Top News Stories –

Bob Geldof to record Band Aid 30 –
Plans are under way to pull together a host of music stars to create the fourth incarnation of the Band Aid charity single. The men behind Do They Know It’s Christmas are expected to announce the line-up on Monday for Band Aid 30. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure first gathered a group of musicians together in 1984, raising £8m for famine relief in Ethiopia. Do They Know It’s Christmas was recorded again in 1989 and 2004. Geldof and Ure will be hoping to gather some of today’s most popular music acts including One Direction, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. It is thought the money raised will go towards the fight against Ebola in West Africa. [BBC]
Bob Geldof

Bubbles the chimp delayed Jacko and Freddie’s duet by nearly 30 years… as he drove the Queen frontman ape –
It has been billed as a rare moment in music history – the release of the only song ever recorded by Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson together. The unfinished track, which is going on sale tomorrow, was discovered only by chance after languishing for nearly 30 years at the bottom of a vault – and has been reworked by the surviving members of Mercury’s band Queen. There Must Be More To Life Than This, was never completed back in the 1980s due to the increasingly erratic behaviour of Jackson and the antics of his pet chimp Bubbles. Mercury, then at the height of his powers as a performing artist, complained that Bubbles was a bizarre distraction because Jackson insisted on bringing the animal into the studio and asking for its views on their singing. The Queen frontman, who was famed for his tempestuous nature, finally stormed out of the recording after telling friends: ‘I’m not performing with a f****** chimp sitting next to me each night.’ [Daily Mail]

Video of the Day –

Do They Know It’s Christmas (1984)

List of the Day –

Artists on Do They Know It’s Christmas (1984)

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Other News Stories –

Arts and culture

• Tens of thousands of people gather in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate to mark the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• Nine people die after a light plane crashes on an approach to the island of Grand Bahama. The dead include preacher Myles Munroe. (AP via Fox News), (NBC News)

Health

• Portugal reports at least 180 cases of Legionella and five fatalities in an outbreak. (Diário de Notícias)

Politics and elections

• The Catalan people vote in a referendum on whether and how they should exercise self-determination. The Spanish government in Madrid does not recognise the authority of the vote. (BBC)

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