The famous "Red Special" guitar was built by Brian May and his father Harold in 1963. Also known as "Old Lady" and "Fireplace", the majority of the wood came from an 18th century fireplace mantle that a neighbor was throwing away.

May earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2007 and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University from 2008 to 2013. He was a "science team collaborator" with NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. He is a co-founder of the awareness campaign Asteroid Day and even has an asteroid named after him (Asteroid 52665 Brianmay).

Mercury wrote "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in approximately ten minutes while lounging in a bathtub at a hotel in Munich in 1979. The song was written and performed in a "rockabilly" style as a tribute to Elvis Presley.

Having attended art college, Mercury designed a logo for the band, known as the Queen crest. It combined the zodiac signs of all four members and contained two lions, a crab, and two fairies, as well as a crown inside the letter "Q" and a phoenix.

In the early 1970s, Mercury had a long-term relationship with his girlfriend Mary Austin whom he lived with for several years. By the mid-1970s, he had begun an affair with a male American record executive at Elektra Records. In December 1976, Mercury told Austin of his sexuality, which ended their romantic relationship. He and Mary remained close friends through the years, and he often referred to her as his only true friend.

The film won four awards at the 91st Academy Awards for Best Actor (Rami Malek), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, making it the film with the most wins at the ceremony. It was also nominated for Best Picture, which it lost to Green Book.

"Keep Yourself Alive" was released as a single twice, in 1973 and 1975. It failed to make the top 40 both times.

Mercury dubbed many of his male friends with female nicknames. Brian May became "Maggie", Roger Taylor "Liz", Elton John "Sharon" and Rod Stewart "Phyllis". Freddie was "Melina" and Mary Austin became "Steve". But John Deacon was considered too masculine for a feminine nickname.

Freddie Mercury loved cats and had as many as ten at one point. He even dedicated his solo album Mr. Bad Guy to his cats, stating "This album is dedicated to my cat Jerry -- also Tom, Oscar and Tiffany, and all the cat lovers across the universe -- screw everybody else!"

Despite the video showing all Queen members singing, the five-part harmony at the start of "Bohemian Rhapsody" was all performed by Freddie Mercury.