By Jody Thompson
Entertainment reporter, BBC News
To mark the 60th birthday of David Bowie, here are 60 facts about the iconic singer, actor and artist.
CHILDHOOD
1. David Bowie was born David Robert Jones in Brixton, London, on 8 Jan 1947. He shares the same birthday as Elvis.
2. Bowie's family moved to Bromley when he was six years old.
3. He went to Bromley Technical High School, now called Ravenswood School.
4. Rock guitarist Peter Frampton was Bowie's friend at school - his dad was head of the art department. He's gone on to play guitar with Bowie many times during his career.
5. His right pupil is permanently dilated - due to his friend George Underwood punching him in the eye while the pair were still at school. The fight was over a girl.
6. Underwood and Bowie remained good friends with Underwood doing artwork for some of Bowie's earlier albums.
7. He started playing the saxophone when he was 12 years old.
PRE-FAME
8. His first ever release was Liza Jane / Louie Louie Go Home in June 1964, under the name of Davie Jones with The King-Bees.
9. He later changed his name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Monkee Davy Jones.
10. Bowie is pronounced to rhyme with Joey.
11. At the age of 17, he was interviewed on a BBC programme as the founder of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired Men. He complained: "It's not nice when people call you darling and that".
12. Around 1967, he wrote songs for actor Paul Nicholas of Just Good Friends fame, who was then recording under the name Oscar.
13. He released his debut album, the self-titled David Bowie, in 1967 after playing in a host of pub and club bands.
14. 1967 also saw the release of a single, The Laughing Gnome, which many fans argue is the worst song he has ever recorded.
15. When Bowie suggested that his fans should vote via phone which tracks he should play for his 1990 world tour, The Laughing Gnome was the most requested. He didn't play it.
STARMAN
16. Bowie's first hit in the UK - 1969's Space Oddity - was used by the BBC in its coverage of the moon landing.
17. The fictional character of Major Tom has appeared in three Bowie hits - Space Oddity (1969), Ashes To Ashes (1980) and Hallo Spaceboy (1996).
18. Bowie's first US Number One was his single Fame in 1975. It was co-written by John Lennon and features the late former Beatle on backing vocals.
19. Model Twiggy features on the cover with him for his 1973 album Pin Ups.
20. Around the time of Bowie's 1975 Young Americans album, Chic founder Nile Rodgers auditioned to play guitar in Bowie's band. He didn't get the part.
21. But Rodgers later produced the biggest-selling album of Bowie's career, 1983's Let's Dance.
22. Bowie is believed to have sold in the region of 140 million albums over his career.
23. He was voted Number Four in the recent BBC Culture Show public vote to discover Britain's Greatest Living Icons. Above him were Sir David Attenborough at Number One, Morrissey (2) and Sir Paul McCartney (3).
THE PERFORMER
24. Bowie was hit in the eye by a lollipop while on stage in Oslo, Norway in 2004.
25. Toni Basil of Oh Mickey fame worked as Bowie's choreographer on his Diamond Dogs tour in 1974. She later worked on his Glass Spider tour of 1987.
26. In 1970, when Bowie briefly formed The Hype, everyone in the band dressed up as super heroes. They were booed off everywhere they played.
27. Director Nicolas Roeg cast Bowie in his first leading role, as a stranded alien in The Man Who Fell to Earth, in 1976.
28. He is to be the voice of a character in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants this year.
29. In the 1986 Jim Henson movie Labyrinth, Bowie plays Jareth The Goblin King.
30. He has most recently appeared in The Prestige, alongside Hugh Jackman and Scarlet Johansson.
31. In 1969, Bowie formed his own mime troupe, Feathers, as well as an experimental art ensemble.
32. Bowie appeared as Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ.
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| Sixty things about David Bowie (consider this your email) |
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luneib
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May 6 @ 6:26PM
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I didn't know half the stuff you wrote about him, very interesting.
28. "He is to be the voice of a character in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants this year."
Now that should be cute, I wonder which character?
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misschoos
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May 6 @ 6:39PM
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actor Paul Nicholas of Just Good Friends
OMG have you seen him these days? 
He looks dreadful, I saw him in pantomime a couple of years back.
I'm coming back to this later. 
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misschoos
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May 6 @ 7:03PM
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I didn't know a lot either 
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HopelesslyHopeful
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May 6 @ 7:28PM
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I didn't know a lot either
There's a lot I heard before but didnt' really know all the same; but some of it is totally new and rather surprising.
One thing that I heard before but which is still always surprising to me is how short of a run he actually had "being" Ziggy Stardust Actually, I'm not sure that was on this list, but I did read it just yesterday lol
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HopelesslyHopeful
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May 6 @ 7:30PM
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OMG have you seen him these days?
Actually, uhm .. no .. not to the best of my knowledge. I can't for the bloody life of me remember who Paul Nicholas is! I know I heard the name before. . well .. it sounds familiar but ... ???
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HopelesslyHopeful
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May 6 @ 7:33PM
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I didn't know half the stuff you wrote about him
I didn't write the stuff, I'm just sharing it.
28. "He is to be the voice of a character in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants this year."
Now that should be cute, I wonder which character?
Aye it would be cute ... though he'd better do some serious .. err .. dramatic? No. Okay, he had better do some very good acting, indeed; because David Bowie's voice is far too sexy to just be left lingering about children's television shows.
Imagine the 4 year olds and younger sitting in shock, the older children going "Mommy! Mommy! Stop throwing your panties at the screen! I can't see what Patrick is doing!"
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