For the first eight years of his life he lived in Stansfield Road, until someone dug him out and gave him a place to stay.
It was a poor area. David has spoken of it in interviews, 'I never wanted and never went hungry but I saw people deprived all around, and I wanted them to buy my albums.'
David went to Bromley Technical High School and it was there that he attacked George Underwood with his eye. Bowie described it: 'I was very near to losing sight in both eyes, I was lucky, George nearly lost sight in both ears'
He remained friends with Underwood, because he scared the living bejesus out of David.
One of his earliest moves was to buy a tambourine. A later move saw him buying a triangle and a stick. A GI Joe followed shortly after, then some lego, and finally a saxaphone.
He admired sax player Ronnie Ross, and though he was only 12 years old he found Ross's number in the telephone book and contacted him to arrange private lessons. Ross served 15 years and was let out on probation.
By his mid-teens he was an accomplished player, but his end of term Christmas show was a dismal failure, only attracting 300 fellow students and parents. Compared with his usual later audiences of 10 to 20 thousand it was a catastrophe.
Also at the show performing was Peter Frampton, who was payed a miserly 20p by his parents for making an appearance and doing the dishes later that night.
David and Peter, as far as we can tell, were rather dull boys. David was a keen runner (thanks to George Underwood), but when it came to exams he only got his O-levels in art and woodwork. He probably neglected his work because he was lazy and played too much saxaphone.
'I was under a doctor's care during much of my youth because I was accident prone. There was the time George broke my hand, and then after it healed he broke a thumb on the same hand. Then he ran over me with an automobile breaking both of my legs. To this day I have a large scar on the inner side of my leg. We're still good friends though'
When David was in hospital recovering from another Underwood beating, his brother Terry went completely nuts and was shipped of to the loony bin. David was philosophical about this in interviews, 'He went nuts. They put him in the loony bin'
David's first and only job outside of the entertainment industry was as a commerical artist. They were not too sure about using androgynous freakazoids leaping about in a sea of blood-red glitter to advertise sanitary napkins however, so he was fired.
'I wasn't happy. I don't think I was ever happy. Please kill me'
He was however, playing tenor sax with a group in the evenings. They suggested he use an actual instrument instead, which was a vast improvement. He decided to become a musician...'