{"id":759410,"date":"2026-09-04T06:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/759410\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T06:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:18:10","slug":"freddie-mercury-mural-unveiled-at-wembley-for-80th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/759410\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Mercury mural unveiled at Wembley for 80th birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The band played 10 shows at the venue, previously known as the Empire Pool, between 1978 and 1984, and appeared at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in July 1985. Queen returned to the stadium for two sold-out concerts the following summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The mural also refers to Mercury&#8217;s life away from the stage. Koi carp reflect his love of Japan and the Japanese pond at his London home, while winged female figures echo his Virgo star sign, a motif he used on the Queen crest he designed himself. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Lyrics and quotations run up the steps towards the stadium.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Claudio Giambrone, who commissioned and curated the work for Wembley Park, said: &#8220;Freddie Mercury&#8217;s relationship with Wembley goes far beyond a single famous performance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We wanted to create something that gives fans a new place in Wembley where they can come together and remember him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Styles said: &#8220;As a trained graphic designer himself, Freddie was very aware and precise about the visual feel and so I have endeavoured to follow his ethos in the conscious creation of this mural.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The steps link Wembley Stadium and the OVO Arena, formerly Wembley Arena. The mural is free to view at any time and will remain in place until December 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/curation\/p0cjdwm5\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sounds<\/a> and follow BBC London on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BBCLondon\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook, external<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BBCLondonNews\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">X, external<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbclondon\/?hl=en\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram, external<\/a>. Send your story ideas to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/mailto:hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk, external<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The band played 10 shows at the venue, previously known as the Empire Pool, between 1978 and 1984,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-759410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}