Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

was twelve … I had the bowl cut.”
Turned away by John Jones and his mother, and
rejoining the workforce himself at a printing
company, Terry found solace in frequent trips into
London and David would frequently accompany his
brother on weekends. During this period, Terry
seemed especially enthusiastic about ideas,
whether they were found in books, in political
treatises or on record. Ironically, like his stepfather,
John, Terry was overjoyed that his little brother was
becoming a rock ’n’ roller, telling all who might listen,
“My brother’s got a guitar!”
Alarmingly, Terry could not de-enthuse at the time.
A harbinger of his incipient mental illness, Terry’s
energy seemed boundless and he’d rave about
records or French philosophical texts by Sartre and
Camus, which his impressionable little brother would
dutifully attempt to absorb.
It was through Terry that David would discover
London, which was slowly becoming an exciting city
for the young again. Terry and David would take the
forty-five-minute train ride into Victoria Station,
disembark through that widemouth exit and emerge
into the instant urban bustle.
“While I was still at school, I would go up to town
every Saturday evening to listen to jazz at different
clubs, and this was all happening to him when I was
at a very impressionable age,” David recalled. “He
was growing his hair long and rebelling in his own
way while I was still dressed up in school uniform
every day. It all had a big impact on me.”