Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof, best known for organizing the mammoth Live Aid extravaganza and political activism on behalf of Africa, was the founder of the widely acclaimed pop group The Boom Town Rats and has had an illustrious singing/song writing career spanning some 25 years.

From 1984 to1986, as the inspirational force and leader behind Band Aid, Live Aid, and Sport Aid, he raised more than $120 million for famine relief in Africa, as well as organized simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia to raise £50million. He remains Chairman of the Band Aid Trust.

Incredibly well-informed, Geldof not only is knowledgeable about African famines and aid organizations, but also about London and Washington politics. His presentations are highly provocative and inspiring, as he motivates his audience by sharing his own personal experiences and the lessons he learned from Live Aid.

Geldof has been awarded numerous honors for his work including a knighthood in 1986, UN World Hunger Award, an FAO Medal, an EEC Gold Medal, the Irish Peace Prize, and several other foreign State awards. He has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and he was made a Freeman of the City of Newcastle in 1986.

An astute businessman, Geldof, together with Charlie Parsons and Waheed Alli, formed the multi-award-winning Planet 24. A Radio and Television Production Company, it has become one of the largest independent television production companies in the UK through its daily broadcasts, which amount to over 600 hours of UK television per annum.

Planet 24 Radio has produced a string of successful shows for all BBC radio channels and the BBC World Service. The company supplies all the daily entertainment output to IRN and it provides daily syndicated programs worldwide to some 1000 stations in Australia, the US, the Far East, and Africa. Planet 24's television interests are now expanding internationally with a cable music venture in Poland, and Planet 24 America is working on a number of projects with the Disney Corporation.