Blog 12

In answer to Anjelica and Mary’s questions about the up-coming film, I don’t know any more than anybody else. There have been so many rumours and gossip that I have really lost count of the different stories to be used. I think Brian said recently that it is slated to start filming in the spring of next year and release in 2014. Alexis asked about Freddie’s thought regarding Sacha Baron Cohen portraying him. I don’t think Freddie would worry one way or the other who would be him, providing they do Freddie justice in the portrayal. I for one will be very interested to see how close it will be to the Freddie I knew. Mary also asked why Freddie made a solo album. I would refer her to the new documentary by Rhys Thomas, Freddie Mercury ‘The Great Pretender’, I think it well answers all she wanted to know. I would recommend this programme to Mitzy as well as it will answer her question about what Freddie was most proud of.

Oytun wanted to know about Freddie’s vocal nodules and family relations.
They were a problem for Freddie that have been well documented. They affected Freddie at various times during his career and actually caused the cancellation of some shows, notably 4 shows in Sun City, South Africa. Freddie constantly refused surgery for this problem as he was scared of the possible change to his vocal production, much the same reason he refused surgery to straighten his teeth. The treatment he used to have was an immediate injection of steroids to reduce the inflammation, but the main thing was resting the voice. There was no particular event that brought on the problem and its recurrence, only generally they would happen at the most inopportune times.
Freddie respected his family very much and of course loved them as such. It is true he was always nervous when they would be coming to Garden Lodge, everything had to be just perfect. I suppose, like many people, his father engendered a feeling in Freddie of wanting to be approved of. Freddie kept his family life very separate to his work/music life, as her wanted to spare his family exposure to the tabloids and everyday intrusion by the press.

Anton asked if Freddie wrote an autobiography.
No, Freddie’s interest in books really only extended to occasionally finding interesting facts about articles he collected, be it crystal or artworks.

Matthew asked about the origins of the name Freddie Mercury.
As most people know Freddie was born Farrohk Bulsara. It was during school days in India he started using the name Freddie, and was called this by all his friends. It wasn’t until Freddie had joined Queen that one day he came to a meeting and told the others he was changing his name to Mercury in his usual flamboyant way. He felt Mercury was much more ‘rock and roll’ than his birth name, and so had it changed by deed poll.

Emanuella and Alexx wanted to know about Freddie playing piano at home.
He didn’t play often. Usually it would be Mike Moran playing with Freddie and friends singing along. In these instances it would be anything from songs from the old Hollywood musicals to Christmas carols. I remember one Christmas Eve when he had some actress friends over, including Stephanie Beacham and Susannah York, we had a real Victorian traditional singing of carols around the piano, with Mike playing as usual. Freddie was always big on tradition.
As to any unreleased songs, I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think there is very much finished work available for the others to put together. Queen started many tracks that weren’t used on albums, but if the track didn’t develop, it was often discarded and they would work on something else.

Luis asked about
Freddie and sport.
Freddie watched sport on tv. He was more interested in rugby than football, as a friend of his was on the governing body in the UK. The only sports I actually saw him playing was a little table tennis on a table set up at the Musicland studio in Munich and some tennis, that he played in various places including his rented house in Los Angeles and Pikes Hotel on Ibiza.

And for Nikolaus here is the recipe;

Chilli con Carne

This is another dish I learned from my mother; it was a staple at Freddie’s parties and often used as a main meal during the week. In Mexico, the name of this dish translates as ‘chilli with meat’ and in that country, the dish often takes the roof out of your mouth for it is exactly that! In these gentler climes, it’s meat with some beans and a little bit of chilli powder added! At Garden Lodge, where half of us were children of the Raj, this dish fell between the two extremes. We never had to call the fire brigade so let’s leave it at that …

500gm lean minced beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 beef stock cube
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 410gm tin chopped tomatoes
1 410gm tin red kidney beans
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Cook the onions and garlic for about 7-10 minutes until they are soft. Add the meat and cook for about 15 minutes until starting to brown. Mix in the stock cube, cumin, coriander, chilli powder and seasoning and cook for a further 10-15 minutes. Add the tomatoes and mix well. Cover and cook gently for at least an hour. This can cook gently for longer with no detriment to the taste. Add the drained kidney beans and cook for a further ½ hour. We always served this with plain boiled rice.