This is the second of three guest posts by Matt Podbury on his love for Queen.
If you've just come across this one, please go back and read part 1 before you read on.
The first part of the post explored Matt's love of Queen, which started early, and his discovery that his uncle had a connection with someone called Paul who knew Freddie Mercury before he changed his name from Bulsara.
Image courtesy of Matt Podbury - Paul and Freddie
Matt's favourite magazine 'Record Collector' jumped on the photos too, and included them in their March 1996 edition! Good to see Ian Anderson in standard pose on the front cover as well.
Matt takes up the story:
All went quiet for a few months and then one evening I received an excited phone call from Dave. “Matthew” he said, “how would you like to go down to London with Paul and Chris for the opening night of the Freddie Mercury Photographic Exhibition at the Albert Hall?"
"Paul’s photos have been chosen to be displayed, and he has a spare ticket and thinks you should go, given that you started all this off”.
I didn’t take any convincing at all, although it was on a Friday night, and I had to be back by the next morning for my 8am shift at the butchers in Conwy!
I left Aberconwy School early on 22 November 1996 and took the train down to London's Euston station, then made my way close to the Royal Albert Hall where Paul and Chris had said they would meet me.
Ten minutes went by and they hadn’t arrived. I could see a queue of fans outside the Hall waiting for the rest of the band and other dignitaries to arrive. I found a payphone and phoned Dave – he didn’t know where they were and just as I was giving up any hope of getting in, they both appeared after an obvious extended session down the pub and were well ‘oiled up’ in true rock ‘n roll fashion!
I remember walking down a red carpet and flashing the visitor passes to the security guards.
When we got into the venue, the first person I spotted was Brian May – he is huge and obviously stands out. I couldn’t believe it!
A bit further on was Freddie’s good friend Dave Clark (from the Dave Clark 5), and his onetime girlfriend, Mary Austin!
Paul & Chris headed off to the free bar and so I went off for a wander to have a look at the photos. I had brought a Queen record with me and had purchased a silver marker pen just in case I summoned up the courage to ask anyone for their autograph.
As I was walking up the stairs admiring the photos, Roger Taylor was coming down with his wife. Without thinking, I reached out my hand to shake his hand and said how much I had loved his recent solo album. He grinned, said thanks and then signed my record. His hands were massive – that’s all I remember.
A few moments later, a girl about the same age as me came up and asked which school I went to in London. I was still wearing my Aberconwy uniform and told her that I had come down from Wales because I was with Paul Humberstone who had taken some old photos displayed. She followed me round for a while and was talking about some of the photos and how much she liked them. I told her that I had just met Roger and showed her my signed record. She didn’t seem too impressed and said that we should go and meet her dad as he would be wondering where she was. We walked into the main reception area and she walked me straight up to her dad - Brian May - and introduced me as the kid who had come all the way from Wales.
He said something nice to me; I can’t remember what as I was far too star-struck (and he’s massive) and then he duly signed my record. Two down. Before we interrupted him, he had been speaking to Chris and had apparently remembered him straight away from their Smile days.
At that point, I thought my life was pretty much complete.
I had to keep an eye on the time as I had to get the last train back to Holyhead and that meant that I only had another 30 minutes or so before I had to leave. There were some free food and drinks on offer and so I wandered over to the table to fill up before the journey back.
As I stood there on my own with my plate, a lovely elderly lady beckoned me over and asked if I wanted to sit down with them. She was a bit worried that I was on my own and had spotted the school uniform.
“Come and have a cup of tea with us” she said kindly and took me over to her husband and daughter. “I’m Jer and this is my husband Bomi” she said. And this is our daughter Kash”. I looked at Kash and pretty much realised who she was before being told “We’re Freddie’s mum and dad, and Kash is his sister”.
You can see them in the video at the top of the post, with one of Paul's photos on the wall.
I hope I said something suitable – but I can’t really recall. I remember shaking their hands and talking about Conwy as they had been there on holiday, as well as how much I loved their son’s music (how strange to be saying that). The moment was almost too weird to contemplate: here I was at the Albert Hall in London having tea and sandwiches with Freddie Mercury’s mum, dad and sister. I remember that his dad had very soft hands, and his mum reminded me of my grandma. His sister was the spitting image of her brother.
Soon, the party was over and I was heading back on the train ready for my morning shift at Edwards of Conwy, probably making burgers or washing dishes.
I didn’t talk much to the lads in the butchers the next day about it as they weren’t really Queen fans but I remember being on cloud nine for many days after.
My signed record stayed with me for a few years until I sold it to Piccadilly Records in Manchester in 2002 when I had no money after finishing my degree. I sold it for about £100. I should have sold a kidney instead!
In the final post in this series, Matt shares his continuing love of Queen.
