1. He shares the same birthday as rock 'n' roll icon Elvis Presley – 8th January.
2. Rock guitarist Peter Frampton was Bowie's friend at school - his Dad was head of the art department. He's gone on to play guitar with Bowie many times during his career.
3. His distinctive dilated right pupil has been permanent since having a fight with his friend George Underwood, at school. The fight was over a girl. (Underwood actually created some of Bowie’s early artwork so it’s safe to say they remained friends after the incident.)
4. He plays just about every instrument on his 1974 album, 'Diamond Dogs' - including the famous guitar riff on "Rebel Rebel".
5. Bowie's schizophrenic half-brother Terry committed suicide in 1985. Bowie wrote several songs about his brother's struggle with mental illness, including "All The Madmen" and "Jump They Say."
6. Bing Crosby recorded his last ever single with David Bowie. Their duet version of The Little Drummer Boy was recorded for Christmas 1977. It was a hit five years later.
7. David got just one O Level, in art.
8. David Bowie was born David Jones, but changed Jones to Bowie to avoid being confused with Davey Jones of The Monkees.
9. Bowie told Rolling Stone the name, ‘Bowie’ comes from the Bowie knife: "I was into a kind of heavy philosophy thing when I was 16 years old, and I wanted a truism about cutting through the lies and all that.” (His wife Iman has a Bowie knife tattooed on her ankle as a tribute to him.)
10. After turning down a CBE in 2000, he also turned down a knighthood from the Queen in 2003. Bowie told The Sun why he shunned the chance to be a "Sir": "I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don't know what it's for. It's not what I spent my life working for."
David Bowie's new album, 'The Next Day', is out on 8th March. Watch the video for lead single, 'Where Are We Now?', below.