07/21/2025
22 June 1985 - Freddie Mercury grants a rare interview with Simon Bates BBC Radio ...
My meeting with Freddie Mercury took place at Queen’s office. He greeted me graciously, making me comfortable and plying me with Earl Grey tea in exquisite china cups. Freddie is very pleasant. He looks like a million dollars.
Every photograph you see of him, he probably doesn’t have any make-up on. It’s him. He looks amazingly fit and amazingly well. We talked about art and he was fascinated with it, and clearly very knowledgeable. He also showed interest in what I liked. He was almost Victorian in his manner, very quiet, extremely polite with the tea and biscuits and chatting, all quite charming, though a little insecure and nervous.
I had a Radio One producer with me, and when it came to the moment to start the actual interview Freddie asked me to be alone instead, so he wouldn't have to talk in front of another stranger. I asked him if there were any areas he’d rather not talk about, and he told me to run through what I wanted to cover, and when I’d finished he said he didn’t want to talk about his family because it was too private. His personal life never came up, and why should it? It had no bearing on his work as a musician.
During the interview Freddie relaxed a bit and revealed a lot about himself. He freely confessed he liked a party and enjoyed life to the fullest. He alsobbelieved there were three of him. One was the professional and hard-working, the second was the party man, and the third liked to be left alone.
Simon Bates
A Disc Jockey and Radio Presenter
Between 1976 - 1993
He worked at BBC Radio 1
📸 Freddie in Rio, January 1985 💛
