In the April 2011 edition of the UK magazine Uncut, Brian answers questions from both readers and star guests on all sorts of subjects.
I sent in a question, and, guess what, it got published with an answer from the great man himself!
My question was: "I remember seeing Queen live in 1979 and throwing a couple of sixpences at the stage, thinking you might need them as a plectrum. Did this happen alot?"
This was the edited version of my question. The question I sent in full was:
Dr. May,
I'll never forgot travelling round London watching the band on the Crazy Tour Of London in 1979. Amazing concerts where we, the audience were so close to you guys that we could almost touch you. Now, being a caring type of 16 year old at the time, I remember taking with me a couple of sixpences, which I then proceeded to hurl at you, thinking that you might have needed them to be able to continue your career in the music biz!!
My question is, what is the most amount of sixpences you've ever picked up from the stage after a gig and have you
ever been injured from someone in the audience hurling round metal objects at you?
All the best, keep up the good work.
Nick Armstrong
Umea, Sweden
The reply I got from Brian was:
"Well, thank you Nick! People do, very kindly, bring me envelopes of sixpences. They're not that hard to find, you can buy bags of them pretty cheap. Do they knacker the guitar? No. They're made of nickel silver, which is softer than steel, so the metal dust you get on your guitar is from the sixpence rather than from the strings."