Early Life
Geldof was born and raised in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, the son of Evelyn and Robert (known as Rob) Geldof, and attended Blackrock College. His paternal grandfather was a Belgian immigrant, Zenon (sometimes mistakenly spelt Lenon) Geldof (1882-1939), who was a hotel chef, and his paternal grandmother, Amelia "Minnie" Falk, was a Jewish English woman (born 1873 in London). Zenon Geldof and Amelia Falk were married in 1906 in Westminster and had four children: Herbert (Sonny), Robert, Cleo Zenobie Geldof (born 1906 in Grantham), and May Geldof (born 1909 in Dublin).
At the age of 41, Geldof's mother complained of a headache and died shortly thereafter, having suffered a haemorrhage. Geldof attended Blackrock College in Dublin, whose Catholic ethos he disliked. He was bullied for his lack of rugby prowess and over his third forename, Zenon. After work as a slaughter man, road navvy and pea canner in Wisbech, he started as a music journalist in Vancouver, Canada, for the weekly publication Georgia Straight.
Read more about this topic: Bob Geldof
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“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
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