Mercury Rising Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bomi and Jer

Bomi and Jer Bulsara were both descendants of the Persian Zoroastrians who migrated to India between the seventh and tenth centuries and are known as Parsis. They lived in the Gujarat region of Mumbai (Bombay) and their family name was derived from the town of Bulsar in southern Gujarat.

They moved to the African island of Zanzibar where Bomi could continue working in his role as High Court cashier for the British government. It was here in Stone Town, Zanzibar that Freddie was born and given the name Farrokh Bulsara in 1946. Six years later Freddie's sister Kashmira was born here also.

Answer: Table tennis

Of the many sports played at Saint Peter's, Freddie was quite fond of hockey, boxing and sprinting. In contrast however, he despised cricket and long distance running. At the age of twelve Freddie was again given an award by the school, this time a trophy for being 'Junior All-rounder'.

It was during his time at Saint Peter's when the young Farrokh, and his schoolmates, started using the name Freddie.

Answer: The Hectics

Freddie had taken the family's old record player to school with him and spent many hours listening to music and singing along to the tunes. It was the headmaster of Saint Peter's who recognised Freddie's musical abilities which led to the suggestion of piano lessons. This in turn saw Freddie join the school choir and take part in their theatrical productions.

Derrick Branche, Farang Irani, Bruce Murray and Victory Rana were the other four members of the Hectics for which Freddie played piano. They performed the popular rock'n'roll tunes of the time at parties, fetes and dances organised by the school.

Answer: Middlesex, England

In 1963, Zanzibar gained independence from Britain. A series of elections that followed did not bring about a change of leadership, leaving the Sultan of Zanzibar and his government in power. A group of revolutionaries was formed by John Okello, a member of the Afro-Shirazi party. This group first overran the Zanzibar police force and, armed with the weapons they took from them, succeeded in overthrowing the Sultan and his government in 1964.

The new government of Zanzibar forged good relations with the communist governments of China, East Germany and the U.S.S.R. The British government were concerned that this would lead to a communist takeover in Zanzibar so British citizens living there were evacuated. This included the Bulsara family who relocated to Feltham, Middlesex where they stayed with relatives before finding a house of their own.

Answer: Art

Freddie had been sketching for friends and family ever since his time at Saint Peter's. In order to be able to attend college though he needed to achieve at least one A level. He enrolled at the Isleworth Polytechnic which was close to the family home and easily achieved his passing grade and subsequent acceptance into Ealing College. He began a graphic art and design course in September 1966 and received his diploma in June 1969.

After finishing at Ealing, Freddie gained a little work drawing advertisements in local newspapers and also sold some of his artwork from a stall he operated in Kensington Market with future Queen bandmate Roger Taylor.

The Queen Crest logo was designed by Freddie and incorporates the zodiac signs of the members of the band; two lions for John Deacon and Roger Taylor (Leo), a crab for Brian May (Cancer) and two fairies for himself (Virgo). Many versions of the design have been featured on Queen's album covers and merchandise.

Answer: Brian May and Roger Taylor

Smile was formed in 1968 by Brian who was the guitarist and with Tim on bass and vocals. At that time Brian was a student at London's Imperial College and he placed an advert for a 'Ginger Baker' (Cream) styled drummer on the notice board. Roger, who was studying medicine, replied to the ad and got the gig after auditioning.

Smile were signed to Mercury Records and on two occasions were commissioned to record three of their original songs, six in all. These tracks were never released at the time but have been released in various forms following the success of Queen.

Smile played frequently on the London gig circuit and even once performed at the Royal Albert Hall.

Answer: Octagon Theatre, Bolton

Ibex originally hailed from Liverpool but had moved to London to try and breakthrough on the British music scene. Comprising Mike Bersin on guitar, John Taylor on bass and Mick Smith on drums, Freddie was so impressed with their sound that he learned all of their songs and played his first gig with them all in a matter of ten days.

Their first performance with Freddie out front was at one of the 'Bluesology' sessions which were regularly held at Bolton's Octagon Theatre in the afternoon. Two days later they performed at the inaugural open air 'Bluesology Pop-in' in Queen Park, Bolton.

According to Ken Testi who was something of a manager/roadie for Ibex, Freddie had a natural gift for performing and the charisma exuded during his gigs with Ibex was of the exact same quality he would later demonstrate fronting Queen.

Answer: Wreckage

According to Ibex guitarist Mike Bersin, when Freddie first put forward the notion of changing the name of the band to Wreckage, nobody was very enthusiastic about the idea. But Freddie persisted and phoned Bersin one night to tell him that the other members had finally agreed and asked if he would now agree too. Bersin responded with "If they agree, then fine".

The truth of the matter was revealed eventually. As it turned out, Freddie had called all of the band members one by one and had given them all the same story that he had given to Bersin.

Answer: Sour Milk Sea

Before accepting Freddie, Sour Milk Sea was made up of Chris Chesney (guitar and vocals), Jeremy Gallop (rhythm guitar), Paul Milan (bass) and Rob Tyrell (drums).

A strong friendship developed between Freddie and Chris and Freddie eventually asked him to move into the house that he was occupying at this time with the bandmembers of Smile. This led to insecurities about the future of Sour Milk Sea amongst the other members and so, after being together for just a couple of months, Jeremy took back all of the band's equipment that he owned, effectively disbanding the group.

Answer: John Deacon

And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

A few of Freddie's finest achievements with Queen include:

Seven Seas Of Rhye - the first Queen song to enter the top ten in the U.K. singles charts.

Killer Queen - their first breakthrough song in the U.S.

Bohemian Rhapsody - arguably their finest and most well known song. Number one in the U.K. singles charts for an amazing nine weeks.

All of these songs were written by Freddie Mercury.