• Queen's Brian May battles for threatened badgers

    By The Associated Press

    There's a battle over badgers in Britain -- and rock star Brian May is facing off against the country's farmers.

    Joel Ryan / AP

    Brian May launches the national Team Badger campaign in front of a giant billboard in London on Wednesday.

    For animal-loving Britons, the burrowing black-and-white creatures are a beloved part of the landscape. But to cattle farmers they are a menace, spreading bovine tuberculosis, a disease that can devastate herds.

    This week the government approved a plan to kill badgers in some parts to slow the spread of infection.

    May, the Queen guitarist, belongs to a coalition of animal welfare groups who are determined to stop the cull, which he calls "horrific."


    They have gathered over 55,000 signatures and hope to convince the government to scrap the idea.

    May said Wednesday he's confident "the public will speak and they won't allow the government to get away with this."

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  • Late Queen singer Freddie Mercury animated as an Angry Bird

    By Rolling Stone

    The late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was honored Monday with an animated video in which the singer is portrayed as an Angry Bird. To honor the singer's birthday (September 5th), the creators of the Angry Birds franchise have posted a video set to Queen's "Bicycle Race." 

    Google Pays Tribute to Freddie Mercury


    In London, Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor are hosting the third annual fundraiser Freddie for a Day, which benefits the Mercury Phoenix Trust's work towards AIDS research.  

    Queen Will Debut Freddie Mercury Illusion in London

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  • Diamond Jubilee: From ska to pop, stars rock Buckingham Palace

    Slideshow: Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee

    Joel Ryan / AP

    Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60 years on the throne with veteran rockstars and huge crowds.

    Launch slideshow

    By msnbc.com and news services

    Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET: LONDON - Elton John sang "I'm Still Standing," Stevie Wonder crooned "Isn't She Lovely," and Paul McCartney sent "All My Loving" as musical royalty celebrated Queen Elizabeth II's 60-year reign with a concert outside Buckingham Palace on Monday. But the joy was tempered by news that the queen's husband, Prince Philip, had been hospitalized with a bladder infection.

    About 12,000 contest winners watched the live performances as part of four days of nationwide celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee marking the queen's 60 years on the throne. Members of the royal family, including Charles, his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Princes William and Harry sat in a royal box to watch the show. The queen wore a gold lame cocktail dress under a dark cape. 

    The first of more than four thousand beacons have been lit as the global celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee were stepped up. The Queen will light the final beacon from the concert stage at Buckingham Palace where Sir Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Kylie Minogue and a host of other stars will perform in her honor. Forecasters say the weather should be kinder after yesterday's downpours. ITN's Damon Green reports. 

    Monday’s concert also featured Ska band Madness singing 1980s hit "Our House" from the roof of the 775-room palace. The band changed the lyrics to use proper English: "Our house, in the middle of one's street."

    It's official: Twitter kills the Queen's English

    The veteran entertainers seemed most popular. The crowd roared along to Cliff Richard's, "Congratulations," and cheered Bassey singing — fittingly — "Diamonds are Forever." Prince Harry could be seen singing along — "Why, why why?" — as Tom Jones belted out "Delilah," while Prince William and his wife Kate joined in on John's "Crocodile Rock."

    McCartney closed the concert playing "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" on a Union Jack guitar before the queen took the stage with her family.

    Palace officials said the prince, who will turn 91 on Saturday, was taken to the King Edward VII Hospital in London from Windsor Castle on Monday as a precaution and will remain under observation for a few days.

    As the Diamond Jubilee show ended, Prince Charles took the stage and encouraged concertgoers to make some noise for his father. The crowd responded with a roar and chants of "Philip."

    The heir to the throne paid tribute to his mother, addressing her as "Your Majesty — Mummy" and leading the crowd in three cheers for the monarch.

    Did the queen enjoy the music? Her musical tastes are a mystery, and she appeared to be wearing yellow ear plugs as she observed the concert, according to The Associated Press. According to The Guardian newspaper, the only song the queen has ever been known to request is "Some Enchanted Evening" from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific."

    Despite the dreary weather, organizers said more than one million people gathered on the banks of the Thames to watch the 86-year-old monarch glide past in a barge decorated with flowers, with her closest family at her side.

    In the flotilla were kayaks, rowboats, barges and the Motor Torpedo Boat 102 on which the Allied Forces commander, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspected warships before the 1944 D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France. 

    Peter Jeary, NBC News

    Despite heavy rain, spectators lined up from dawn on Sunday to get the best view of the River Thames flotilla.

    A gloomy, gray - and great - day for the UK

    All were decorated with flags and banners, making a colorful spectacle harking back to Tudor times when river pageants regularly took place for royal festivities.

    Six participants in the pageant were treated in hospitals for exposure to the cold and wet, and medics attended to about 40 spectators along the river.

    Slideshow: Britain honors Queen Elizabeth II with Diamond Jubilee

    Her Royal Highness celebrates 60 years on the throne.

    Launch slideshow

    After the concert, a network of 4,000 beacons were lit across the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, leading into Tuesday, the final day of the extended holiday weekend.

    The small Pacific island nation of Tonga claimed the honor of lighting the first beacons. Another was scheduled to be lit in Kenya at the Treetops Hotel, where Elizabeth was informed of her father's death in 1952, making her the queen.

    While more than a century separates festivities marking Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne from those honoring her predecessor Queen Victoria, surprising similarities connect the commemorations. NBC News' Jim Maceda reports.

    The jubilee celebrations will conclude on Tuesday with a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral, a carriage procession along the Mall avenue, a fly past and farewell wave from the royal family to crowds gathered in front of Buckingham Palace – events that will be covered live on a special edition of NBC’s TODAY.

    Secret donors, foreign firms bankroll UK’s Diamond Jubilee celebration

    The jubilee event have underlined broad support for the queen in Britain, where she is riding high in opinion polls and is seen as a symbol of service, stability and national unity.

    The displays of pomp and pageantry also gave a lift to many at a time of economic austerity and spending cuts, and boosted confidence ahead of the summer Olympic Games.

    BBC, via Twitter

    British tabloid newspaper The Sun marked the wet festivities with this headline on Monday.

    Support for the royal family is not universal however, with views ranging from indifference - around two million Britons traveled abroad to benefit from the extra days off - to outright opposition.

    Queen's critics face uphill battle during jubilee

    "Her achievement is just staying alive, doing little and saying less," Graham Smith, head of campaign group Republic, told Reuters on Sunday.

    Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating 60 years on the throne. Watch archival footage from her childhood and ascension to the throne to the present day.

    His group estimates that the royal family, which officially sets taxpayers back between 30 and 40 million pounds a year, in fact costs closer to 200 million pounds when security and travel are included.

    There might be four days of celebrations in Great Britain for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, but some Londoners still have to work. NBC's Duncan Golestani finds a quick way to join in the fun.

    Queen Elizabeth is only the second monarch to mark 60 years on the throne, after her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria reached the milestone in 1897. She is also on course to become the longest-serving British sovereign in 2015.

    NBC News, msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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    Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

  • Freddie Mercury will rock stage again via optical illusion

    Redferns via Getty Images

    The late Freddie Mercury performing with Queen in 1977.

    By Courtney Garcia, msnbc.com contributor

    Queen will bring back the band's late frontman Freddie Mercury through optical illusion for Monday's tenth anniversary performance of the London musical, “We Will Rock You.”


    The BBC reports that the rock band has been trying to figure out a way to revive Mercury for the show for some time now, and that the results will impress. Queen guitarist Brian May told the BBC, "People will come out saying, 'Did we actually see Freddie?'”

    Mercury died in 1991.

    The production team is considering a similar technique to the one used to resurrect late rapper Tupac Shakur on stage at California's Coachella Music Festival in April, which is technically not a hologram, but uses similar technology. The British musician also emphasized that the idea had been in the works prior to that event.

    "It's a little unfortunate they did that thing with Tupac as we've been trying to make Freddie appear on the stage for quite a while," May said. "[That technique] is something we've looked at ourselves, but I think probably for a show that runs eight shows a week, it's not really quite practical."

    The musical, based on a collection of the band’s hit songs, was written in part by May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor, and opened on May 14, 2002. It has since become the longest-running musical at its venue. The special performance on Monday will celebrate the show’s accomplishment, and according to BBC, nearly all the original London cast as well as producer Robert De Niro will be in attendance.

    The Mercury revival news comes only weeks after Taylor told Billboard magazine he opposed the idea.

    "I don't think I want to," said the drummer when asked about Mercury appearing. "Were somebody (else) to use a hologram of Freddie, I would have no objection... It just doesn't sit too well with me. I don't want to appear with a hologram of my dear friend. It's the real one or no hologram for me. But I think it's an amazing effect when used properly -- obviously in darkness."

    Since the Shakur appearance, rumors have spread that other dead musicians could virtually come back to life. In April, the R&B group TLC hinted that a reunion tour could include a simulation of the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and E! News reported that Michael Jackson could find new life on the road with his brothers.

    Musion Technology Ltd, the company who produced the Tupac hologram, told NME that other stars could also receive the treatment.

    Sanj Surati, head of music at the firm, said, Elvis onstage with Justin Bieber ‘would be a cool thing," and that other artists could include Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Whitney Houston.

    In April, MTV News took a poll of music fans, who cited John Lennon and Amy Winehouse as others they’d like to see resurrected.

    What do you think of the trend of resurrecting late musicians? Tell us on Facebook.

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  • 'Bohemian Rhapsody' becomes family jam on the way to school

    By Courtney Garcia, msnbc.com contributor

    One dad has figured out a clever way not to fight with his kids over the radio on the way to school in the morning. Rather than alternate stations, he and his three children sing along to Queen, in a Broadway-musical-meets-rock-concert sort of fashion.

    Earning him copious “cool parenting” points from his growing virtual audience, the dad, a YouTube user going as “southlandification,” uploaded a video of himself, his two adolescent daughters and his baby boy on April 11, as they drove to school during their daily routine.

    Writes southlandification, “It has become a morning habit to sing “Bohemian Rhapsody” on the way to school in the morning. Depending on traffic, we can usually start the song as we pull out of the driveway, and pull into the school just as the song ends.”

    The tradition is much more than simple lip-synching, however. Both the kids and dad follow the vocal impressions of Freddie Mercury and crew almost to a tee, and break out into dance-mode behind their seatbelts during the rock interlude in the middle. Even the young boy in a carseat, who seems to forget a lyric or two throughout the progression, offers an appropriate head-bang when he’s at a loss for words.

    Remarkably, the dad manages to stay focused on the road the entire time despite the dramatic choreography.

    One of Queen’s greatest hits, “Bohemian Rhapsody” was released in 1976, selling more than a million copies worldwide, and ranking number 163 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “Greatest Songs of All Time” in 2004. The record saw a resurge in popularity in 1991 after Mercury’s untimely death, and the following year when it was featured in the film, “Wayne’s World.”

    Now, it appears, a whole generation is being exposed.


    “Teach the children well,” writes user RethinkPopMusic on YouTube.

    “It's like that scene from “Step Brothers,”” comments DriftMissile. “Except with an awesome song and the world’s greatest dad.

    Adds bulmeruk, “I have a feeling your kids are going to be great people, with excellent taste in music.”

    Is there a particular song you sing with your kids on the way to school? Tell us on Facebook.

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  • Man belts out 'Bohemian Rhapsody' from back of cop car

    By Kurt Schlosser, NBC News

    Updated 6:30 a.m. PT: Whatever you sing in the privacy of your own shower or your car on the way to work is your business. But if you get arrested and end up in the back of a police car nowadays, it'll likely be filmed and end up on YouTube. So, sing well.

    If you're apparently intoxicated and know all the words to Queen's "Bohemian Rhasody," the video will be that much better.

    "I didn't say that I was intoxicated," says the man in the back of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser. "But it doesn't even matter ... it has to do with brotherhood of men on the planet Earth." And then it starts. Five minutes of cop-car karaoke.

    "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality." Got that right.

    The YouTubers are quick to offer all sorts of helpful commentary, as always.

    User mari3011 says, "Later he was released since all he had was a case of Mercury Poisoning."

    "If I was the cop, I would have requested Freebird at the end," writes AuralSynth.


    After the song ends ("Nothing really matters ...") and the video draws to a close, the back door of the police car is opened and the suspect asks, "Do you have to cuff me?" "Are you going to hit me?" an officer responds. "Physical violence is the least of my priorities." Well said, Freddie Wannabe.

    We give the guy credit for making the six-minute ride from wherever he was picked up to wherever he was dropped off entertaining. Do you have a favorite song that is your back-of-the-cop-car standard? "I Fought the Law" would probably feel pretty good. A certain rap classic by N.W.A., on the other hand, would be ill advised. Share your song choices over on Facebook.

    Head on over to The Smoking Gun for the story on the man behind the music. And, hey, check out the real deal below to see how well the guy actually did: