Freddie mercury biography pliny
Sunday Times Magazine
Freddie Mercury was one of the most electrifying performers in rock. But just as he tried to hide his homosexuality, he managed to avoid claming the crown of Britain’s first Asian pop star. This revealing set of photographs, published exclusively, is part of an exhibition that is about to travel the world. Waldemar Januszczak profiles an immortal showman
Saturday evening arrives, and Britain falls into its weekly stupor in front of the telly. Luckily it’s time for Gladiators, where a sprightly contestant is getting the better of Warrior on the bash-your-brains-out beam. As 300lb of brightly Lurexed behemoth plunges earthwards, the audience cheers, the contestants cheer, Ulrika and John cheer, we at home cheer, and somewhere up in heaven Freddie Mercury prepares to lead the lot of us into a mighty chorus of celebration.
Because – ugh, ugh, ugh – Another One Bites the Dust.
Now, I am as delighted as the next Gladiator-baiter that Warrior has had his butt bounced. Yet, having just met Freddie’s delightful family, I cannot for the life of me understand how a sweet Indian schoolboy from Zanzibar managed to sneak himself so successfully into the lumpen heart of middle England.
Certainly, the fact that Freddie Mercury was Britain’s first Indian pop star is too little known and appreciated. In my view it explains a lot, and adds considerably to his achievement. If nothing else, it makes it easier to understand how he ended up wearing some of the things he did – the red outfit covered in all-seeing eyes, for example, which he donned for the video of It’s a Hard Life, and which one wag complained made him look like a giant prawn. Freddie himself always played down his Indian origins. In the few interviews he gave, he remained deliberately unclear about them.
In the official history of Queen, told breezily by Jacky Gunn and Jim Jenkins, and promising “Exclusive Interviews With The Band”
Printed in the Fall 2021 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Sorkhabi, Rasoul, "Zoroaster: The First Philosopher and His Theosophical Revolution" Quest 108:4, pg 23-28
By Rasoul Sorkhabi
Spiritual teachers may be categorized into personal teachers and teachers of teachers, whose influence permeate the intellectual history of humankind. Zoroaster, whose theosophical doctrines (from the Latin doctrina, “teaching”) and contributions are analyzed here, belongs to the latter category.
When I was a young boy growing up in Iran, we learned only briefly about Zoroaster as the prophet of a religion prevalent in ancient Iran (Persia) before the coming of Islam in the seventh century. Later, while living in India, I came across the Zoroastrian Parsi population, whose ancestors migrated from Iran to the western coasts of India in several waves over the centuries in search of religious and social freedoms. In 1879 H.P. Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott encountered an educated and entrepreneurial group of Parsis in Bombay, some of whom actually helped build the headquarters of the Theosophical Society in India. The vibrance and contribution of the Parsis have continued to our day: the late singer Freddie Mercury, of the rock band Queen, who came from a Parsi family, is probably the best known.
Nevertheless, Zoroastrians currently constitute a small minority in the world, numbering only 100,000 to 200,000. This, however, should not mask the significance of Zoroaster’s teachings. A large number of books on Zoroastrianism range from scholarly translations of the Avesta (Zoroastrian scriptures) to popular introductions to Zoroastrian beliefs and practices.
In this article, I focus on Zoroaster’s philosophical underpinnings in order to explore two specific questions: What was the social and cultural environment in which Zoroaster began his ministry? How did his teachings shape religious thinking?
These questions take us to the heart The contribution of Zoroastrianism to world history, culture, and philosophy could hardly be overestimated, suffice it to recall one of the most outstanding musicians of all times, Freddy Mercury, who was born and raised in Zoroastrian environment. There is a great deal to be said about Zoroastrianism as a religious system since it has gone a long historical way and has changed its appearance time after time. In this paper, we will try to touch briefly on a variety of topics and aspects that the concept of “Zoroastrianism” can encompass. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions in the history of mankind. The roots of this religion go back to prehistoric Central Asia of the second millennium when the Iranian people, also called Indo-Iranians, separated from their relatives, the Indo-Aryan fellow tribesmen, and started continuously inhabiting the Iranian plateau. In order to get the picture of Zoroastrianism as a distinct religious system, one has to take into consideration that this religious movement emerged from a rebellious idea bucking the ideological foundations of the time. The idea is that the world and everything that embraces our entire existence has been created by the good and evil spirits of equal divine might (in the Zoroastrian liturgy they are mentioned as being twins). The good principle is represented by the chief god Ahura Mazdā, who is also the maintainer of order and peace. Zoroastrianism, named after its prophet Zarathustra or Zoroaster, is alternatively called Mazdeism, which comes from Ahura Mazdā’s name and literally means “sacrificing to Mazdā”. Ahura Mazdā’s adversary is the Evil Spirit, Angra Manyu or Ahriman, who is in control of the horde of the malevolent gods, demons, and other evil entities. Тhe world is plunged in a permanent battle between the good and evil forces and the core idea is that only the .Zoroastrianism Definition
What is Zoroastrianism?