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Freddie Mercury's complex relationship with Zanzibar (BBC)

 

With the release of a new film about the British rock band Queen, the spotlight has fallen again on the life of its legendary lead singer, Freddie Mercury. 

His flamboyant stage presence, outlandish costumes, memorable hits, fluid sexuality, and death from an Aids-related illness at just 45 are defining memories of the British rock scene of the 1970s and 1980s. 

Less well-known - and barely mentioned in the film - is that he was born in the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar to a family whose roots lie in India and Persia.