Queen guitarist Brian May receives a knighthood from the King

Blackleaf

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Queen legend Sir Brian May has been given a knighthood by King Charles III for his services to music and charity.

The guitarist responsible for some of the catchiest riffs on songs like 'We Will Rock You' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' received the honour at Buckingham Palace.

 

Tecumsehsbones

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"Look, mate, if went round claiming I was Emperor because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"
--Monty Python
 

Blackleaf

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Oct 9, 2004
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"Look, mate, if went round claiming I was Emperor because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"
--Monty Python

If the British monarch knights you then you ARE a knight. As far as I know nobody else has the power to confer a knighthood onto somebody, unless that power has been given to them by the monarch when the monarch is unable to do it, like if they're on a State Visit somewhere.
 

Blackleaf

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As for Sir Brian May, 75, he's a very intelligent and very nice bloke.

As well as being the guitarist of Queen, the fifth-biggest-selling music artists in the world after The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Elton John, he's also a qualified astrophysicist.

In his doctoral research, he investigated radial velocity using absorption spectroscopy and doppler spectroscopy of zodiacal light using a Fabry–Pérot interferometer based at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. His research was initially supervised by Jim Ring, Ken Reay and in the latter stages by Michael Rowan-Robinson. He graduated at the awards ceremony of Imperial College held in the Royal Albert Hall on 14 May 2008.


May is a regular guest on the long-running BBC astronomy show The Sky At Night and has written two astronomy books "Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe" and "The Cosmic Tourist."

On 17 November 2007, May was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, and he was installed in 2008 having also been awarded an honorary fellowship from the university for his contribution to astronomy and services to the public understanding of science. He held the post until 2013. Asteroid 52665 Brianmay was named after him on 18 June 2008 on the suggestion of the then The Sky At Night presenter Patrick Moore (probably influenced by the asteroid's provisional designation of 1998 BM30).


May is also an animal rights activist and supports various causes in support of British wildlife and the British countryside and is also an avid collector of stereoscopes: Victorian 3-D photographs.

In the late Eighties and early Nineties, May suffered severe depression and contemplated suicide when his marriage was in trouble, he thought he was a bad father to his three children and Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury died. He is married to the actress Anita Dobson, famous for playing Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
 
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Blackleaf

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As for Queen: What a bunch of legends!

Famous for their global megahits of the 1970s and for being the world's most successful band after The Beatles. And you can hardly get a better vocalist than Freddie Mercury.

I quite like this song of theirs. Incredibly, the video was filmed when Freddie knew he was dying of Aids...

Queen - "Breakthru" (1989)

 
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Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,435
7,003
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Washington DC
If the British monarch knights you then you ARE a knight. As far as I know nobody else has the power to confer a knighthood onto somebody, unless that power has been given to them by the monarch when the monarch is unable to do it, like if they're on a State Visit somewhere.
"Filthy English ka-niggit!"
--Monty Python