Ground Control to Major Con...

IT'S been a Major musical mystery for decades who was David Bowie singing about in his 1969 breakthrough hit single Space Oddity? But now, as 90,000 objects from the late rock legend's archive are made public, more details have emerged about the character, including that he was a bit of an astro-naughty boy.

- BY 'MAJOR' TOM BRYANT

Housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum's new East Storehouse in east London, the Bowie archive includes a handwritten synopsis for a film called Young Americans. The two sheets of A4 tell the story of Major Tom Brough, a "British jet-ace" who is involved in faking the moon landings.

The proposed film, unrelated to Bowie's 1975 soul album of the same name, was never made.

In the song Space Oddity, Major Tom shows no signs of dishonesty.

But despite his heroism, his mission ends with him drifting around in space.