August Create: Memorable Encounters at the Queen Convention
Created | Updated Aug 17, 2014
SashaQ remembers his encounters at Queen Conventions.
As I've mentioned in Create challenges previously, I have been a Queen fan for many years, but it was only in the 21st Century that I plucked up the courage to go to the Queen Convention.
The Conventions my mum and I attended offered the potential for many memorable encounters, as the organisers Jacky and Val did sterling work booking talks and performances by people well known in the world of Queen.
The most memorable encounter at the first Convention we attended was with Jamie Moses, a guitarist who had supported Brian May on his solo tours. He organised guitar masterclasses, and I enjoyed learning to play Crazy Little Thing Called Love on a replica Red Special.
The most memorable encounter of all our Queen Conventions, though, was with Jim Hutton, who was Freddie Mercury's partner for many years until Freddie died in 1991. He appeared on stage at the first Convention we attended, but he wasn't well and looked quite uncomfortable, so we didn't approach him after the event, even though we would have liked to have spoken to him and checked he was OK. The following year, he was feeling much better, and was often to be found wandering around the holiday camp or sitting in the audience at talks as he had not been booked to go on stage himself. My mum decided she wanted his autograph, so approached him in the café while he was brewing himself a superstrong cup of tea - he was jokingly not keen, so mum chased him round the café until he gave in, laughing! He also agreed to pose for a photograph and enjoyed chatting with us.
The encounter must have been memorable indeed, as at the next Convention we attended, Jim spotted us wandering around and came over to say hello, shaking hands and giving us each a kiss on the cheek, too! We were impressed by how down to earth he was, having lived the high life with Freddie, that he enjoyed those Queen weekends at a holiday camp. Sadly, we discovered that Jim died in 2010, so we won't be able to see him again even if we do go to another Queen Convention, but meeting him was definitely the highlight of the 2005 Convention for us.
