Framed by brick walls bearing hundreds of letters in honour of the King of Rock, a green door opens onto the last home of Freddie Mercury, the remarkably talented frontman of Queen. In 1985, the singer moved to this quiet street in Kensington and sumptuously decorated the rooms of this home that would host raucous parties and where the studio annex would host recording sessions late into the night. When, with his health deteriorating, the rock star withdrew from the public eye, he would spend more and more time in the intimacy of this home. Assisted, until his death by his ex-lover and best friend, Mary Austin, Mercury died in this house on November 24, 1991. He was cremated and his ashes were placed in a secret location, known only to Mary Austin. Following the last wishes of her friend, the woman, along with her family, still lives in Garden Lodge, surrounded by the furnishings that Freddie Mercury picked out himself. The building was built in 1908 for painter Cecil Rae who lived in the house with his wife and, before Mercury, it had numerous high-profile owners, including Peter Wilson, president of the auction house Sotheby’s.
Platform is a new initiative to expand our exhibition programme with free annual exhibitions showcasing the work of a designer or studio that is impacting contemporary design discourse. The inaugural exhibition features the work of Bethan Laura Wood.
The exhibition begins in the 1920s, when swimsuits began to be marketed for swimming and when seaside holidays became popular and explores the role of swimming in modern life up to the present day.
In London, at the unusual setting of the Royal Albert Hall, over 40 of Japan's finest maku-uchi rikishi (wrestlers) will compete, bringing with them the legacy of 1.500 years of Sumo.
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