Brian May unveils plaque at childhood home of Queen bandmate Freddie Mercury

The sister of Freddie Mercury Kashmira Cooke at the unveiling of an English Heritage blue plaque to Queen's lead singer at his former home at 22 Gladstone Avenue in Feltham, west London. Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

The frontman died in 1991, but May said he could feel his presence as he revealed the memorial at the terraced house in Feltham, west London.

Mercury was living in the house with his parents when he met his future bandmates May and Roger Taylor.

Before unveiling the English Heritage plaque, May, who also grew up in Feltham, said: “The last thing we would have thought is that I would be here at this point, commemorating him with a blue plaque, It’s a happy occasion with a tinge of sadness because he should be here, he should still be here creating.”

He added: “As boys we conquered the world in a way that was beyond our wildest dreams, which is why we are here today.

“What I remember of Freddie is hard to sum up. He was a shy boy and embarrassed of still living with his mum, so he often slept on people’s floors to feel like he had broken away.

“He had an extraordinary capacity to energise people and make them feel excited. We knew he was something very special, he made people feel like they could do it too.”

Mercury’s parents bought the house in Feltham after they left Zanzibar for the UK when he was a teenager.

He now joins his idol Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as musicians to have been honoured with the plaque.