Happy Birthday Freddie

Freddie Mercury

Today, September 5th, would have been the 65th birthday of British rock legend Freddie Mercury, the Queen frontman who died on November 24, 1991 from bronchopneumonia that resulted from a years-long battle with HIV/AIDS. He was 45-years-old. So, happy 65th Birthday to Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara - Gujarati: ફારોખ બલ્સારા). He is still here in spirit. He has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music.

Freddie was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Africa (now part of Tanzania). His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the then province of Bombay Presidency in British India. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar (also known as Valsad) in southern Gujarat. As Parsis, Mercury and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion. The Bulsara family had moved to Zanzibar so that his father could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office. He had a younger sister, Kashmira.


Live @ Wembley Stadium in 1986

At the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. The family moved into a small house in Feltham, Middlesex, England. Mercury enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic (now West Thames College) in West London where he studied art. He ultimately earned a Diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College, later using these skills to design the Queen crest. Mercury remained a British citizen for the rest of his life.


Google Doodle

To honour this musical genius, Google has created a 98-second-long animation, set to Queen’s 1978 hit “Don’t Stop Me Now,” which was written by Mercury. The Google Doodle appears on the Google homepage for many countries around the world — not the US, however, as they are celebrating Labor Day, not Freddie Mercury’s birthday.



Accompanying Mercury’s Google Doodle is a revealing and heartfelt blog post by Queen guitarist, Dr. Brian May, which appears on the official Google blog.

“To create with Freddie was always stimulating to the max. He was daring, always sensing a way to get outside the box. Sometimes he was too far out … and he’d usually be the first to realise it. With a conspiratorial smile he would say ‘Oh … did I lose it, dears?!’ But usually there was sense in his nonsense—art in his madness. It was liberating. I think he encouraged us all in his way, to believe in our own madness, and the collective mad power of the group Queen.

“Freddie would have been 65 this year, and even though physically he is not here, his presence seems more potent than ever. Freddie made the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected. He gave people proof that a man could achieve his dreams—made them feel that through him they were overcoming their own shyness, and becoming the powerful figure of their ambitions. And he lived life to the full. He devoured life. He celebrated every minute. And, like a great comet, he left a luminous trail which will sparkle for many a generation to come.”



The Google Doodle is the work of illustrator Jennifer Hom and her team, who spent three months creating the intricate illustration. “Considering how colorful Freddie’s career was, we wanted to create a doodle that was just as colorful,” Hom told NBC. “We’re all really excited because it is such a big doodle,” Hom added. “It’s definitely not our normal doodle.”



In addition to the Google Doodle, the Freddie For A Day fundraising campaign has released the entire one-hour-and-36-minute video of Queen’s classic performance at Wembley Stadium in 1986, in honor of Mercury’s 65th birthday. Proceeds raised by the Freddie For A Day campaign go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity set up in Freddie Mercury’s name to help fight HIV/AIDS.

Happy Birthday Freddie

Freddie Mercury

Today, September 5th, would have been the 65th birthday of British rock legend Freddie Mercury, the Queen frontman who died on November 24, 1991 from bronchopneumonia that resulted from a years-long battle with HIV/AIDS. He was 45-years-old. So, happy 65th Birthday to Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara - Gujarati: ફારોખ બલ્સારા). He is still here in spirit. He has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star". In 2006, Time Asia named him as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years, and he continues to be voted one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music.

Freddie was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Africa (now part of Tanzania). His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the then province of Bombay Presidency in British India. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar (also known as Valsad) in southern Gujarat. As Parsis, Mercury and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion. The Bulsara family had moved to Zanzibar so that his father could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office. He had a younger sister, Kashmira.


Live @ Wembley Stadium in 1986

At the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. The family moved into a small house in Feltham, Middlesex, England. Mercury enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic (now West Thames College) in West London where he studied art. He ultimately earned a Diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College, later using these skills to design the Queen crest. Mercury remained a British citizen for the rest of his life.


Google Doodle

To honour this musical genius, Google has created a 98-second-long animation, set to Queen’s 1978 hit “Don’t Stop Me Now,” which was written by Mercury. The Google Doodle appears on the Google homepage for many countries around the world — not the US, however, as they are celebrating Labor Day, not Freddie Mercury’s birthday.



Accompanying Mercury’s Google Doodle is a revealing and heartfelt blog post by Queen guitarist, Dr. Brian May, which appears on the official Google blog.

“To create with Freddie was always stimulating to the max. He was daring, always sensing a way to get outside the box. Sometimes he was too far out … and he’d usually be the first to realise it. With a conspiratorial smile he would say ‘Oh … did I lose it, dears?!’ But usually there was sense in his nonsense—art in his madness. It was liberating. I think he encouraged us all in his way, to believe in our own madness, and the collective mad power of the group Queen.

“Freddie would have been 65 this year, and even though physically he is not here, his presence seems more potent than ever. Freddie made the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected. He gave people proof that a man could achieve his dreams—made them feel that through him they were overcoming their own shyness, and becoming the powerful figure of their ambitions. And he lived life to the full. He devoured life. He celebrated every minute. And, like a great comet, he left a luminous trail which will sparkle for many a generation to come.”



The Google Doodle is the work of illustrator Jennifer Hom and her team, who spent three months creating the intricate illustration. “Considering how colorful Freddie’s career was, we wanted to create a doodle that was just as colorful,” Hom told NBC. “We’re all really excited because it is such a big doodle,” Hom added. “It’s definitely not our normal doodle.”



In addition to the Google Doodle, the Freddie For A Day fundraising campaign has released the entire one-hour-and-36-minute video of Queen’s classic performance at Wembley Stadium in 1986, in honor of Mercury’s 65th birthday. Proceeds raised by the Freddie For A Day campaign go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a charity set up in Freddie Mercury’s name to help fight HIV/AIDS.

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor 1932 - 2011

Like many I was saddened at the passing of Dame Elizabeth Taylor today. A great actress and humanitarian she had received the British honour and was entitled to use the style as she was born in Britain to American parents. She first achieved fame at the age of twelve thanks to her starring role in National Velvet but we must also remember that she became a gifted actress with four Oscar nominations and two Oscars to her name for Butterfield 8 and her second Oscar came in 1967 for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, one of 12 films she made with Richard Burton.



She was the highest-paid actress of her time, negotiating a cool $1m for her role in Cleopatra, as well as a share of the profits for the film. This is now the model for many big stars. Cleopatra was however an awful movie which elicited the world’s greatest ever movie review from the famed and feared critic of the New York Times who confined his review to just one line “Last night Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton barged down the Nile and sank!”


“Last night Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton barged down the Nile and sank!”

She was a great believer in marriage, being famously married eight times, twice to her inamoratas’ Richard Burton. By her mid twenties she had been married three times, divorced twice and widowed once; surely a modern day morality tale of sorts. She was extraordinarily beautiful, and was considered an accomplished actress by her peers. That's not true of a lot of celebrities that today's media are obsessed with but in many ways she was the template of the modern celebrity endorsing products and being associated with a “cause.”

Her son, Michael Wilding, made a statement that celebrated his mother’s life.

“My mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor, and love. We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it.”



Her business acumen extended beyond Hollywood. By creating her own jewellery line and a successful perfume range, she became a pioneer in marketing a celebrity merchandise brand. Stars including Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears all now have personal branded lines.

She was not unknown in this neck of the woods in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The Bell in Aston Clinton used to be one of England’s top restaurants and a straight run out of London from studios at Elstree and Pinewood. It was popular with the luvvies; pictures of the Burton and Taylor used to adorn its walls when it was still a proper restaurant. She and Burton were visitors to that other great movie couple who lived near Thame at Notley Abbey, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. They were also visitors to Sir John Gielgud at South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood, Bucks, now the country home of Tony and Cherie Blair.



It is hard today to remember her impact on creating celebrity culture but the photos of her bikini clad on a yacht with Burton in 1962 caused an absolute sensation, such steamy paparazzi photos were unknown in those days and the story ran and ran and probably will continue to run now she is dead. The Vatican at the time accused them of "Erotic vagrancy" and Burton's wife actress Sybil Williams fled the set of Cleopatra and headed back to England.


Notley Abbey


Sir John Gielgud's former home at South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood

In her last interview in this month's edition of 'Harper's Bazaar', when asked about all the husbands and jewellery. Taylor responded: "I never planned to acquire a lot of jewels or a lot of husbands. For me, life happened, just as it does for anyone else. I have been supremely lucky in my life in that I have known great love, and of course I am the temporary custodian of some incredible and beautiful things.

"But I have never felt more alive than when I watched my children delight in something, never more alive than when I have watched a great artist perform, and never richer than when I have scored a big cheque to fight AIDS. Follow your passion, follow your heart, and the things you need will come."

But above all she was a brave campaigner and humanitarian who championed an unpopular cause and made it mainstream. Elizabeth Taylor will be remembered for harnessing her star power to help good causes. In the 1980s, after her friend Rock Hudson died, she became one of the first celebrities to speak out about Aids.



"Why shouldn't gay people be able to live as open and freely as everybody else?... What it comes down to, ultimately, is love. How can anything bad come out of love? The bad stuff comes out of mistrust, misunderstanding and, God knows, from hate and from ignorance."

Elizabeth Taylor

Good for her. Here’s looking at you Babe!


Trailer for "Giant"

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor 1932 - 2011

Like many I was saddened at the passing of Dame Elizabeth Taylor today. A great actress and humanitarian she had received the British honour and was entitled to use the style as she was born in Britain to American parents. She first achieved fame at the age of twelve thanks to her starring role in National Velvet but we must also remember that she became a gifted actress with four Oscar nominations and two Oscars to her name for Butterfield 8 and her second Oscar came in 1967 for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, one of 12 films she made with Richard Burton.



She was the highest-paid actress of her time, negotiating a cool $1m for her role in Cleopatra, as well as a share of the profits for the film. This is now the model for many big stars. Cleopatra was however an awful movie which elicited the world’s greatest ever movie review from the famed and feared critic of the New York Times who confined his review to just one line “Last night Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton barged down the Nile and sank!”


“Last night Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton barged down the Nile and sank!”

She was a great believer in marriage, being famously married eight times, twice to her inamoratas’ Richard Burton. By her mid twenties she had been married three times, divorced twice and widowed once; surely a modern day morality tale of sorts. She was extraordinarily beautiful, and was considered an accomplished actress by her peers. That's not true of a lot of celebrities that today's media are obsessed with but in many ways she was the template of the modern celebrity endorsing products and being associated with a “cause.”

Her son, Michael Wilding, made a statement that celebrated his mother’s life.

“My mother was an extraordinary woman who lived life to the fullest, with great passion, humor, and love. We know, quite simply, that the world is a better place for Mom having lived in it.”



Her business acumen extended beyond Hollywood. By creating her own jewellery line and a successful perfume range, she became a pioneer in marketing a celebrity merchandise brand. Stars including Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears all now have personal branded lines.

She was not unknown in this neck of the woods in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The Bell in Aston Clinton used to be one of England’s top restaurants and a straight run out of London from studios at Elstree and Pinewood. It was popular with the luvvies; pictures of the Burton and Taylor used to adorn its walls when it was still a proper restaurant. She and Burton were visitors to that other great movie couple who lived near Thame at Notley Abbey, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. They were also visitors to Sir John Gielgud at South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood, Bucks, now the country home of Tony and Cherie Blair.



It is hard today to remember her impact on creating celebrity culture but the photos of her bikini clad on a yacht with Burton in 1962 caused an absolute sensation, such steamy paparazzi photos were unknown in those days and the story ran and ran and probably will continue to run now she is dead. The Vatican at the time accused them of "Erotic vagrancy" and Burton's wife actress Sybil Williams fled the set of Cleopatra and headed back to England.


Notley Abbey


Sir John Gielgud's former home at South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood

In her last interview in this month's edition of 'Harper's Bazaar', when asked about all the husbands and jewellery. Taylor responded: "I never planned to acquire a lot of jewels or a lot of husbands. For me, life happened, just as it does for anyone else. I have been supremely lucky in my life in that I have known great love, and of course I am the temporary custodian of some incredible and beautiful things.

"But I have never felt more alive than when I watched my children delight in something, never more alive than when I have watched a great artist perform, and never richer than when I have scored a big cheque to fight AIDS. Follow your passion, follow your heart, and the things you need will come."

But above all she was a brave campaigner and humanitarian who championed an unpopular cause and made it mainstream. Elizabeth Taylor will be remembered for harnessing her star power to help good causes. In the 1980s, after her friend Rock Hudson died, she became one of the first celebrities to speak out about Aids.



"Why shouldn't gay people be able to live as open and freely as everybody else?... What it comes down to, ultimately, is love. How can anything bad come out of love? The bad stuff comes out of mistrust, misunderstanding and, God knows, from hate and from ignorance."

Elizabeth Taylor

Good for her. Here’s looking at you Babe!


Trailer for "Giant"