Mandela concert line-up revealed

Veteran rockers Queen will top the bill at an AIDS benefit concert in London next month to mark Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday.

Precisely 46,664 tickets will go on sale for the three-hour gig in Hyde Park on June 27. The concert is in support of the former South African president's 46664 campaign against AIDS.

Mr Mandela, now retired from public life, is said to make a rare appearance.

Other artists on the bill include Simple Minds, Annie Lennox, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Shirley Bassey, Jamelia, South African artists and the Sudanese "war child" rapper Emmanuel Jal.

"The concert will feature numerous unexpected appearances, with several major artists keeping silent about their involvement in order to take both Mr Mandela and the audience by surprise," organisers said in a statement.

Royalty, former US president Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, US actors Robert De Niro, Will Smith and Forest Whitaker, US television host Oprah Winfrey and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton are set to attend events spread over three days leading up to the concert.

The 46664 campaign, named after Mr Mandela's prison number during his 27-year incarceration, aims to raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic which is rife in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr Mandela lost a son to AIDS in January 2005.