Hermione Farthingale (2025)

Hermione Farthingale (born 1949) is an English dancer.^[1][2] She is best known for her relationship with English singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie, and is said to be the inspiration for Bowie’s song Life on Mars.

Early life[edit]

Hermione Farthingale was born Hermione Dennis and grew up in Edenbridge, Kent. Her father was a solicitor.^[3]

When Farthingale was training to be a ballet dancer, she was a student of the British dancer Lindsay Kemp.^[4] She eventually became a classically trained ballet dancer.^[5] Farthingale was a dancer for the company Kemp Theatre Group in London.^[6]

After becoming a trained dancer, she aspired to be an actress.^[7] Her debut was in 1969 in the film Dancing Shoes.^[8][2]

Career[edit]

Farthingale first met English singer David Bowie in late 1967 in one of Lindsay Kemp’s dancing classes.^[9][10] They both starred in the BBC play The Pistol Shot.^[3] They began a relationship shortly afterwards and two weeks later they were living in a flat in South Kensington, London, together.^[11]

Farthingale, Bowie and guitarist John Hutchinson formed a group named Feathers; between September 1968 and early 1969 the trio gave a small number of concerts combining folk, Merseybeat, poetry, and mime.^[12][13] Hutchinson wrote in his autobiography that he thought the band was a matching “set of three”.^[14] A photo of the band was taken by Clive Arrowsmith and was later published in article written by Sheila More titled “The Restless Generatoon:2” which included interviews by the band members in The Times on 11 December 1968.^[14]

In 1968, Farthingale starred as a dancer in the BBC play The Pistol Shot in the Theatre 625 series.^[15]

In 1969, Farthingale ended the relationship with Bowie and focused on starring in the film Song of Norway.^[11][16][17]

After the break-up, Bowie wrote the song “Letter to Hermione” to express his feelings which was recorded on his David Bowie (1969 album). Bowie commented about the song:

I once wrote a letter I never sent to Hermione, who was a dancer with the Lindsay Kemp mime company. I thought I’d record it instead and send her the record. I think she’s in Greenwich Village now.

— Disc and Music Echo, 25 October 1969^[18]

She is is believed to be the “girl with the mousy hair on” Bowie’s song Life on Mars.^[11] Also, she is credited for his song An Occasional Dream.^[19][20]

A claim has been made that Bowie wrote the song Space Oddity after an argument with Farthingale. However she denies the claim and has stated that he wrote it after reflecting on their break-up.^[21]

In 1972, Farthingale appeared in the film The Great Waltz.^[22][23]

In 2013, Bowie paid tribute to Farthingale when he wore a t-shirt with the words ‘Song Of Norway‘ on it in the comeback video for ‘Where Are We Now?’.^[24]

In 2019, Farthingale spoke about the relationship for the first time on the BBC Two documentary David Bowie: Finding Fame about their relationship, “We missed each other as soul mates, as family, whatever it is that makes people incredibly close and lonely when they are not together. That’s what happens. It wasn’t a one-sided relationship by any means. It was completely mutual.”^[19][25][26]

Personal life[edit]

Farthingale moved to Papua New Guinea in 1972 and married anthropologist professor Stephen Frankel with whom she had two children.^[3]

She now teaches yoga and pilates in Bristol.^[11]

Filmography[edit]

• Theatre 625 (1964)
• David Bowie: Sell Me A Coat (1966)
• David Bowie: When I Live My Dream (1967)
• David Bowie: Ching-a-Ling (1969)
• Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
• Dancing Shoes (1969)
• Love you till Tuesday (1969)
• Song of Norway (1970)
• Tales of Hoffmann (1970)
• The Great Waltz (1972)
• David Bowie: Finding Fame (2019)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Hermione Farthingale on IMDb
• Hermione Farthingale

Removed “actress” and added more sources[edit]

This article "Hermione Farthingale" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historicaland/or the page Edithistory:Hermione Farthingale. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.