BEST FRIEND, PERSONAL ASSISTANT & BIOGRAPHER OF
FREDDIE MERCURY
PETER FREESTONE
Born in 1955 in Carshalton Surrey, he spent his first six years in South London. He started his education at Lushington Hall Boarding School in Southern India. After five years he returned to the UK to complete his education. He commenced work at the London department store Selfridges then moved on to the Ballet Running Wardrobe at the Royal Opera House, London. It was while he was here he met Freddie Mercury, the singer and front man of Queen, for whom he then worked for the next twelve years firstly taking care of touring costumes for Queen, then as Personal Assistant to Freddie until his death in November 1991. After a number of years he started at Guy’s Hospital on the neurological unit on Bright Ward, trying to use the skills he had learnt taking care of Freddie Mercury in his last years. From there he became the Administrator of the European Chamber Opera. After that he bought a small hotel in Torquay, Devon, which took up all his time for over three years.
He discovered the city of Prague in the Czech Republic in November 2000 and moved there in April 2001 and where he now calls home. He has been involved in many Queen Fan activities all over the world also travelling with some Queen Cover shows. He reports on new productions of operas all over the Czech Republic for the monthly publication Opera. Currently he is mainly occupied mainly with three projects. The one closest to his heart is the TFA Project which aims at school students aged 13-18 making them aware of the ever present dangers of HIV/AIDS. He is involved in The Man Behind Freddie Mercury talk show where he fills in some details of the life of Freddie Mercury with the aid of photographs and with Queen music given in a new acoustic arrangement. He has also written lyrics for some songs created and sung by Milan Satnik and band, again giving some insight to the feelings and thoughts of Freddie Mercury.
He became a citizen of the Czech Republic in August 2020.
SHOWS
THE MAN BEHIND
FREDDIE MERCURY
The idea for the Talk Show THE MAN BEHIND FREDDIE MERCURY came about when I was talking to someone about the amount of questions people still have about Freddie Mercury.
We decided to create a show where I can give some idea to an audience about the man, the performer and the composer. During the course of the evening the audience can become immersed in the world of Freddie Mercury and also Queen. A series of photographs are shown on a screen and I describe the scene portrayed. To complete the evening Milan Satnik and the band play new acoustic arrangements of a variety of Queen songs that also are part of the story that I am telling.
We also try to have some questions from the audience if there is anything specific that they want to know.
TITANIC FREDDIE AIDS
TFA PROJECT
Looking back over my life I have found that I have been involved with many different projects, work and play. Believe me I don’t intend to stop now, but I have realised that there is one project that has been and will be the most important for me in my life. It is sad that it is still necessary, but the Titanic Freddie AIDS project (TFA) is still very much needed, as there is still NO cure for HIV/AIDS. I was approached a number of years ago by a young man, Milan Devinne, who asked if we could create a seminar for schools, making the students aware of HIV/AIDS, He related his experience and told me that all during his school years he had not heard anything about the disease from the school and very little in the news. Because of my involvement with looking after Freddie Mercury this idea appealed to me and so the TFA project was created. It is mainly aimed at students 13-18 years old, but can of course be adapted for any age.
We play an introductory video setting the scene, followed by me taking them through the last years of Freddie’s life and we then play a concluding video. We then basically have a time for talking and answering questions from the audience. We make sure that they are aware that they can ask anything they want and they will get the answers with no censorship.
The whole event takes anything between 45 -60 minutes.
You can find more information at this link.
GALLERY
CONTACT
CHAT CORNER
Hello there, as we are all experiencing, the world is a very different place at the moment and travel is almost impossible. I thought that if I cannot come and see you to answer your questions, there could be a space on this website where you could leave some messages. It isn't just for the questions you all know the answers to, it is where I can try to give you more of an insight to the life and surroundings during my twelve years with Freddie Mercury.
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