A lightning bolt of inspiration. I spy a place called St Pierre La Roche on my map. Coincidentally, Pierre La Roche was Bowie’s make-up man who created the iconic Aladdin Sane lightning bolt and Bowie’s infamous shock of blue eyeliner in the Life on Mars? video. I destroyed my whimpering thighs following a 13km detour into the Ardeche mountains to see if he was there. The answer, was he bollocks.
La Roche created the famous ‘shocking blue’ eyeliner from Bowie’s famous Life on Mars? video.
On the off chance that some clue lay at the top of a mountain to the song’s meaning, I decided that a 13km uphill cycle would be manageable on a handful of cherry tomatoes and two slices of ham.
Bowie called La Roche ‘my Picasso’ and learnt how to stand out and apply his own make-up.
The iconic lightning bolt was created by La Roche for the Aladdin Sane album cover. Rumour has it the inspiration was found on an old washing machine in photographer Brian Duffy’s studio.
The French threw up a road block to try and stop me. My whimpering thighs seemed intent on doing the same about 9kms up, but…
I made it…
…and was rewarded with a lovely bench, a loud meow from a cat and the rapid onset of lactic acid in my legs.