Mrs M
Guru
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Really think that Brian May deserves his knighthood.
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Sir Brian May
- Thread starter Mrs M
- Start date
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Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I saw him in the Windmill near Waterloo once. He's very tall.
OP
OP
Mrs M
Guru
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Amazing and super talented man.
Cares about wildlife too.
Cares about wildlife too.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Was he making flour?
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
He would have been when he was young, but not now! He, like me, "used to be tall". 1.87 m/6' 1.6" (1 cm more than me) was 'tall' in the 1960s but is nothing compared to the heights of many of the giant young men around these days. On one of the Llandudno forum rides a few years ago there were 3 riders 10+ cm/4+ " taller than me!
I just read about his scientific career - I didn't know anything about that.
Profpointy
Legendary Member
Relatively recently he completed his PhD in astrophysics, having shelved it back in the dat to pursue his career with Queen. I gather May himself had commented that it was, in a way, disappointing that he was able to finish the work, as that meant essentially nothing had been done in his specific area of research in the 40 plus years elapsed. It's worth stressing his was an earned proper research PhD in hard science not an honorary one awarded to a major celebrity, even if an honorary Doctor of music would have been fair enough.
There are a few musician physicists, such as Brian Cox, who gave up music for physics, but was nevertheless a proper rock star in the day. A pal of mine was a contemporary and said it was funny working in the lab with him then seeing him on top of the pops in the evening. He did say Cox was a nice guy and really clever - and my pal was no lightweight either, so the comment had some weight.
And perhaps the greatest musician-astronomer of the all is William Herschel. He gave up his musical career, and he would have been rock star level back in his day, to pursue astronomy. Even as Astronomer Royal with its salary and patronage he took a major pay cut. He did discover many comets, Uranus, and the New General Catalogue of nebulae and galaxies is essentially Herschel's list - a much more comprehensive list than Messier's earlier catalogue. His music is utterly joyful and criminally neglected nowadays - he wrote twenty something symphonies and only four are recorded to my knowledge, and they are wonderful
View: https://youtu.be/Z2yjR9OB0q4
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steveindenmark
Legendary Member
Yes he does. The amount of work he has put in for the RSPCA and so many more nature projects around the world. Thats before we start with his contribution to music.
Well deserved.
Well deserved.
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
I was one of the tallest people in my year at school. Now I'm dwarfed by the Sixth Formers who walk past me.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
That's actually shorter than me. But his hair more than made up for it!
This was about 30 years ago, mind.
IIRC his scientific area was interstellar dust. It's really dusty out there.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Ditto. A schoolmate was the same height as me and we used to stand at the back in morning assembly and look over the heads of the other boys. If we tried that now we would be staring at the backs of a row of necks!
A decade or two later we went to a bar. I went to buy the drinks and found myself next to a large group of fit-looking young men who were ALL 10+ cm taller than me, some probably 15+ cm taller. I reckon they were members of a basketball team.
Cycleops
Legendary Member
- Location
- Accra, Ghana
Popularist honour. Probably more deserving of it than Jagger though.
harlechjoe
Guest
Hang on folkes - anyone singing 'Want to ride my bicycle' deserves a knighthood !!
