“And as the sparrow sings dawn chorus…”
Don’t forget to pop along to Heddon St. in London’s west end if you’re in the vicinity on Tuesday morning. As mentioned previously, The Ziggy Stardust commemorative plaque unveiling is confirmed for between 9:00am and 9:30am on 27th March 2012,.with media hoo ha and the like kicking off around an hour earlier. The VIP unveiling will be hosted by The Crown Estate at the Hub, 10 Heddon Street, W1 opposite number 23 where the original Ziggy Stardust cover shot was taken. Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp is doing the unveiling. Here’s a bit from the band’s news page posted last week…
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of David Bowie’s iconic album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, Bowie fan Gary Kemp has been asked to unveil the Ziggy Stardust commemorative plaque on Heddon Street, from 9.30am on 27th March 2012. Gary’s love of the seminal album goes way back to his childhood and he often refers to seeing Bowie on Top of the Pops as being a life-changing moment. Now, 40 years on, Gary is honoured to be an integral part of the celebrations of Bowie’s mystical alien landing on Earth. The Ziggy Stardust album cover photograph was shot in Heddon Street and the plaque will be only the second to be erected in London to commemorate a fictional character (the first being Sherlock Holmes) . Gary will also be presenting a BBC Radio 2 documentary to be broadcast on 6th June, the actual 40th Anniversary of the album’s release.
David Shaw, Head of The Crown Estate Retail Portfolio will also speak as will a Westminster City Councillor. Gary has been talking to the media about the upcoming Ziggy Stardust BBC Radio 2 documentary and you can listen to his interview with Robert Elms for three more days via the BBC iPlayer. It’s a great interview, not that Robert gets many words in once Gary starts talking about a subject he clearly knows all about and is a big fan of. The Bowie section is around half an hour in to the show. FOOTNOTE: If you do go, listen out for THAT phone ringing…if you answer, make sure the first thing you say is ‘I Love Ziggy Stardust’ and you just might get a Ziggy-related prize.