Paula Yates

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Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1959 – 17 September 2000) was an English television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast. She was in a relationship with musician Bob Geldof from 1976 to 1996. Yates died of a heroin overdose in 2000. Born on 24 April 1959 in Colwyn Bay, Wales to English parents, Yates was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl actress and writer of erotic novels from Blackpool, who used the stage name Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her biological father to be Jess Yates, who hosted the ITV religious programme Stars on Sunday. Jess Yates and Elaine Smith were married from 1958 to 1975. Jess Yates was 19 years older than his wife, and their marriage was unconventional. Yates described her childhood as lonely and isolated, as she spent much time alone at her rural house; her mother, she claimed, was absent for much of her upbringing. She attended school at Rowen Primary School, Penrhos College, and Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain. In 1979, Yates began her career as a music journalist with a column called "Natural Blonde" in t

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