Title: The Girl from Beckenham Storyteller: Suzi Ronson Episode: Leaving, Loving and Coming Home Originally Aired: January 31, 2017 A note about this transcript: The Moth is true stories told live. We provide transcripts to make all of our stories keyword searchable and accessible to the hearing impaired, but we highly recommend listening to the audio to hear the full breadth of the story. This transcript was computer-generated and subsequently corrected through The Moth's StoryScribe (visit storyscribe.themoth.org for more information). I was born a few years after World War II, and brought up in a nice house in a typical suburb of Southeast London, Bromley, in Kent. My parents both worked. My father was a long-distance lorry driver and my mother was a shop assistant. They got married shortly after the war simply because that's what everybody did. The government gave generous allowances, and my brother and I both had free milk at school; a third of a pint in a glass bottle with a silver top. I don't think my parents expected too much of me after school. I think they thought I would kind of grow up, you know, have a bit of fun, get married, and have some children. The swinging sixties kind of changed all of that. I mean, we had the best music in the world. It was a great time to be a teenager: fabulous fashion, and the pill. Twiggy was my fashion model of the day, and everybody wanted to look like her. She was a tall, skinny girl with a flat chest and flat hair, and I wanted to look like her, too, but no chance. You know, I was completely out of style. My hair was thick and frizzy, and I couldn't do anything with it. I wore horrible glasses, and I had a waist and hips. You know, I even tied Coca-Cola cans in my hair to try and make it straight, but it didn't really work. I wasn't good at school, and I didn't like school. So, when I was fifteen I went to the Evelyn Paget College of Hair and Beauty in Bromley to study hairdressing. I passed the course and was transferred to the Evelyn Paget School in Beckenham, which is where I met Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones was my quarter-to-three shampoo and set on a Thursday afternoon. Sometimes she would have a little trim and a chocolate-kiss rinse, and I think I permed her hair once. As I would do her hair she would chat to me about her son, David. She would say, "You know, he's always been an artist, and he sings in a band," and, you know, it was the same kind of conversation week after week, and I would nod and smile. And she seemed so proud of him. I didn't take much notice until one day she mentioned the song Space Oddity, and I looked at her and I said, "Space Oddity, you know, I've heard that on the radio. Are we talking about David Bowie?" She said, "Yes, I'm his mum." I mean, who knew? And there was a buzz about David in Beckenham. You know, he played at The Three Tuns, albeit folk songs, but he had the hit Space Oddity. I hadn't heard much more from him. So, I kind of thought he might be a one-hit wonder. The first time I saw David he was walking down Beckenham High Street in a dress. He was with this girl with skinny black pants on. And I met the girl, Mrs. Jones brought her into the salon. It was Angie, David's wife and I liked her immediately. She was so cool and fabulous, and she looked so great. I mean, she certainly didn't shop in Beckenham. I heard a bit about her life. She did David's lights, and they used to run around London and go to all the clubs. I mean, it just sounded so glamorous. I didn't see her for a while, and then when she came back it was Christmas week. She was coming for an appointment Christmas week. I mean, every self-respecting salon in the land is busy Christmas week. So, I took her to one side and I said, "There's no appointments, darling. Here, take my number. Give me a call. I'll come to your house and do your hair." Title: The Girl from Beckenham Storyteller: Suzi Ronson Episode: Leaving, Loving and Coming Home Originally Aired: January 31, 2017 Well, off I went to Haddon Hall, which was the name of their home. It was about a mile out of town, a huge mansion that had been divided into flats, and they had the middle floor. You know, I'm curious, I've heard about her life; I'm kind of curious about the way she lives. So, I walked into the house, into this massive living room, which was completely overwhelming, but it wasn't that so much. It was more the way it was decorated: a dark blue carpet, dark blue walls, and a silver ceiling. It was so calm. There wasn't much furniture, a couple of couches, a chair or two, some cushions on the floor, and the rest of the room was completely covered with record albums and musical equipment. David and Angie were sitting by a large bay window, and they were discussing the merits of cutting his hair short. He had this long, blonde, wavy hair at the time. They asked me my opinion. I said, "Well, you know, no one else has got short hair, you know. Nobody. You'd look really different." So, he comes over with this magazine cover, and there's this Kansai Yamamoto model, and she's got this short red hair. And he said, "Can you do that?" Well, as I'm saying, "Yes," I'm thinking to myself, "It's a woman's hairstyle, and how am I actually going to do that?" But inside, you know, I'm excited, because this is a time to be creative. I mean, fantastic-looking bloke, tall and slim, long white neck and a beautiful face. I thought, "If I can pull this off, he's gonna look great." So, I guess it took me about a half-an-hour. I chopped his hair off, and after I'd finished, his hair wouldn't stand up. You know, it just kind of flopped. And I'm looking at it and I'm kind of panicking, and I can see he's not looking too happy. So, I said, "As soon as we tint the hair, it's going to change the texture. It's gonna look great. I can promise you, it's gonna stand up." I was praying I was right. I went and experimented with color, and I found the color; Red Hot Red, with 30 volume peroxide to give a bit of a kick. But, you know, there was no product in those days; you didn't have gels or fixatives. There was nothing to help me make it stand up. So, I used GARD. It was an anti-dandruff treatment that I'd used on the old girls at the salon that set hair like stone. The second he looked at himself in the mirror, with that short red hair, any doubts he had completely disappeared. I mean, Angie and I looked at him in awe. He looked fantastic. He gained a couple of inches with the height. You know, a huge wave of relief washed over me. I'd done it. I'd done it. It was standing up. I was so relieved. I'm packing to leave, and she says, "Well, how much do we owe you?" I said, "Oh, two pounds, please." They called me, and I went up to see them at a place in London the band were playing, and I went to see them, and I still wasn't sure what kind of a following he had. You know, he played folk music. I wasn't quite sure. I walked in and the place is packed. It's a college. The kids are about my age, but they're not like me. I mean, they're well-educated, everything that I wasn't. The lights went down, some music came on, and the band took to the stage, and it was a real "oh my God" moment for me. I mean, David was Ziggy Stardust. He had full makeup on, his hair was flaming on his head. They all wore costumes. The band had this kind of flat velvet pastel-color suits tucked into their boots, and David had a similar kind of look on, and when they played, I mean, the place rocked. They were so good. This wasn't folk music, that's for sure. They were amazing. What a great band. I went home thinking to myself, well, my God, I didn't expect to see that. Angie called me and said, "Come to the house," you know, "We'd like to talk to you." Title: The Girl from Beckenham Storyteller: Suzi Ronson Episode: Leaving, Loving and Coming Home Originally Aired: January 31, 2017 So, I went up to Haddon Hall, and Freddie Burretti was there. Now, Freddie had helped design the costumes with David. I went up, and he was so fey and fabulous. I was entranced, his mannerisms, the way he talked.