“When the father steps aside, At the wrong time”
Fifty years ago today on the 5th of August 1969, David Bowie's father, Haywood Stenton 'John' Jones, died of pneumonia (aged just 56), at the family home in Bromley.
In 1993, David spoke to writer and fellow one-time Bromley resident, Hanif Kureishi, about the loss of his father.
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“It was at a point when I was just beginning to grow up a little bit and appreciate that I would have to stretch out my hand a little for us ever to get to know each other. He just died at the wrong damn time, because there were so many things I would have loved to have said to him and asked him about.
All those stereotypical regrets when your father dies and you haven’t completed your relationship. I felt so...Damn! Wrong time! Not now, not now!”
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David is pictured with both parents (John and Margaret Mary 'Peggy' Jones) top left in our montage and bottom left with his father and cousin Kristina.
Haywood Stenton "John" Jones - 21 November 1912 to 5 August 1969