This Side of the Pond

We’re going to file this week’s column under “things you didn’t know about famous people”, even though, for me, it also falls into the category of stuff I’ve failed to notice about my own home county.

You undoubtedly know the name Brian May, even if you don’t like rock music or were born too late to enjoy the stylish performances of Freddie Mercury.

He is widely regarded as one of the finest guitar players of all time, we can all still hum along to most of the timeless songs he’s written and it’s hard to think of Queen without picturing his enormous curly hair.

But none of that is what Brian May would like you to remember him for.

He would prefer that, when you hear his name, you picture 100,000 trees standing together near a small town in Dorset, teeming with wildlife.

There are a surprising number of facts about Brian May that “Bohemian Rhapsody” fans are unlikely to know. He’s – of all things – an astrophysicist, author of a thesis titled “A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud” (which he completed 37 years after first starting it, having abandoned his doctoral studies when Queen originally shot to fame).

He is chancellor of a university in Liverpool and has an honorary fellowship for his contribution to astronomy. He co-founded Asteroid Day with dignitaries such as Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9 astronaut.

But my favorite fact about Brian May is that, in 2013, he teamed up with national treasure Sir David Attenborough and – of all people – Slash from Guns n’ Roses. Together, they formed a supergroup called Artful Badger and Friends and released a song called “Badger Swagger”, dedicated to – yes, you guessed it – badgers.

Now, you may be wondering what on earth could possibly have been going on in his head. It’s certainly an eclectic group of people, but it may help to know that Brian May is also known for being an activist who works to protect wildlife.

At the time the song was released, the UK government was attempting to fix an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis by culling thousands of badgers. I know this method can be highly effective under other circumstances, but the findings of a major trial a few years earlier had concluded it wasn’t going to work in this case.

The song encouraged everyone to wear badger masks to show their displeasure at the idea of the cull. Before you try to picture these masks, I would like to point out that these are not the badgers you know.

I once heard American badgers described as looking like they’re about to drag you into a back alley, pull a shiv and demand cash to fund their meth habit, while Europeans badger look like they’re thinking to invite you for a cup of tea and some custard cream biscuits at their little cottage in the country.

Think “Wind in the Willows”, is what I’m saying.

Sir Attenborough did not choose to sing on said single – for the best, really, as it’s his spoken voice we all identify with. Other celebrities also got involved, although they are less well known this side of the pond. Slash, unsurprisingly, played guitar.

And it worked. A quarter of a million people signed a petition to stop the cull and MPs voted overwhelmingly to stop it from going ahead.

It’s far from May’s only success in the realm of protecting wildlife, which brings me back to those 157 acres of trees in Bere Regis, Dorset. May saved that site from development a few years ago and began planting thousands of trees, with the aim of restoring ancient woodland to create “a safe habitat for animals and people to live in harmony”.

He has also founded the “Save Me Trust” to protest against badger culling and fox hunting. I’ve spoken of fox hunting in this column before – its barbaric nature involves chasing a fox for miles on horses with hounds, and it’s the reason some Brits don’t understand the rich tradition of hunting in America.

It’s a proper charity, too, based on scientific research and seeking sustainable solutions, while staying politically active and building coalitions. None of this lip service you often see from celebrities – the logo is even based on the baby fox who fell off a roof, was nursed back to health and eventually came to live at the Save Me headquarters.

He also campaigns against the ivory trade, the use of animals in circus acts and for the removal of orcas and dolphins from captivity.

And then there’s the hedgehogs. Oh, how he loves a hedgehog.

Brian May founded a hedgehog rescue center in Surrey, on his own estate, where the spiky little things can go to be nursed back to health and released back into the wild. He’s had up to 100 in residence at one time, and he’s extremely hands-on with their care.

There’s even been a television show about his work, in which you can watch him rush off to rescue, for example, a hedgehog that fell down a drain.

May has said that all of these activities, and all of the experiences they’ve brought, are the greatest joy he’s experienced in his lifetime. That’s right: more joyous than playing to an audience of thousands, touring like a rock star and receiving the kind of acclaim reserved for only the very best.

Offer him the choice between a fox with a bad leg and a Grammy and he’d take the injured animal every time. It’s nice to know that even the most intoxicating levels of fame aren’t always a distraction from the important things in life.