University music honour for Geldof

5:40pm Monday 27th October 2008

Musician and charity campaigner Bob Geldof was struck by a sense of nostalgia as he picked up an honorary degree.

The former Boomtown Rat joined hundreds of students from the University of East London at the graduation ceremony at the city's Barbican Centre.

He joked that for him east London will always be the place he picked his daughters up after nights on the town.

He said: "East London means to me mostly where my kids go out at night, and I have to go and pick them up - Shoreditch, Dalston, those kind of places.

"I have lived in London most of my life, and east London is probably the most fluid part of London. There's a constant influx of people, immigrants like myself, so it's great to come here and see this mix of people now all amazingly well-qualified."

Geldof received his Honorary Doctorate in music after hundreds of graduates picked up their own degrees in the fields of science and technology.

He was presented with the award for his significant contribution to music and the arts, and for fighting hunger and poverty worldwide.

Geldof joked: "I actually thought you were going to be a bunch of musos, it turns out you're geeks. I've absolutely no idea what you've just received your degrees for - empirical studies, expressive external systems engineering - whatever, I thought engineers built bridges."

Speaking after the graduation ceremony, Geldof refused to answer questions about his daughter Peaches' recent marriage.

He said: "I don't answer questions about my daughter's private life."