Fan recalls day actor Bowie got into his bed

11 January 2007

MAN WHO FELL INTO MY BED: Bowie with Chris Bauxbaum in his London flat in 1982

FANS from around the borough were keen to wish their favourite rock star many happy returns for Monday. Here are just a few of the messages to Bowie as he reaches his landmark 60th birthday.

SUPERFAN Paul Kinder, who runs the website www.BowieWonderworld. com, said: "A very Happy Birthday David. Whatever with the past has gone, the best is always yet to come. Have a wonderful day."

LEAD singer with Bowie tribute band The Thin White Duke, Scott Fuller, 27, from Beckenham, said: "I came to his music quite late I was instantly entranced by his wondrous music and lyrics.

"All that and he is a fellow Bromley resident like myself, which only served to cement my affinity for this other worldly artist. To think that Space Oddity was probably written in a flat just down the road is amazing.

"The effect of Bowie on my life has been immense. Not just the record collecting, but the fact that I have myself taken on the guise of David Bowie along with my brother on lead guitar, in probably the only Bromley-born Bowie tribute band.

"I hope locals go and buy some of Bowie's records and find out a bit more about this Beckenham oddity who came down from Mars to blow our minds on January 8th, 1947. Happy Birthday David!"

BIRTHDAY greetings also came from Chris Buxbaum, 48, from Atlanta, US, who revealed the star once slept in his bed, although he wasn't in it at the time. He added: "I had a flat above a transport cafe in north London which was turned into a set for the movie The Hunger and made it look like a New York diner.

"I was a rabid Bowie fan and couldn't believe my luck. David's trailer failed to show up and he used my flat to rest between takes.

"It was a 12-hour shoot and in the afternoon he asked if he could take a nap in my bed, which was just a mattress with some Japanese mats on the floor.

"My patience was rewarded at the end of the day when he got his driver to wait for two hours while we took pictures, signed all my albums, listened to old rarities of his that he said HE even didn't have copies of.

He left me a picture signed: 'To Chris, Thanks for the use of your gaff (and the sounds). David Bowie' - pictured on the front page.

"I am still a big fan. Happy Birthday David, love on ya!