LONDON (AFP) - After more than 30 years which he spent as a member of one of the world's most successful bands, Queen guitarist Brian May has finally finished his PhD thesis which he began as a student in the 1970s, The Times reported on Thursday.
May, 59, earned a degree in physics at Imperial College London but after years of studying interplanetary dust, he abandoned work towards his doctorate when Queen took off.
His interest in the subject was reignited when he co-authored "Bang! The Complete History of the Universe", which tells the story of the universe from the big bang through its subsequent evolution, and was released last year.
"For the last nine months, I've done nothing except slave over my PhD, which is now written up, thank God," May reportedly told students at a ceremony at Exeter University in southwest Britain when he received an honorary doctorate.
"But there are times when you really want to give up. There are times when you go, 'Why on earth did I take this on?'"
May worked on the PhD between 1971 and 1974, and kept all his hand-written notes on the subject through the years, finally discovering them in his loft recently.
"People are aware he is here and there is a feeling it is pretty cool that he has come back to finish his PhD, even if he has not been hugely visible," Abigail Smith, a spokeswoman for Imperial College, was quoted as saying by The Times.
The rocker will receive his PhD next May, assuming his thesis is approved by supervisors.
Bright, hard-working guy changes gears as a young man, blazes amazing musical trails, avoids the lifestyle pitfalls, comes back to what he was doing several decades later, and finishes what he started.
Yeah, that's the guy.
Charlie Gravel
“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
― Oscar Wilde
Mr M is also a great mate of Patrick Moore, and has often appeared on TV with the man talking astronomy.
And then there's the great guitar playing.
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
