For the 2006 benefit show inspired by the original show, see: The Secret Policeman's Ball 2006.

For the 2008 benefit show inspired by the original show, see: The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008

The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008

The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 was the fourth show in the Secret Policeman's Balls series of benefit shows for Amnesty International.In July 2008, Amnesty announced that it would present another show in its long-running series Like its immediate predecessor, The Secret Policeman's Ball 2006 the...

.

For the entire series of Secret Policeman's Ball shows, see: The Secret Policeman's Balls

The Secret Policeman's Balls

The Secret Policeman's Balls 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...

.

For the DVD box set of Secret Policeman's Ball shows, see: The Secret Policeman's Balls (DVD box set)

The Secret Policeman's Balls (DVD box set)

The Secret Policeman's Balls is a 3-disc DVD box set released by Shout! Factory in the USA and Canada on 27 January 2009. The discs comprise comedic and musical performances given at a series of fund-raising events for Amnesty International known collectively as The Secret Policeman's Balls...

.

The Secret Policeman's Ball was the third of the benefit shows

Benefit concert

A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause at...

 staged by the British Section of Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 to raise funds for its research and campaign work in the human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 field. In later years, other Amnesty benefit shows also bore the Secret Policeman's title. They are informally referred to as The Secret Policeman's Balls

The Secret Policeman's Balls

The Secret Policeman's Balls 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 Secret Policeman's Ball took place over four consecutive nights in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in June 1979. It was a successor to the 1976 show A Poke In The Eye (With A Sharp Stick) (the film of which was titled Pleasure At Her Majesty's

Pleasure At Her Majesty's

Pleasure At Her Majesty's was the name given to the filmed release of A Poke In The Eye , the first of the Amnesty International comedy benefit galas. The title is a play on the phrase at Her Majesty's pleasure...

) and the 1977 show The Mermaid Frolics.

The show was directed by Monty Python

Monty Python

Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

 alumnus John Cleese

John Cleese

John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

 and producers Martin Lewis and Peter Walker. It subsequently yielded a one-hour TV special, a full-length movie, and two record albums (one each of comedy and music performances).

The show and its spin-off film and record albums were very influential in galvanizing the participation of entertainers in political and social causes in subsequent decades. Musicians-turned-activists such as Sting, Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel

Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...

, Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof

Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...

 and Bono

Bono

Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...

 have attributed their participation in human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 issues to their exposure to Amnesty via The Secret Policeman's Ball show. Bono told Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

Magazine in 1986 “I saw The Secret Policeman’s Ball and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..."