h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 'Saint' Bob Geldof - singer, songwriter, charity campaigner. - A4158858
Author: Galaxy Babe - 13 supporters for the campaign for a galaxy smiley A4521214 - U128652

Have I done him justice, I wonder? I'm willing to add more and I'd appreciate any suggestions over anything I might have left out.

The 'young bob' section is very short - can you find out what schools he went to, what towns he lived in, his parents names, if he had brothers and sisters...?

Just popping in as I want to read this properly later, but a suggestion on the title. Some people might find the use of the word 'Saint' a little too frivolous. Would you consider replacing it - Sir Bob Geldof? Bit more accurate

I'm glad you've done this entry - will look forward to being able to link it to the Band Aid entries.

I have a hunch that technically he's not Sir Bob Geldof, he's 'Bob Geldof KBE'. Because he's not a British citizen (he's Irish), he isn't entitled to use 'Sir'. Can't remember where I saw that but it was very convincing at the time.

Mind you, I'm terribly gullible...

Whoops - have just read your entry properly and spotted that you've already said that. Tut tut Jimster - pay attention!

I enjoyed this but felt it a little bare in places, eg. Is Deckchair his only business interest? (I'd be impressed if he'd managed to live off the Boomtown Rats royalties for that long - they weren't that successful, were they? Clearly I'm in the wrong career.)

The quotes are fantastic.

Well 'Sir' is more accurate than 'Saint'.

Both are honourary titles, but I think he's more well known as 'Saint' but I agree it could be thought of as derogatory.

I could retitle it as Bob Geldof KBE but then anyone using the search engine for Saint Bob or Sir Bob wouldn't find it

Maybe I ought to post a request at Ask h2g2 for people to vote whether he's more well known as 'Saint' or 'Sir'?

I will pad out the entry (pardon the pun) I tried to today but it's extremely difficult to get on the computer when a pre-teen wants to play games

I've never heard of him referred to as 'saint' bob. But if you put it into the entry as what people know him as, then it will appear if people search for 'saint' bob. I think the title needs to be accurate though.

Agreed.

Title changed.

Should have posted new title

Hi Galaxy,

A worthwhile entry, I will agree . You've covered most of the points, but I would like to see some of them fleshed out a bit more.

Geldof came from a middle-class background, and went to Blackrock college, one of the most expensive schools in the country. Apparently he wasn't totally useless as a student if an interview with his dad on the radio a few weeks ago is anything to go by. However he was a rebel, and his school days certainly were not easy.

The Boomtown Rats also deserve a little bit more. Their emergence on the Irish celebrity scene in the late 1970's was really quite amazing. He went out to deliberately provoke what was at the time a very church-dominated arch-conservative country. Contraceptives were still banned then for heaven's sake . Their song 'Banana Republic' put up a mirror to Ireland that most people at the time would have denied existed. While the band were fairly short lived like most punk bands of the time, they still produced a number of fairly big international hits such as Rat Trap, and I Don't Like Mondays. My memories of the time was of him being one of the first people to use the F word on Ireland's broadcast service RTE; and burning a fiver live on a TV show when asked the question if he was rich.

You should definitely pad out the Live Aid work, as this was his greatest achievement in my opinion. While Live 8 was no mean feat, Live Aid was unprecedented at the time, and required a huge amount of determination.

Finally for now, no s! They are a bit of a distraction, to be honest. I don't think smileys work in Edited Guide entries. What Geldof said to Museveni may have to go (and I know exactly what he said ), I'm afraid.

Well done.

W

I think the smileys will have to go

Simulpost with the same suggestion in it. How ing unlikely is that?

Great minds think alike! And fools never differ...

Surely you need to include something about his campaign to change the law for fathers about custody of chidren after divorce? After all, he gets more letters about that than about Live Aid and had a two part TV programme about it last year.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-807377,00.html
http://www.fnf.org.uk/geldof.htm
http://www.spig.clara.net/geldof.htm

I know the smileys will have to go, it's just that they're swear words and I don't know how that will be handled by the sub-ed, shall I put in the swear words with the middle bits starred out?

I can't remove the Ethiopian quote - it's priceless and sums up Bob in a sentence. I also know exactly what was said - and by the prince's face, so did he, even if the interpreter was being diplomatic



I am going to flesh it out - honest.

#5 "Is Deckchair his only business interest?...."
He was Paula Yates' boss when she worked for the Big Breakfast because he owned the parent company Planet 24 at the time and sold it for £5 million, so no, he's not just living off Boomtown Rats royalties. I think he owns some TV companies abroad now.

Hi, Galaxy Babe!

I agree with a couple of the earlier posters that a few sections need to be filled out a bit.

"...Born to Irish parents on 5 October, 1954,..."
This is a bit skimpy, and could be taken to mean he was born to Irish parents living somewhere else. "..Born in County Dublin.." or "...Born in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland.." would be better, I think. Even a little bit more about the Boomtown Rats would help--"The controversial Dublin band who moved to London in 1976" or something similar.

In the Family section footnote, wasn't it on the Big Breakfast show that Yates met Hutchence? More importantly, you say "...Bob, by now with his partner, French actress Jeanne Marine, applied for and won temporary custody of the little girl..." but you don't actually mention Bob getting custody of his own three daughters first. I think his experiences at that stage, when Paula Yates seemed to be already out of control, coloured his strong views about fathers' rights.

His Planet 24 company, as well as making The Big Breakfast, owned the Survivor format which was a huge success in the USA.

You say
"...Twenty years after the success of Live Aid, Bob managed to organize another global concert,..." but you really need to say a bit about Live Aid first.

You could mention a couple of books that he wrote or co-wrote:
Is That It? His autobiography of his early career.
Geldof in Africa accompanying a recent BBC series.


Azara

I've had time to reas the entry more fully now - brace yerself :

The title - I think a more economical title would benefit the entry to be fair. I love the inclusion of KBE, so how about 'Bob Geldof, KBE - Musician and Activist'?

Family - I feel a teensy bit uncomfortable with the use of the word 'bizarre' to describe Hutchence's death. 'Bizarre' makes me think of being killed by an escaped bear or drowing in sherbert.

How about this?:

'Michael Hutchence died in 1997, found hanged in a hotel room. To this day the circumstances that led to his death remain unclear - was it suicide or auto-asphyxia? But his death left Paula Yates devastated: three years later, Yates was found dead of an apparently accidental drug overdose.'

Campaigns - Links to the Live Aid and Band Aid entries prevent repetition, but they do need at least an explanatory sentence or two, pointing out how Geldof reacted to a news report, wnet through his phone book and mobilised the pop world to do *something*. Then note that the result of his desire to do something is detailed in the separate entries on Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8. After all, it's for this that Geldof is famous more than anything else.

Okay, the issue of swearing. The best way to cover this is to include the first and last letter of the main word, with whatever tense suffix you need.

'F**k the address, it's the numbers we want'.


And now a new stylistic preference (ta-dahhh). Because non-h2g2 links don't work on the mobile service, we're veering away from including them at the bottom of entries and instead popping them into ... tags. We lay links out slightly differently there too.



For example.

Good entry, but I think it needs expanding, with some mention of the actual music he made, a bit more about his early life, the Boomtown Rats, and generalyl a bit more information, although it does give a clear and accurate picture of what the guy is actually like.

I've linked to it from my entry on Live 8 A4439289 , also in PR, so perhaps you could teturn the favour? It would be great to get both entries on the Front Page on the same day once they go through the editorial process, as they do relate.