DEVELOPING: David Bowie's final project was a musical set in London

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE David Bowies secret final project discovered locked in his study 11 minutes agoShareSaveShareSaveReutersDavid Bowie left several unfinished projects, according to curators of his archiveWhen David Bowie died in 2016, his parting gift was a final album, Blackstar, shaped by his cancer diagnosis and an acceptance of mortality. But in his final months, he had also started another project, described in his notes as an "18th Century musical".Called The Spectator, its existence was unknown to even his closest collaborators until the notes were discovered locked in his study in 2016. KEY DETAILS: • They have now been donated to the VA Museum, with the rest of Bowie's archive.Shared exclusively with the BBC, they show Bowie's fascination with the development of art and satire in 18th Century London, alongside stories of criminal gangs and the notorious thief "Honest" Jack Sheppard.Had it been completed, the musical would have realised one of Bowie's lifelong ambitions."Right at the very beginning, I really wanted to write for theatre," he told BBC Radio 4's John Wilson in 2002."And I guess I could have just written for theatre in my living room but I think the intent was always to have a pretty big audience."The David Bowie Collection, courtesy of the VABowie made dozens of sticky notes with ideas for his musical, which could be moved around to create a structureThe David Bowie Collection, courtesy of the VAThe David Bowie Collection, courtesy of the VABowie's notes for The Spectator were found as he had left them, pinned to the walls and stored in his office in New York.The room was always locked only Bowie and his personal assistant had a key so they were left undisturbed until archivists started cataloguing his belongings.They will be available for fans and scholars to view when the David Bowie Centre opens at the VA East Storehouse in Hackney Wick on 13 September."We even have the desk where he worked at the Storehouse, as well," says Madeleine Haddon, the collection's lead curator. • The David Bowie Collection, courtesy of the VAThe musician's handwritten notes have been made available for the public to study, along with 90,000 other artefacts, at the VA Museum's East Storehouse in LondonAn entire notebook is devoted to The Spectator, a daily periodical that ran for 555 issues between 1711 and 1712 commenting on the manners and fads of London society.Writing in black pen, Bowie summarised several of the publication's key essays, scoring them out of 10.He particularly enjoyed a morality tale about two sisters one beautiful but "vain and severe", who lost a suitor to her plain, but more agreeable, sibling. • Awarding it eight out of 10, Bowie commented, "could be a good subplot".The David Bowie Collection, courtesy of the VABowie copied out quotes and summarised articles from The Spectator - a daily periodical that circulated in London in the early 18th CenturyHe was also amused by a report concerning a Mr Clinch of Barnet, who could imitate the sounds of horses, hounds, an old woman and a bassoon "all with his own natural voice, to the greatest perfection".Prof Bob Harris, a historian and 18th Century specialist at the University of Oxford, says he can understand why the period caught Bowie's attention."London, at that stage, was such an exciting, vibrant and diverse city," he says. This is a developing story. More details will be provided as they become available. *Source: Bbc*