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Alan Yentob engages Bob Geldof in a wide ranging discussion of the personal, musical, technological, and political events which comprise the backstory to the Live Aid Concert of 1985. 

At BFI Southbank, in the context of a TV festival leading up to the centennial of the Â鶹Éç, Alan Yentob engages Bob Geldof in a wide ranging discussion of the personal, musical, technological, and political events which comprise the backstory to a defining moment in Â鶹Éç history - the global TV event which was the Live Aid concert of 1985. 

Galvanised by a Â鶹Éç News report by Michael Buerk which focused on a humanitarian crisis of ‘biblical proportions’ as millions starved in Ethiopia, Geldof reveals new details about how luck, serendipity, and ferocious willpower coalesced and uniquely brought together for a common cause many of the world’s most acclaimed musicians. 

From his awestruck encounters with the likes of Quincy Jones, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen and many other other cultural titans, to lunch with presidents, to meetings with the heads of spy agencies, Geldof reveals how a network of global satellites - being used by broadcasters, private industry, governments, and intelligence agencies - were enlisted for the cause of one of the most widely watched events in human history.

45 minutes

Last on

New Year's Day 2023 15:10GMT

Credits

Role Contributor
Interviewed Guest Bob Geldof
Interviewer Alan Yentob
Executive Producer Janet Lee
Executive Producer Gabriel Jagger
Producer David Shulman
Director David Shulman

Broadcasts