He may have been born in South London, but pop legend David Bowie’s accent would often head north to Yorkshire.

It all started when he and his band The Spiders from Mars – all from Yorkshire – went to see Leeds-born Malcolm McDowell in 1971 movie A Clockwork Orange. Drummer Mick “Woody” Woodmansey revealed in Uncut magazine: “We all went and watched it together. It made sense as we wanted something solid, like a gang. We really were like that in the early days.

“He’d even start talking in a Yorkshire accent – and he did it quite well, to be fair.” Spiders guitarist Mick Ronson and bass player Trevor Bolder were from Hull, while Woodmansey was from nearby Driffield in East Yorkshire.

And when Bowie appeared on TV show Parkinson in 2002 he said hearing the Barnsley-born interviewer’s voice reminded him of his father who was also from Yorkshire and then slipped into the accent. Bowie then talked about the band: “So these guys all came from Hull. ‘We’re gonna play rock’n’ roll, we like the songs’.

“I said ‘yeah, that’s great, but you want to see what we’re gonna wear?’ ‘No way I’m not putting that on’. I said ‘Believe me, you’ll look great. It will really suit you’. I dunno how I did it. I managed to talk them into it.

“A couple of nights later the girls are all over them. And suddenly the dressing room procedure was really different.

“It was ‘Right? Who’s got the blush? Eh, Trevor, have you finished with that mascara?’” Bowie, real name David Jones, reinvented himself as a number of alter-egos through his career – the most famous being Ziggy Stardust.

But Mick Ronson’s wife Suzi, who was also the Starman’s hairdresser, revealed in her new autobiography that he wanted to be Elvis as well. Suzi, who is not from Yorkshire, claimed that ahead of a meeting between The Thin White Duke and the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll in June 1972 that Bowie was racked with nerves.

Suzi said: “David is full of nervous energy, pacing up and down, smoking one cigarette after another. All he talks about is meeting Elvis – how it will be, what he should say, what he should wear and, above all else, how can he look really young?

“He wants to be seen as the heir apparent. He’s planning a photo of him and Elvis where he’ll be looking up at the older man. ‘I’d sell my soul to be famous.’ It just comes out.”

Suzi, who gave the singer his iconic shocking short red haircut, has spilled the beans about being part of his entourage in her new book Me and Mr Jones: My Life with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars.

She said that he and his manager Tony Defries were so impressed by the announcement ‘Elvis has left the building’ at the New York show that they tried adopting the move to shield Bowie from crazed fans.

Suzi added: “Fans can become obsessive, nice one minute and over the top the next. David’s been caught before – he lost some hair and had a jacket torn apart. The band have nearly had their clothes ripped from their backs.

“After that, a new strategy emerges: the Elvis Presley Exit. Defries has been dreaming about it since he saw Elvis at Madison Square Garden.

“The first night we try it, we succeed beyond all expectations. It goes like this: I wait at the side of the stage for the final notes of the encore to fade away, after which the band and David run off, [band minder] Stuey alongside us.

“As we get whisked away, I hear the announcement echoing behind me: ‘DAVID BOWIE HAS LEFT THE BUILDING.’ With a loud bang of the stage door, we’re out in the fresh air.

“It’s so smooth, and the few fans that are out here barely react as we blow by them and jump into the car. We peel away and within 15 minutes we’re safely at the hotel.

“They walk in still wearing their costumes – that gets a few raised eyebrows – and go straight to their rooms. I follow them and the car waits as I collect everything to do with the show from each room: costumes, shoes, tights, bracelets, and even David’s jockstrap.

“When the crew and I get back after loading out, I see Mick and Woody alone at a table. “We’d rather be mobbed,” Woody says to me. I laugh and can understand – they don’t want to get ripped to pieces, but they do want to have fun.”

Parkinson reminded Bowie of his father

David Bowie said hearing Parkinson’s voice reminded him of his father who was also from Yorkshire. He said hearing Parky made him want to do the accent too and then told how his band members were from Hull and it was funny trying to get them to put the clothes on he wanted them to wear during his Ziggy phase.

Bowie added: “So these guys all came from Hull. We’re gonna play rock and roll, we like the songs. I said ‘yeah that’s great but you want to see what we’re gonna wear?’ No way I’m not putting that on.