Image source, Denis O'Regan Image caption,

Denis O'Regan climbed behind the star to create his iconic image of Bowie at the Milton Keynes Bowl

By Vanessa Pearce

BBC News, Buckinghamshire

Forty years ago this weekend tens of thousands of fans gathered to watch David Bowie play three nights at a converted clay pit in the Buckinghamshire countryside. Fans who witnessed the gigs, from front and back of stage, spoke to the BBC about their memories.

They came in their thousands from all across the country - with extra train services and coaches laid on to deal with the demand.

More than 150,000 descended on the National Bowl in Milton Keynes that sweltering weekend in July 1983, on a tour that saw Bowie play his first live gigs in England in five years.

I was among them. My journey, aged 15 and accompanied by a school friend, was on a coach from Cornwall. I didn't know it then, but we were about to witness the artist's transformation to a new level of global superstar.

Alongside the die-hard Bowie fans, ska and reggae lovers had turned out to see support act The Beat, joining new romantics, punks and even a contingency of Hell's Angels, from memory. Bowie's new persona seemed to appeal to everyone, and it felt like half the country was there.