Johnny Vaughan presenting a Ziggy Stardust gold disc to Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy.
Fashion! turn to the left. Fashion! turn to the right…
Regular readers of the BowieNet news pages, will know very well just how big a fan of David Bowie the UK’s Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, is. You may remember a story from last year (01/12/02 NEWS: UK POLITICAL PARTY LEADER SINGS ‘HEROES’ TONIGHT) where, to his obvious delight, Charles was given a Ziggy Stardust gold disc (that was originally presented to David himself – see above) by TV presenter Johnny Vaughan.
Now it seems Charles has made his appreciation for all things Bowie even more public by expressing his love of David’s music at the Liberal Democrat party conference. Fresh from a surprising Brent East victory, the delighted Mr Kennedy was reported in yesterday’s Times by Ann Treneman thus:
He was then asked the toughest question of the day: who was his favourite to win Fame Academy and/or Pop Idol? He stalled. ?Well, um,? he said. ?This week I?ve had one or two other distractions to deal with.?
He wasn?t too sure about Pop Idol because there were too many contestants and he wanted to allow for late swings. (How irritating must it be to watch television with this man?) But he did know about Fame, he said, not least because it was a great David Bowie track.
And Bowie, he announced, is ?my spiritual musical hero?. The audience, shocked to be hearing something not about Brent or Baghdad, burst into applause.
?I got to meet him once,? said Mr Kennedy, suddenly almost shy. There were some good points to his job, he added, and getting to meet David Bowie was one of them. ?He?s certainly liberal,? he added. ?I?m not sure he?s Liberal Democrat.?
Bowie a Lib Dem? I don?t think so. It is impossible to imagine this most elegant and beautiful of men in a long frizzy beard, wearing mudcoloured corduroy and a badge in favour of recycling.
Do Lib Dem men wear eye make-up? Could they embrace lipstick? Can we imagine Kennedy, mascara dripping, playing air guitar to Rebel Rebel? No white suit could possibly save him, though at least he wouldn?t have to dye his hair.
Mr Kennedy then told us how he was going to vote. When it came to Fame Academy, he said, it had to be Pete. The reason? ?He reminds me a bit of David Bowie.?
You can read the full Times article by clicking on the image above. Oh, and btw, it’s no wonder Peter reminds Charles of David Bowie… After all, as we told you at the time, (08/30/03 NEWS: 1000 ZIGGYS, FAME ACADEMY …OR BOTH?) Peter did give a winning performance of The Man Who Sold The World in one of the recent Fame Academy heats.