Bryan Ferry booed as he pays tribute to his ‘brave’ son
Rock star Bryan Ferry was booed and jeered by his fellow musicians at the Q awards ceremony as he spoke in support of his son, Otis, one of eight pro-hunt demonstrators who stormed the House of Commons in September, angered by the government’s plan to ban fox-hunting.
Collecting the award for lifetime achievement for his band Roxy Music, Ferry announced: “I would like to dedicate this award to my brave son Otis.” The audience, which included U2, Sir Elton John and Elvis Costello, was audibly unreceptive.
Until yesterday, Ferry had declined to comment on his son’s involvement with the pro-hunt lobby and in particular the events of September 15, when the protesters succeeded in sneaking into the Commons dressed as construction workers before storming the floor of the house.
Former public schoolboy Otis, 21, is the country’s youngest master of the foxhounds, following his appointment at the South Shropshire Hunt last May.
Raised in Sussex, he left Marlborough school at 16 to become an apprentice whipper-in at the Middleton Hunt in North Yorkshire.
The incident at the Commons was not his first brush with the law in the name of the fox-hunting: two years ago, he was arrested when found lurking around the prime minister’s constituency home in Trimden, Co Durham. Apparently, he had been planning to decorate the house in pro-hunt stickers.
Earlier this year, in an interview with The Field magazine, Ferry, referring to the incident in 2002, described how he wished he had encountered the prime minister that night.
“I would like to have heard why he feels he has the right to ruin so many lives,” he said, “especially mine.” Bryan Ferry’s former wife – and Otis’s mother – Lucy, has also been involved in the pro-hunt protests.
She received a 12-month conditional discharge at Bow Street magistrates’ court last month, for her part in September’s pro-hunt demonstrations outside Parliament.
The socialite and fomer model subsequently pledged that the pro-hunting campaigners would bring down the government.
“It was a political statement. I am very angry and so are thousands and thousands of other people.
“This bill is an attack on the freedom of a minority of people,” she said.
“We are disgusted by Mr Blair’s lies and we can bring this government down.”
Bryan Ferry, 59, famous for his lounge lizard image as well as for hits such as Love is the Drug and Avalon, has not taken any active involvement in the pro-hunt campaign.
