She was the muse behind some of David Bowie’s most famous tracks and lyrics.

Hermione Farthingale, said by many to be the inspiration behind “the girl with the mousy hair” in 1971 hit Life On Mars, was also the singer’s lover.

Bowie fell head over heels in love with the actress, dancer and model during a 12-month relationship before he hit the big time – and was left heartbroken when she left him.

The pair met in January, 1968, on the set of BBC play The Pistol Shot, which they were both starring in, and it took just weeks before he moved in with her in South Kensington, London.

Hermione’s solicitor dad was said to be disappointed at his 19-year-old setting up home with the working-class boy from Brixton.

Like any young couple starting out together, money was tight and the pair struggled to make ends meet.

David Bowie and Hermione Farthingale met in January, 1968, on the set of BBC play The Pistol Shot (
Image:
REX/Shutterstock)

Hermione says: “We did fall in love, it took maybe five minutes maximum. He was a lad, he looked ridiculously young, he looked about eight.

“In fact, when we first went out with him, it did bother me a bit and I had to keep reminding myself he was actually 21.

“Our life was not regular, neither of us was working nine to five, it wasn’t a very rock’n’roll life either. Occasionally we had a glass of white wine and David wasn’t even very good at having a spliff.”

The pair formed a band called Feathers with friend and guitarist John “Hutch” Hutchinson, mixing music, poetry and mime.

“In the early days, he wasn’t happy professionally at all, because it was a massive struggle that whole year,” she says.

“By August, it suddenly came to him that what he wanted to do was this mixed-media performance.

Hermione Farthingale
Hermione says the pair fall in love in 'five minutes maximum' (
Image:
REX/Shutterstock)

“He would try one thing, try another, if things didn’t work out, that was absolutely fine – move on to the next. He wasn’t lost he just wasn’t found either.”

Friends recalled how smitten David was with Hermione.

Radio DJ Bob Harris added: “David was the perfect English gentleman. I remember when he and Hermione sat down for dinner, David held the chair for her and pushed the chair in. He was polite and they were easy-going people.”

New BBC film David Bowie: Finding Fame explores Bowie’s upbringing and initial struggle to become a star, as he changed bands several times and released eight singles and a debut album, which all flopped.

The pair split up in 1969 when dancer Hermione was offered a part in the film Song Of Norway and she left London to film in Scandinavia.

In the documentary Bowie, who is one of the contenders for the BBC’s Greatest Person of the 20th Century, says: “Oh yeah, it broke my heart.

Hermione and Bowie formed a band called Feathers (
Image:
REX/Shutterstock)

"She was doing this funny romp in Norway with bits of ballet in it and she was cast in that.

"I didn’t get over that for such a long time, it really broke me up.”

Hermione’s memories are also of a sad time. Fighting tears, she says: “Feathers were never destined to last, he never said, ‘let’s the three of us get really famous together’. It was a stepping stone.

"But I also said to myself, ‘am I going to be with David for the rest of my life?’ and I didn’t think I was actually going to. He was clearly going somewhere and I didn’t think I was going to tread that path with him.

“Song of Norway was a big MGM spectacular which needed dancers for seven months or so. It was something no one in their right mind would turn down. I just thought, ‘yeah this is what I want to be doing’. I suddenly realised I had to pull out.”

David Bowie performing live onstage at his final Ziggy Stardust concert in London (
Image:
Redferns)

Their love affair and his broken heart inspired Bowie’s 1969 self-titled second album – and the song Letter to Hermione.

The lyrics include: “I care for no one else but you, I tear my soul to cease the pain, I think maybe you feel the same, what can we do?”

One of his ways of trying to forget about Hermione was to throw himself into a new relationship.

He began dating Angie Barnett in 1969, who also had a big influence on his Ziggy Stardust period, and the pair married.

By 1971, he had released album Hunky Dory, which features Life On Mars.

Although she has previously denied being the “girl with the mousy hair”, many fans and critics are convinced it is Hermione.

In the book The Girl in the Song: The Real Story Behind 50 Rock Classics, authors Michael Heatley and Frank Hopkinson wrote: “The girl with the mousy hair is a reference to Hermione Farthingale.”

Friends recalled how smitten Bowie was with Hermione (
Image:
Getty)

And on tour in 1990, Bowie introduced it by saying, “you fall in love, you write a love song. This is a love song.”

While Bowie went on to super stardom, Hermione also moved on.

By 1972, she’d moved to Papua New Guinea and married her boyfriend, anthropologist Prof Stephen Frankel. They had two children, but are no longer together.

Now known as Hermione Frankel, the 68-year-old is back in the UK living in Bristol and works part time teaching yoga and pilates, as well as selling her artwork.

But Bowie had never forgotten her.

By 1971, Bowie had released his album Hunky Dory, which features Life On Mars

A clue to her great significance in the singer’s life can be seen in the video for his 2013 single Where Are We Now? In it, Bowie is wearing a Song of Norway T-shirt.

At the London press screening of the new film, Hermione hinted she now regretted their split after the whirlwind love affair.

She said: “We were soulmates. I said in the film we were friends, but that was a short way of saying in every way we missed each other, as soulmates, as family, whatever it is that makes people incredibly close and feel lonely when they are not together.

"That is what happened. It was completely mutual.”

  • David Bowie: Finding Fame, BBC2 Saturday, February 9, at 9pm.