Full of surprises. Right to the end.

Today whole world is mourning the death of David Bowie. His brilliance and influence is impossible to over-state but that brilliance came from constant re-invention and surprise. This is how he started – fey and flowery in 1969. After just one hit, he vanished for three years before turning up as Ziggy Stardust and inventing glam rock. After that, he surprised us time and time again: Re-releasing The Laughing Gnome, killing Ziggy and re-branding himself as the original white soul boy with Fame and Young Americans, an unlikely Christmas duet with Bing Crosby, the electronica of Low and Heroes that kickstarted the New Romantics. Collaborations with Queen for Under Pressure and Nile Rodgers for Let’s Dance. Then Tin Machine. Then not much. Then the V&A Exhibition and that unannounced album release three years ago. Surprise after surprise after surprise. Until yesterday. The biggest and saddest surprise of all.