The Secret Policeman's Balls
The Secret Policeman's Ball is the collective name informally used to describe the long-running series of benefit shows staged in England to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started out in the mid-1970s primarily as comedy galas featuring popular British comedic performers and later expanded to include leading musical performers.
The shows have yielded movies, TV specials, home-videos, albums and books that have been distributed worldwide. The Secret Policeman's Ball shows and their spin-offs are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years. Musicians such as Bob Geldof, Bono, Sting and Peter Gabriel have credited the shows with inspiring benefit events that they subsequently helped organise such as Live Aid and Live 8 – and triggering their activism leading to social issue organisations with which they are associated including the Band Aid Trust, the Live Aid Foundation, the Witness human rights group, The Rainforest Foundation, the ONE Campaign, the Debt, AIDS & Trade in Africa DATA charity and the Global Elders.
To date there have been four distinct eras of the Amnesty benefit shows. The first era (1976–1981) featured internationally known British performers and were widely seen and heard internationally via theatrical films, TV specials, home-videos and record albums. The three subsequent eras (1987–1989, 1991–2001 and 2006 onwards) have featured primarily British performers popular in their homeland – and the spin-off products have been released mainly just in the UK.
In March 2012, a Secret Policeman's Ball took place in the United States for the first time. The one-night show at New York's Radio City Music Hall on Sunday March 4 was part of Amnesty's 50th anniversary commemorations. Little was released about the format or line-up prior to the event but it ultimately included a large number of famous British and American comedians and musical acts.
| Period | Range | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1976–1981 | The first four classic shows including the 1979 show that gave the series its title |
| 2nd | 1987–1989 | Sequel shows in the late 1980s. The last shows to bear the Secret Policeman's Ball title until 2006 |
| 3rd | 1991–2001 | Various Amnesty comedy benefits presented in the same style but not utilising the Secret Policeman's Ball title |
| 4th | 2006– | Revival of the Secret Policeman's Ball name as a distinct branding for Amnesty benefit shows |
Read more about The Secret Policeman's Balls: History, Film, Video and Audio Formats, Books
Famous quotes containing the words secret, policeman and/or balls:
“No one can keep a secret better than a child.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.”
—Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977)
“I count those feathered balls of soot
The moor-hen guides upon the stream,
To silence the envy in my thought;
And turn towards my chamber, caught
In the cold snows of a dream.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)