David Bowie's secret final project discovered locked in his study

"When David Bowie died in 2016, his parting gift was a final album, Blackstar, shaped by his cancer diagnosis and an acceptance of mortality. But in his final months, he had also started another project, described in his notes as an "18th Century musical". Called The Spectator, its existence was unknown to even his closest collaborators until the notes were discovered locked in his study in 2016."

"They have now been donated to the V&A Museum, with the rest of Bowie's archive. Shared exclusively with the BBC, they show Bowie's fascination with the development of art and satire in 18th Century London, alongside stories of criminal gangs and the notorious thief "Honest" Jack Sheppard. Had it been completed, the musical would have realised one of Bowie's lifelong ambitions. "Right at the very beginning, I really wanted to write for theatre," he told BBC Radio 4's John Wilson in 2002. "And I guess I could have just written for theatre in my living room but I think the intent was [always] to have a pretty big audience.""

"Bowie's notes for The Spectator were found as he had left them, pinned to the walls and stored in his office in New York. The room was always locked only Bowie and his personal assistant had a key so they were left undisturbed until archivists started cataloguing his belongings. They will be available for fans and scholars to view when the David Bowie Centre opens at the V&A East Storehouse in Hackney Wick on 13 September. "We even have the desk [where he worked] at the Storehouse, as well," says Madeleine Haddon, the collection's lead curator."

David Bowie died in 2016, leaving the final album Blackstar shaped by his cancer diagnosis and acceptance of mortality. In his last months he began a separate project described in his notes as an 18th Century musical titled The Spectator. The Spectator notes were discovered locked in his New York study, pinned to walls and stored as he had left them, and had been unknown even to close collaborators. The notes reveal Bowie’s interest in 18th-century London art, satire, criminal gangs and the thief Honest Jack Sheppard. The papers and desk are slated for public view at the David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse.

Read at www.bbc.com