Freddie Mercury’s handwritten drafts for Queen’s legendary hit Bohemian Rhapsody have sold at auction for more than £1.3m.
Written on paper for the now-defunct airline British Midland, the 15-page manuscript shows the different directions the singer considered for the band’s six-minute epic.
It features the song’s timeless lyric “nothing really matters” and shows how the star considered naming the song “Mongolian Rhapsody” – before crossing out “Mongolian” in favour of “Bohemian”.
The notes were one of the star items among a treasure trove of the Queen frontman’s most prized possessions, which were put up for sale with the luxury auctioneer Sotheby’s.
Mercury’s Yamaha baby grand piano – used to compose some of the group’s most iconic hits – was sold at the same auction for £1.7m.
Image: Freddie Mercury’s Yamaha grand piano. Pic: AP
A Victorian-style snake bangle famously worn by Mercury in the video for Bohemian Rhapsody sold for £698,500 – the highest price ever paid for a piece of jewellery owned by a rock star.
It beat the £295,000 ($368,000) paid for a leather and bead talisman worn by Beatles star John Lennon.
The items were put up for auction by Mercury’s close friend, Mary Austin.
Image: A Victorian-style silver snake bangle worn by Freddie Mercury. Pic: Sotheby’s
The singer left her his Kensington home and all the possessions inside when he died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991, at the age of 45.
A total of 1,400 items are being auctioned – including a green door covered in hand-painted love notes from fans which sold for £412,750 ($521,000).
Image: Freddie Mercury’s rainbow coloured satin arrow applique jacket from 1982. Pic: AP
Image: Mercury’s signature crown worn throughout the Magic tour. Pic: AP
Other items to go under the hammer include the star’s flamboyant stage costumes and handwritten drafts of hits such as We Are The Champions.
Some of the proceeds of the auction – which is expected to bring in around £6m in total – will be donated to charity.
All the proceeds of the sale of a Cartier onyx and diamond ring given to Mercury by Elton John that sold for £273,000 ($344,000) will be donated to the Rocket Man singer’s AIDS charity.
Image: The entrance at Sotheby’s auction house hosted “Freddie Mercury – A World Of His Own”
The items in the auction were put on display in Sotheby’s galleries ahead of the auction to create a free museum-esque exhibit – named Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own.
The display attracted more than 140,000 visitors in just over a month.
Stanley Tucci says he doesn’t understand why there has been a sudden rise in the “very far right”.
The 64-year-old actor, author and food connoisseur leads a new show aptly named Tucci In Italy, where he looks at the world-renowned cuisine and how its ingredients tell much more than just what is served on the plate.
Speaking to Sky News, he says painting the full picture of the Italian landscape was the driving force behind the show and that he made a conscious decision to include stories from all backgrounds.
Image: Stanley Tucci tries lampredotto while in Florence. Pic: National Geographic/Matt Holyoak
“I asked that we include a story about a gay couple and their children, whether it was adopted or surrogate or however, because I thought it was a really interesting story.
“I am confused as to the direction that so much of the world is heading now to the very far right and sort of vilifying the other, meaning people who aren’t like us, but I don’t quite know what that means because we are all so different.
“There is no us, right? We’re all different, so I don’t know what the problem is there.”
Image: Canci checi, a Ladin staple consisting of fried ravioli. Pic: National Geographic
Image: Tucci cooks at BBQ joint ristoro mucciante in Abruzzo with one of the owners, Rodolfo Mucciante, right. Pic: National Geographic/Matt Holyoak
Tucci adds that he wants to “look at what’s happening in Italy politically and how it’s affecting people but, of course, all through the prism of food”.
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“Those people are sitting there having a traditional Sunday lunch with the grandparents, with the grandkid, and they’re a family and yet the government says they’re not a family.
“I think that’s really interesting because Italy puts so much emphasis on family and for all practical purposes, Italy has a negative birth rate so why wouldn’t you want to welcome more children into your society who are Italian?”
Image: Chef and owner Matilde Pettini opened Dalla Lola in 2021 and discusses their dishes with Tucci. Pic: National Geographic/Matt Holyoak
Image: Ramadan El Sabawy hands Tucci a plate with his son’s crispy margherita pizza. Pic: National Geographic
In 2016, Italy passed a law that now recognises civil unions for same-sex couples in the country.
It grants couples many of the same rights and financial protections as married heterosexual couples, however, it doesn’t give LGBT+ couples the right to joint adoption or in vitro fertilisation.
In 2023, the Italian government extended its initial ban on surrogacy to include arrangements made by its citizens abroad.
Its legislation subjects any intended parent who breaks the law to jail terms of up to two years and fines of up to €1m (£846,000).
The law doesn’t include those children who were already registered before it came into effect.
Image: Tucci holding a cheese made in Lazio. Pic: National Geographic/Matt Holyoak
Image: Torcinello, a traditional sausage, served with scampi, sea asparagus, and sweet pepper sauce. Pic: National Geographic
The buzzword on social media over the last few weeks has been “conclave” following the death of Pope Francis and of course, the Oscar-winning film of the same name.
Our interview took place just before the real conclave took place, which resulted in Pope Leo XIV becoming the first American-born leader of the Catholic Church.
Starring in the film alongside Ralph Fiennes, Tucci became inadvertently connected to the news agenda when life began to imitate art.
“It’s fascinating. I mean, look, I don’t know anything about it, really, other than I made a movie about it. That’s all I know. But it is, the timing of it is unfortunate, but it’s also oddly coincidental.”
Tucci In Italy looks at traditional Italian cuisine but also explores the impact history, changing political landscapes, migration and culture can have on a dinner plate.
Image: Timballo being cut, revealing the intricate layers of crespelle and meatballs inside. Pic: National Geographic
Image: Mr Tucci fly fishes in a glacial river with locals in Trentino-Alto Adige. Pic: National Geographic/Matt Holyoak
Image: Hay soup in a loaf of homemade bread, served in the restaurant Gostner Schwaige. Pic: National Geographic
He visits the northern area of Trentino-Alto Adige, which borders Austria, to look at how Mussolini’s intense policies regarding German identity shaped the area and people today.
“It’s an incredibly beautiful region, but also it’s the way those two cultures have figured out a way to get along without violence, without blame, without hating each other, without divisiveness.
“I think it’s really wonderful. It’s a testament to… How easy it can be for us to get along.”
Tucci In Italy premieres 21 May at 8pm on National Geographic and all episodes stream from 19 May on Disney+.
He is the man behind the biggest-selling electronica record of all time, but the success of Moby’s album Play came with some unwanted side effects.
His fifth record, the album charted at 33 upon its release in the UK in May 1999, and fell out of the Top 40 after just a week. But despite the lacklustre initial response, Play started to pick up steam, slowly climbing the chart until it reached number one in April 2000.
It stayed there for five weeks and remained in the Top 40 until March 2001, re-entering the Top 100 several times over the next few years.
While Moby had experienced success with Go, the breakthrough 1991 single from his self-titled debut album, Play was next level. Even if you don’t know the album, you’ll know at least some of the songs – Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?, Honey, and Natural Blues. The record was ubiquitous and fame hard to escape.
Image: Pic: Adam Warzawa/EPA/Shutterstock
“I think fame and fortune are, probably, empirically two of the most destructive forces on the planet,” he says, speaking from his home in Los Angeles. “I mean, if fame and fortune fixed things, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse would still be making records.
“I guess it’s a very easy system to buy into, especially in a place like… in New York, in Los Angeles, in these big cities that are driven by ostentation and consumption and the need for external validation. It’s hard to resist those temptations. But then… you look at the consequences of that.
“I’d rather try and live a rational life and not necessarily let other people’s concerns dictate what my concerns should be.”
Now sober and with a few years between him and those heady days of peak fame, in recent years Moby has been doing something few established stars in his position would do – giving his compositions away for free.
“I have a house, I have a car, I have some hoodies, I have food in the fridge, I don’t really need anything more,” he insists. “To live and work in a way where I’m not driven by money, why not use that as an opportunity?”
Selfless selfishness or selfish selflessness
Image: Pic: Wael Hamzeh/EPA/Shutterstock
Over a decade ago, the musician came up with the quietly radical idea of making a free music licensing platform, MobyGratis. The idea was simple and rather exciting, he admits – to allow anyone unrestricted access to hundreds of his compositions to use them however they wish. From film scores to remixes, whatever.
“It’s either selfless selfishness or selfish selflessness, meaning I’m giving these things away but the benefit to me is I get to see what people do with it,” he says.
“There are a lot of things about the current digital media climate that are terrifying and baffling and confusing, but one of the things I love is the egalitarian nature of it.”
The idea of giving his music away for free runs somewhat contrary to the AI copyright battle many artists are currently speaking out over, with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Damon Albarn calling for greater protections in law to prevent artificial intelligence software from scraping their work to learn from it.
Remix culture and creative processes
“I completely appreciate and respect the concerns that other people have,” says Moby. “I think they’re incredibly valid… but for me personally, I don’t know. Maybe it’s naive and stupid of me, but I kind of just ignore it.
“I put this music out there and you sort of hope for the best, which probably is completely dim-witted of me. Part of remix culture is seeing how people reinterpret your work; sometimes it’s mediocre, sometimes it is bad, but sometimes it is so inspired, and I can actually learn a lot from other creative processes.”
The dance artist also takes issue with how the act of giving and compassion more generally has come to be seen, and references Elon Musk‘s comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast in April, when the billionaire said: “We’ve got civilizational suicidal empathy going on.”
Moby says that while “we live in this world of fear, selfishness, desperation and viciousness”, he supports “anything that is a rejection of the manosphere… anything that rejects Elon and the idea that empathy is a weakness and reminds people that life can be simple and decent.”
He jokes: “I’m definitely becoming like the weird old guy that you’ll see in the mountains, sort of like not making eye contact and mumbling about chemtrails or something.”
This is a man who is aware his approach to fame, fortune and giving stuff away is somewhat out-of-keeping with the times we’re living in – but the thing is, Moby doesn’t seem to care.