Bob Geldof received an emotional thank you from a waiter whose life was changed by Band Aid

During a recent trip to Montreal, a room service waiter originally from Ethiopia "threw himself" on Bob and told him how he and his sister had been taken to Band Aid-funded orphanages and schools after their parents had starved to death.

Bob told Billboard magazine: "He pulled out his wallet and he took out a photograph of himself, his wife and a six- or seven-year-old kid.

"They were wearing Manchester City football kits; I said, 'Man City, lame, but great kid. How's he doing at school?' And [the waiter] threw himself on me and buried his head in my chest and said, 'Thank you for my son. Thank you for my life.'

"It's a lot to take on. You can't say, 'Well, it's not actually me; it's, like, millions and millions of people.' But if it came down to just that, just that little boy in his Man City shirt, then 40 years - well worth it."

Bob and Midge are amazed both Band Aid and the song - of which they have just released a new version, featuring vocals from previous recordings mixed together - are still going strong after almost 40 years.

Midge said: "It was meant to be a six-month project spending the seven, eight million pounds it generated.

"Of course, within that six-month period it grew from a record into suddenly putting together Live Aid...and compounded by the fact that nobody thought for one nano second that if you make a Christmas record it might just get played every year.

"We could only focus on the Christmas of '84 going into '85; if we could get it to No. 1 over the Christmas period, great. But we never saw life beyond that.

"The last 39 years has proved that wrong."