figure in Britain today.
‘It’s terrific… sheer Geldof, direct, loud-mouthed, honest, button-holing, obscene, compassionate, compelling… Everyone over thirteen should read it’
Hunter Davies, Evening Standard
‘He is funny, frank and often four-lettered - but never boring’
Financial Times
‘Plenty of bright, rebellious, style-setting, charismatic young men have swilled and fornicated, but not many of them have had the urge to kiss the wounded’
Clive James, Observer
‘(It) shows that by a combination of charm, loquaciousness and irrevocable moral certainty, a wayward, catholic, hand-reared boy can shift the world on its axis’
Sunday Times
Is That It?
I fear it's usually too late to read books you once desperately wanted, and while perusing little Bob's childhood stories I just think that all biographies are the same - all stories are the same.
Now that I read about Bob's behaviour after the thrashing by his father, I do not understand why I don't sympathise, when my views on corporal punishment correspond with his.
I read with odd detachment another familiar story, how he's a child alone in a house that's always dark and cold, sometimes just eats sugar on bread, but still dreads the sounds heralding his father's return, the weekends forced to spend with him. Bob has a man's body explode over him (hit by train), gets deflowered at 13 by a woman, nearly gets raped in a pea factory, never studies, becomes the mascot of a big-bellied whoreing road crew, does drugs and shoots bands in London and teaches in Spain.
The chapter where he sees the misery of Dublin upon his return (where I mainly wondered about vegetarian Jews) and then moves to Canada aptly has him say that his life seemed like a movie without a point - like the book so far, episodic, more experiences than ordinary folks, yet pointless. When he fears to be raped in a motel in Canada I not only wonder why this sounded out of time and unreal, but also if he isn't obsessed with being an object of male attention. He's 22 and hasn't had anything to do with making music yet.
Canada is the great divide, not the first time he's out of Ireland, but further away and sufficiently different to suddenly have him be a success, develop into a fully fledged doer, with the previous episodes giving no clue why he managed either. Returning to Dublin stiffles him like such a return does most exchange students, but while trying to set up an ads paper, he accidentially becomes a member of a band. The rest are des
Is That It
I fear it's usually too late to read books you once desperately wanted, and while perusing little Bob's childhood stories I just think that all biographies are the same - all stories are the same.
Now that I read about Bob's behaviour after the thrashing by his father, I do not understand why I don't sympathise, when my views on corporal punishment correspond with his.
I read with odd detachment another familiar story, how he's a child alone in a house that's always dark and cold, sometimes just eats sugar on bread, but still dreads the sounds heralding his father's return, the weekends forced to spend with him. Bob has a man's body explode over him (hit by train), gets deflowered at 13 by a woman, nearly gets raped in a pea factory, never studies, becomes the mascot of a big-bellied whoreing road crew, does drugs and shoots bands in London and teaches in Spain.
The chapter where he sees the misery of Dublin upon his return (where I mainly wondered about vegetarian Jews) and then moves to Canada aptly has him say that his life seemed like a movie without a point - like the book so far, episodic, more experiences than ordinary folks, yet pointless. When he fears to be raped in a motel in Canada I not only wonder why this sounded out of time and unreal, but also if he isn't obsessed with being an object of male attention. He's 22 and hasn't had anything to do with making music yet.
Canada is the great divide, not the first time he's out of Ireland, but further away and sufficiently different to suddenly have him be a success, develop into a fully fledged doer, with the previous episodes giving no clue why he managed either. Returning to Dublin stiffles him like such a return does most exchange students, but while trying to set up an ads paper, he accidentially becomes a member of a band. The rest are desc
Bob Geldof
Irish singer-songwriter and political activist (born 1951)
Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part of the punk rock movement. The band had UK number one hits with his co-compositions "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". Geldof starred as Pink in Pink Floyd's 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall. As a fundraiser, Geldof organised the charity supergroup Band Aid and the concerts Live Aid and Live 8, and co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?", one of the best-selling singles to date.
Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially his anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa. In 1984, he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. They went on to organise the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year and the Live 8 concerts in 2005. Geldof currently serves as an adviser to the ONE Campaign, co-founded by fellow Irish rock singer and activist Bono, and is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa.
Geldof was granted an honorary knighthood (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986 for his charity work in Africa: it is an honorary award as Geldof is an Irish citizen, but he is often referred to as 'Sir Bob'. He is a recipient of the Man of Peace title which recognises individuals who have made "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace", among numerous other awards and nominations. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Ou