Freddie's Birth Certificate Map Zanzibar Stone Town Islands of Zanzibar
Freddie was born
Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar on the 5th of September,
1946, during the time his father was employed on the island as a British Civil
Servant.
The Bulsara's forbears had to leave their birthplace - then known as
Persia (now Iran) around a thousand years
before to
escape religious persecution.
Like many
Parsee's (followers of the Zoroastrian
religion), they fled to India where there was a history of religious
tolerance.
Freddie's Birth
Certificate
Map Zanzibar Stone
Town
Islands of Zanzibar
Daniella's page has some great photo's of Zanzibar
Farrokh's Mum, Jer (Pictured holding baby Freddie below) entered Freddie-to-be into a Beautiful Baby Competiton when he was One year of age - and of course he won! The photographer was so pleased with the picture that he put it into his shop window. Maybe that is where Freddie got his first taste of fame?
Freddie's sister Kashmira, is pictured below with him on the beach in Zanzibar.
Farrokh was sent to boarding school in India at around
8 years
of age, only seeing his parents every year during the Summer Holidays.
It was here at St Peter's (an English-Style Boarding School in Panchgani,
India), that he first acquired the name Freddie.
Freddie was good at sports and came 2nd in the High Jump Competition
.....and also won a cup for 'Best All Rounder'
"It's stupid to say there is no such thing in boarding schools. All the
things they say about them are more or less true. All the bullying and
everything else. I've had the odd schoolmaster chasing me. It didn't shock me
because somehow boarding schools.....you're not confronted by it, you are just
slowly aware of it. It's going through life." (Freddie)
Freddie's grade four piano skills stood him in good stead when he formed his first group - the 'Hectics', pictured below (Freddie middle). The band's name came from his frenetic piano style.
"Strange though it might
be, in those days Freddie was quite well in the background as Bruce Murray
slipped easily in the role of lead singer. In fact Freddie didn't seem to be a
natural front man at all. It should go without saying that it amazed me watching
him become such an enormous star. The person whom I know as Freddie Bulsara at
school, would never have been able to achieve so much, so consummately. Although
I remember his shyness - and he was very reticent - there was a side to him,
which was always somewhat frenzied. Although he wasn't at all loud by nature or
character, he was known on occasion to shed his prim demeanour. I can now hear
him scream like a banshee as he rushed down the dormitory screaming." Who
pinched MY SOAP!!"
Derrick Branche
"The Hectics practised in the art room. Above this room was the dormitory where they used to sleep. I remember Freddie very well, he was an extremely thin, intense boy who had the habits of calling one "Darling" which was quite unusual.. It was all "Darling this", Darling that", but he was a very helpful boy."
"It was very much
inside him, a fundamental part of him, he was very effeminate, and I often felt
sorry for him when others made fun of him from time to time. The funny thing was
that he didn't seem to mind very much".
Janet Smith - teacher at a nearby school in Panchgani
Freddie
having a good time with friends below.
"I always saw Freddie
smiling, he seemed to be perpetually smiling, and thinking of that makes me
smile too"
Derrick Branche who was at St Peter's with Freddie
Freddie arrived back in Zanzibar around 1962 and completed his last two years of school at St Joseph's Convent School.
"We often spent our free time at the beach, swimming. Our favourite spot was at the Starehe Club on Shanghai Street, which had a very clean beach. We also cycled along the island, which Freddie seemed to enjoy very much. Sometimes a whole group of us would go, swim at the beaches, have our snacks and sometimes climb a coconut tree and pinch some coconuts.
"We didn't use alcohol, drugs
or cigarettes.
Freddie was always smartly dressed in blue shorts and a white shirt, and
his cricket clothes always seemed whiter than the others did.
He was easygoing and always had plenty of jokes. He also could be a bit of a
loner from time to time, he just moved out of the crowd, folded his arms, and
you just knew he wanted to be alone.
But when he was in the mood he was so much fun to be around."
Bonzo Fernandez - classmate at St Joseph's
In 1964, the family were forced to leave Zanzibar because of the change of political power caused by a violent revolution, and left for England with only two suitcases.
Freddie
arrived in England at around 17/18 years of age.
Photo's below show Freddie when he was an Art
Student at Ealing College of Art in London, and with Parents
Jer and Bomi.
(Quotes from school friends and teacher from the now deleted book - "Back to the Roots of Freddie Mercury - From Zanzibar to London" (Frank)