A MUSIC festival celebrating the launch of David Bowie's alter-ego Ziggy Stardust will take place at Tolworth Station next week.

The event marks 50 years to the day that the fictional rockstar made his debut at The Toby Jug, a former pub off the A3 at Tolworth and back then famous as a music venue for rising stars of the 1960s and 70s.

The Toby Jug was the first stop of Bowie's historic UK Stardust tour which saw his glam-rock persona Ziggy unveiled to the public.

Ziggy, an 'alien' rockstar with flame-red hair and flamboyant outfits, launched Bowie to international fame and is one of the most recognisable figures in rock.

But when he first appeared to the public it was in the small Toby Jug pub to an audience of just 60 people.

Bowie fan Stephen King, then aged just 17, remembered the first Ziggy gig vividly in 'The Ziggy Stardust Companion.'

He wrote: "I was completely blown away. I was just entranced by the entire performance.

"It was a heady combination of the best music I have ever heard, tremendous sound, very basic but so effective lighting. The concert finished around 11pm - a two hour set.

According to King, Bowie played several acoustic covers of his well-known as well as loud, theatrical performances of tracks from his new album.

"We were 10 feet away and the energy was just incredible. I had never seen or heard anything like it before," he recalled.

"The audience was enthusiastic and responded with rapturous applause, whistles and cheers. Bowie appeared to enjoy the show as well. The material was so fresh."

Bowie's historic performance took place on 10th February 1972, meaning next Thursday marks 50 years since the introduction of the character in Tolworth.

To mark this, Kingston group The Community Brain have organised a special music festival themed around Bowie's music.

The event starts at Waterloo Station around midday with a silent disco to Let's Dance on the concourse - tickets for this part are limited to 250 people.

At 1.30pm an open-air music festival at Tolworth Station will kick-off, with the disco-dancers arriving later after a special train-ride with pop-up music performances.

The festival is headlined by Bowie tribute act The Thin White Duke and runs until 7.30pm. There will be a bar and refreshments for attendees.

Tickets for the Tolworth Station gig alone are £20, while the complete Bowie experience with Waterloo silent disco costs £30 with an extra £20 for a (refundable) deposit on the silent disco headphones.

Find out more about the event at billetto.co.uk/e/celebrate-72-tickets-595229

You can also learn more about the history of the legendary Toby Jug pub in a new book by local journalist Tim Harrison, editor of Surbiton's the Good Life paper - details HERE