A tirade in blue

For eight years Bob Geldof kept silent about Paula Yates, Michael Hutchence and their affair's bleak aftermath. Now he has written an album about them. He talks to Caroline Sullivan.

Bob Geldof is reputed to make women forget themselves. His glamorous consorts - first Paula Yates and, for the past few years, the French actress Jeanne Marine - attest to his unlikely pulling power, and even some journalists apparently gibber like teenagers when they meet him

During a brief stint as a DJ at the London station Xfm - one one of the many things he's turned his hand to since Live Aid made him a household name in 1985 - one interviewer was so floored that she wrote: :he's very, very sexy…he was looking at me and sending shivers down my spine"

Geldof turned 50 on October 5th. "Its weird that I'm 50" he says. " You look like shit at 50. Though with me, that's been a lifelong given".

Its impossible to believe Geldof is about to enter is sixth decade. Although his life, personal and professional, has taken improbably dramatic turns since Live Aid, Physically he barely seems to have changed since that day. His oft-stated aversion to bathing may have had a preservative affect, but it's more likely that he has just been lucky with his Irish-Belgian(the latter on his fathers side) genes.

The uncombed mop is flecked with grey and the bags under his eyes are a trifle baggier, but otherwise there's little difference between Geldof 2001 and the 1980's firebrand. Nor have his mannerisms changed: the gesticulating to make his point, the way words tumble out, seemingly inedited, in an accent that's overwhelmingly Dublin even after 25 years in London.

Geldof is still passionate, still driven by whatever forces led him to launch what was then the world's biggest charity appeal single-handed. He approaches each new project with equal intensity, whether it's getting his broadcasting company Ten Alps listed on the London Stock Exchange)he owns 12 per cent of the £9 million Firm, which he set up after selling his interest in the TV production company Planet 24 to Carlton for £5 million ; petitioning world leaders with Bono on behalf of the Drop the debt campaign; or promoting his new album, sex, age & death.