clarification of Thor Arnold's role in Freddie's life

Oh matt z,
Aren't you just the riddler! I did not know Prince's real name, but I sure enjoyed his talent and his music. Now, had you said "Prince Michael Jackson" I would have known immediately who it was. Or even "Blanket"...LOL. I certainly did know Yohann though, and I never forgot him. I just used to spell it wrong - Johann!

Hey Sebastion,
Thanks for helping me out with the Prince thing.

Hello again Invisible Woman,
I know during my time with him that he never mentioned loosing his voice. He had a Laryngologist in New York who saw him for sore throats or strained throat. This is probably know to all
but he could never have his teeth fixed due to possible changes to his voice. He was always very self-conscious of his teeth and tried to hide them when possible. Few pictures of Freddie smiling.
Also, "my husband" was not a popular phrase back then...he would call Jim his lover. But things may have changed a few years later when we were more like casual friends with only limited visits.

Hi smilefairyqueen,
1) Freddie is somewhat notorious for his occasional blow-ups, but his mood never changed when dealing with me or my friends.
2) As one might expect, Freddie's older group of friends was a little jealous of his new friends. They tried to be catty sometimes but Freddie would have no tolerance for that. In New York, we were
just a close-knit group of everyday friends. In the later visits to London, there was an unintentional competition of which group was the most clever and who could keep Freddie's attention the longest.
I could hold my own but it was Lee Nolan (Kathleen) who was skilled at making people laugh hysterically and feel good. I must say, Lee won every time.
3) The new friends, as I have said were never indulgent out of his "stardom" but were occasionally out of his "character." as a person.
4) Here's probably a new Freddie story for you: While either in London or New York, I forget which one, Freddie attended David Bowie's version of "The Elephant Man." After the show they met back stage
and Freddie offered him some lines of coca-cola for him and the people back stage. Freddie said that there was little left to share because "Miss Bowie went ACROSS the lines."

Hi again Sheldon,
Thank you for the explanation of your first comment. Hedonism is and should not be a permanent character trait. As I've said, I managed mine. Back then, growing up gay was horribly
damaging to one's sense of self. It was wrong, sinful and it was our own fault for "choosing" to be that way. Because of that, we were all a little socially awkward throughout school, even college,
so making up for lost time during young adulthood could definitely make hedonism last into your thirties. And, the fact substances were quite popular during the Studio 54 disco era dwarfs in comparison to the heroine, bath salts and fentanyl problems we face today...at least in the US.

A big Thank You for the kind words of Arnaldo "Ogre-" Silviera

Thank you for answering Thor!
Did Freddie ever talk about his childhood and going to boarding school in India? He never really talked about his childhood in interviews or to people, so I wonder if he ever told his close friends anything. It must have been interesting to have him as a friend and to get to know him on a personal level.

Hello again smilefairyqueen,
Freddie rarely discussed his up-bringing, his family or his ancestry except when we once asked him his real name and he told us only a little about Zanzibar; never about India. I learned more in subsequent books about his life than from him directly. He very much loved being English and he "seemed" to have more pride in that than in his actual heritage.

Alright. Cool, Thorbert.

So.....long story short, did Freddie ever catch Prince (*THE Prince from Minneapolis) LIVE in concert? ....was Freddie a fan?

He was HUGE for some time...i could imagine he held some opinion about the guy. Likewise with Annie Lennox.... I'm very biased and think that they and maybe Depeche Mode managed to be the greatest talents of the 80's alongside Michael Jackson (*who gradually wrote less and less of his own material - likely lost "the spark" after the initial anger from those accusations)

PS. Much has been made about the "silly hat" parties. ....did anybody ever "WIN" with some crazy creative piece?

Thanks , Thor.

thundergod,

I've been following this thread with great interest, Thank you for feeling able to contribute here - I know that there are some scarily weird people that contribute from time to time and it must be difficult for you to be so open and share your memories so freely.

A couple of things from me:

Would Freddie ever discuss Queen recording sessions with his non-band friends? If so, how did it come across; a schlep or something that really enthused him? Which stories stick out?

Freddie's love of musical theatre is well-known; did he ever express an interest in branching out into that sphere with you? Were you aware of any test sessions done for Phantom Of The Opera for Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd-Webber?

How did Freddie's personal and / or working relationships with Brian, Roger and John crop up in conversation? How did they all come across?

Was Freddie aware of his impact on the global music scene as a private individual; did he appear to know what he was responsible for?

Thor hello again!

Have you ever seen Freddie makin' tea or doing some little cookin' or housework?
I askin this because of lot of theme-books tell us that Freddie wasn't able (or didn't like) to do many ordinary things in case of serving himself. I always thought that its authors are exagerrate about.
Was he keen in using LP or VHS Player, TV-set or any household appliances? Does he read serious books/literature exept the "Spatacus Guide" or merchandise booklets?

Yes, it was the 80's and it wasn't hip back then, but why didn't Freddie shave his armpits?

Hey matt z,
I am sorry, but other than a little bits and pieces about David Bowie, Micheal Jackson, Elton John, Cliff Richards and Dave Clark, I really don't know much of Freddie's preferences in other artists.but he enjoyed the popular songs of that time with two groups that come to mind... Spandau Ballet ("True") and Toto ("Africa").
I participated in only one silly hat party held at Freddie's New York home on Easter Sunday. The theme, of course, was to come up with the silliest Easter Bonnet. I don't remember there being any winner or any prize. Lee Nolan has the photo of all of us which thankfully I haven't seen in 25 years!

Hello dudeofqueen,
Unfortunately, I am not qualified to give you proper answers to most of your questions.as I don't know much about the inner workings of Queen.
What I can tell you is:
Freddie rarely spoke of his recording sessions or at least, not to my group of friends.
I've already mentioned to someone else my impression of the limited times that I met the other band members...please refer back to that.
I never heard him mention "Phantom of the Opera." at all.
Thank you for your questions despite my unsatisfying answers.

Hello dudeofqueen,
Unfortunately, I am not qualified to give you proper answers to most of your questions.as I don't know much about the inner workings of Queen.
What I can tell you is:
Freddie rarely spoke of his recording sessions or at least, not to my group of friends.
I've already mentioned to someone else my impression of the limited times that I met the other band members...please refer back to that.
I never heard him mention "Phantom of the Opera." at all.
Thank you for your questions despite my unsatisfying answers.

Hello dudeofqueen,
Unfortunately, I am not qualified to give you proper answers to most of your questions.as I don't know much about the inner workings of Queen.
What I can tell you is:
Freddie rarely spoke of his recording sessions or at least, not to my group of friends.
I've already mentioned to someone else my impression of the limited times that I met the other band members...please refer back to that.
I never heard him mention "Phantom of the Opera." at all.
Thank you for your questions despite my unsatisfying answers.

Hello again Seed_Of_Rhy,
The only domestic work I've ever seen Freddie doing was the same as you saw - Vacuuming in the "I Want to Break Free" video.
Seriously, he had his paid employees Franelli and Freestone doing all of that work as well as Jim Hutton.
Also, Freddie had a little music and TV mini half-loft which was built off of the back of his living room at the Garden Lodge. There
he had the latest home entertainment systems of the time, but I could not tell you the brand names or the systems used. I don't
know what books he was reading. He did not talk about that or read books in front of us. He was quite busy but always made time
for his friends.

Oops...sorry for the double "dudeofqueen" reply.