Death couldn’t stop David Bowie from surprising us. Eight years after losing the Starman, archivists cataloguing his estate discovered something that reframes everything we thought we know about his final creative surge. While the world mourned Blackstar and Lazarus as his swan songs, Bowie was secretly plotting another reinvention—this time as an 18th-century London chronicler.
The Hidden Project
Archivists working through Bowie’s locked study uncovered notebooks, post-it plot outlines, and storyboards for The Spectator—a 18th-century London musical inspired by the early 18th-century periodical of the same name. He’d devoted an entire notebook to rating stories from the magazine, approaching the project with methodical intensity. Even his closest collaborators had no idea this existed.
Criminal Obsessions
Bowie researched Jack Sheppard, the celebrated thief and prison escapist, alongside Jonathan Wild, the so-called “Thief-Taker General.” His notes explore the infamous Mohocks gang and include vivid scenes like public hangings where “surgeons fighting over corpses” became part of the spectacle. The project featured satirical commentary targeting Robert Walpole’s government, drawing from the political tensions of that turbulent era.
Classic Bowie Territory
Lead curator Madeleine Haddon highlights how Bowie’s methodology could inspire the next generation of boundary-breaking artists. The discovery aligns perfectly with his career-long habit of zigging when everyone expected him to zag—from Ziggy to the Thin White Duke to his Berlin trilogy. Even facing mortality, he couldn’t resist one more creative curveball. The man who gave us “Space Oddity” was plotting tales of Georgian crime lords and political satire.
Public Reveal
The notebooks, handwritten lyrics, and research materials will be displayed alongside his desk and other artifacts. Opening September 13, 2025, the David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse in Hackney Wick promises to reveal more secrets from an artist who kept surprising us decades into his career. The Spectator reminds us that true creative restlessness never really stops—it just finds new centuries to explore.
