Yesterday I began sharing photos from my visit to the Sotheby’s exhibition Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own back in 2023, which was a wonderful experience and a great privilege. It’s taken all this time to go through my pictures, figure out what most of the items are and what they sold for, and then organise it all here, but I managed it in the end and I’m excited to share it with you. You can click on the photos to enlarge them, and on the item names to see their full descriptions on the Sotheby’s website.
In the first part we looked at Freddie’s love of Japanese art and fashion, so now I’m going to share a myriad of other items from that fine country that he owned and treasured, including vases, tea sets, ewers, incense burners, presentation boxes, books, dolls and more.
Most of the items were sold in the auction In Love With Japan, but some were included in the other auctions as well. In any case, they further demonstrate just how deep Freddie’s fascination went. And you can’t blame him. So I hope you enjoy this wide selection.
Over two years ago, back in September 2023, Sotheby’s auctioned off nearly 35,000 items (in roughly 1,500 lots) that once belonged to the legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, from his home at Garden Lodge in Kensington. The event was called Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own, and included everything from fashion to furniture, artworks to awards, ornaments to instruments, printed books to handwritten lyrics, and much more, proving that he was quite the avid collector to say the least! There were 6 auctions spread over a week, with the total sales coming to a whopping £39,936,046!
Before the big sell-off, however, Sotheby’s put most of the items on public display for a month, and I was one of the lucky 140,000 fans who went along to check it out. I certainly couldn’t afford to bid on the auctions, so this was as close as I could ever possibly get to it all. And it was an absolutely incredible privilege – a kind of magic if you will – as Freddie had such exquisite taste and attention to detail.
I came away with some lovely souvenirs as well, including a massive album of photos that I took, a large tote bag that I bought in the shop and have made good use of since, and the beautiful limited edition hardback book I ordered.
At the time I briefly mentioned the exhibition in my 40th birthday roundup, as going to see it was one of my big treats for myself. But it was always my desire to go through the photos in my collection properly, by finding details about the items and how much they sold for, using the Sotheby’s website and the accompanying book, before sharing as much of it here on my blog as I could. So I’ve been working on it bit by bit when time allows, and I finally finished going through it all this Christmas. It’s been a truly fascinating project for me.
So to mark the 50th anniversary of Bohemian Rhapsody in late 2025, and the 10th anniversary of my blog in early 2026, it gives me great pleasure to present hundreds of my photos of items in the exhibition – each of which you can click on to enlarge – along with links to all the details on the Sotheby’s website. You can see even more items on their site that I haven’t included of course, and it’s easy to create a free account if you want to see the final sale prices.
Neither Sotheby’s nor Queen, nor anyone else connected with the auctions or Freddie, have been involved with this, I’m just a big fan. While I could have just picked a few favourite items, I wanted to do the exhibition and Freddie justice, especially as many of these pieces may never be seen in public again.
The exhibition was split into 4 main sections – Japan, Home, Crazy Little Things and On Stage – and there were 6 auctions along the same lines (plus a second Crazy auction and an Evening Sale for the most significant items). So my posts will generally reflect that as well. Within each section of the exhibition, most items were from the auction of the same name, but there were often items from the Evening Sale or the other auctions mixed in as well, because they fitted the theme.
So here’s the first part of my extensive look back at the exhibition, with an overview of what it was like to visit, and then a closer look at Freddie’s love of Japanese art and fashion. I hope you enjoy!
It’s been a long year for my mother and I, so we’re glad that Christmas has finally come around, and thankfully the preparations have been going well, just as I hope they have been for you. Granted, there is the potential loss of my job next year hanging over my head, through no fault of my own, but that won’t affect me as severely as the friend I provide support for. And given everything that’s already gone on at home during 2025, my mother and I just want to relax, forget about our problems and over-indulge to celebrate Christmas, as you’re supposed to do. And we’ve got everything we need for that.
So I’ve actually been able to go out and about in London a few times this month, now that Mum’s more comfortable being on her own in the house again, having got some of her independence and confidence back. Sometimes it’s just been for walks, but I’ve also met up with a friend as well.
And then at home I’ve been enjoying a lot of entertainment, including dramas, comedies and music. Some things are still ongoing or are on my to do list, so I won’t mention them just yet, but there are already plenty of bits and pieces I can talk about already. So with the usual disclaimer that none of this is sponsored or gifted, I hope you enjoy this varied selection.
Hello again, I hope you’re doing alright and are looking forward to Christmas.
During the last couple of months, my mother has been recovering well from her fractured wrist, both physically and mentally, thanks to all the support she’s received from the NHS and social services. There still are, and always will be, times when she gets anxious or finds things difficult of course. But having melatonin to help her sleep at night, and a wheelchair to help her get out and about more, has given her a real boost, along with various other forms of help she’s had. And at the very end of November I was even able to go out for a long walk and explore the shops by myself like I used to do, because she felt able to cope on her own.
You can find out more about all of that in my journal posts as usual, including some recovery of my own after I had a wisdom tooth extracted. You can also hear an interview I recorded in October for RNIB Connect Radio about my caring role, which was featured in their Good Company show and then released independently as a podcast.
All that aside, I’ve naturally been enjoying plenty of entertainment as well including Doctor Who, comedies, podcasts and audiobooks. So that’s what I’m going to focus on here, and I hope you enjoy this latest roundup!
So now it’s time to move on to Series 6. With the previous series, new showrunner Steven Moffat had given the programme a big overhaul, and very successfully too. So this time around things are more settled. The 11th Doctor is again joined by the gorgeous Karen Gillan playing the feisty Amy Pond, along with Arthur Darvill in the role of her newly wedded husband Rory Williams. They make such an enjoyable trio with great chemistry between them, because they became such good friends off-camera when they started working on Series 5 together. You can see how much fun they have together in the Confidential documentaries as well.
We also see plenty more of Alex Kingston as River Song, and we finally discover who she really is. Her identity is revealed as a mid-season cliffhanger, as originally the series was split into two halves, with a 12-week gap between them. Such a break had never happened in the modern era before, so it was a bit frustrating at the time, especially given the big reveal. But at least the series can be watched all in one go now. Other mysteries from the previous series, about The Silence and the exploding Tardis, also continue to develop here, along with new story arcs about the Doctor’s death and Amy’s pregnancy.
So there’s plenty to get through in this post, in terms of the episodes and the various extra features as per usual, and once again I’ve compiled a playlist for the series with lots of clips and bonus material. I hope you enjoy!
Welcome to my latest monthly roundup, I hope you’re doing well.
In terms of my caring responsibilities towards my mother, who is still recovering from her broken wrist, I’ve continued posting separate journal updates about everything that’s been going on, split into Part 1 and Part 2 for this month. So do read those posts if you want to be kept informed about that side of my life. Suffice to say that while we are still finding things difficult in some ways, she is continuing to get various forms of help, and we are now starting to consider the support required for her longer term care needs. Plus we’ve already had a very positive development at the start of October, perhaps the most significant to date, that has the potential to make a huge difference long-term. I’ll tell you about that in my October journal posts in the weeks ahead, and it’s going to be an important transitional month if all goes to plan.
Apart from all that though, I have kept myself entertained in various ways as well, with music, TV shows and an audiobook. So here are the main things I’ve been enjoying, and I hope you find them interesting to read about as always.
Hello again, I hope you’re doing well and have been enjoying the summer. If you’ve continued to follow my blog over the last couple of months then (a) thank you so much and (b) you’ll have seen there’s good reason for me not going out much lately, given the issues at home that I’ve now opened up about. Looking after my mother has become a much bigger drain on my time and energy than it used to be, but we are gradually getting help now.
Still, beyond all the disability and care-related stuff I’ve been sharing recently, I’ve also kept myself occupied and distracted with various forms of entertainment, some of which I’ve written separate blog posts on as well.
So here’s a quick roundup of things I’ve written about and entertainment I’ve been enjoying over the last couple of months. I’m still not making videos to go with these posts for the time being, but I hope you find these bits and pieces interesting.
Now that the most recent series of Doctor Who is out of the way – and I’ve just updated that review with details of its Blu-ray steelbook release – and as there’s going to be a big gap until the next series while the BBC decide what to do, I’m going to continue rewatching the earlier series of the modern era.
I’ve already reviewed all of the series and spin-offs from Russell T Davies’ first stint as showrunner, so it’s time to move on to the fifth series overseen by Steven Moffat, which aired 15 years ago in 2010. Hard to believe it’s that old already.
With a new showrunner, Doctor, companions, Tardis and theme tune, this was another fresh start for the programme, and it worked really well. So I hope you enjoy my deep dive into it, and there are plenty of videos on my Series 5 playlist you can dig through too.
Hello again, I hope you’re all doing well. Those of you who saw last month’s roundup will know that I’m going through a difficult patch at the moment because of my mother’s health. We have started to get a bit of help, in terms of medical assistance and reaching out to support services, all of which takes time, and I will explain more in due course. Suffice to say for now that going totally blind has naturally had a big impact on her mental health and sleep, and by extension has affected my wellbeing as her carer. We are ok, but certain aspects are quite difficult to deal with
As a result, I’m not making videos to go with these posts for the time being, as it’s just not practical right now and I want to make things easier for myself. It also means I’m not doing as much out and about as usual, as my caring role is dominating my time much more than it used to – and I am therefore starting to explore the support that’s available for carers.
However, I did manage to go to the theatre a couple of times with friends early in the month, which I was really grateful for, as I needed to confide in them about what’s been going on, and the shows were great escapism, especially because of the touch tours and audio description.
So I’ve got those shows to tell you about, as well as some bits and pieces I’ve been watching at home, and none of it’s sponsored or gifted as usual. So let’s get on with it, and I hope you enjoy!
A couple of years ago I saw the musical, which was fun apart from missing out on the touch tour, and I rewatched the first film online back then to refresh my memory. But I haven’t seen the other 2 instalments since my youth and didn’t really remember them after all this time. So I’ve revisited them all at last by watching the trilogy on Blu-ray, which I bought a while ago but ended up setting aside for this big anniversary to go through it all. All of the films have been remastered of course, so they all look and sound really good.
This therefore marks the first time in decades I’ve seen all three films, and the first time ever that I’ve watched any of the bonus material. And it’s been a lot of fun. So I hope you enjoy this little run-through of it all as my tribute to this timeless trilogy.
Well Eye Never 
You must be logged in to post a comment.