Candid pictures of David Bowie taken by his childhood friend are to go on display in Kent for the first time.

The exhibition will add to the rock star’s continuing connection with the county –having once lived and performed here, as well as being attacked in the street.

The pictures of the globally influential singer – never exhibited before in Kent –show the enigmatic singer in behind-the-scenes moments while touring and filming around the world in the 1970s.

They were taken by a lifelong friend of his, Geoff MacCormack, who was one of his backing musicians at the time.

Some of the images were signed by the superstar in late 2015, shortly before his death.

Mr MacCormack, now 76, told KentOnline: “He had a wicked sense of humour but was also a real gentleman, so well-mannered and old-school.

“His public persona was not that different to his private. He appeared to be confident enough just to be himself.”

The exhibition of photographs is at the Taylor-Jones & Son gallery in High Street, Deal, from today (Saturday) until Saturday, November 4.

Mr MacCormack has also written a book about their time together.

The two men first met as eight-year-olds at Burnt Ash Primary School in Bromley.

Although they went to separate secondary schools in the borough they were side by side again when Mr MacCormack was backing vocalist and percussionist during the star’s tours from 1972 to 1976.

Mr MacCormack said: “We were going to places we had never been to before, like the Soviet Union and Japan. We had to pinch ourselves at times.”

Mr MacCormack said Bowie usually travelled by land and sea as the slow journeys gave him time to read and develop songs. He also had an inherent fear of flying.

He said: “David had a particularly turbulent and stormy flight from Cyprus once but also his management wanted to keep up his image as the rock star, so would have him on first class compartments on trains or on luxury cruises.”

Some of the pictures show the star relaxing on the Trans-Siberian Express after the end of the Japanese leg of the Ziggy Stardust tour in April 1973.

There is also one of him backstage that July at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, the very last venue for that 18-month tour.

Another shows him furtively filming a May Day parade from a window in Moscow that year. This was the during the oppressive Communist era when unauthorised filming was strictly forbidden.

An additional set of images shows Bowie waiting for or being attended to by a make-up artist. This was in New Mexico in 1975 when he appeared in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Mr MacCormack said despite the giddy heights of international stardom Bowie stayed well-mannered and never became arrogant.

He said: “It was from our upbringing in Bromley in the 1950s, we went to our local church and were in the cubs group.

“He was very gracious but was always a perfectionist in his music. He was annoyed when musicians working with him didn’t get what he wanted. He was very exacting.

“But he also understood that music was another art form and not the be all and end all.”

Mr MacCormack said Bowie by and large coped with stardom but added: “There were times when it all got a bit oppressive.”

He said the singer felt liberated at times such as freely walking around in New York.

Bowie had previously said that people in Manhattan particularly were easy-going about celebrities in their midst. They would simply wave or say hello to them in the street rather than pester them.

Mr MacCormack also appeared on Bowie’s live and studio albums from Aladdin Sane to Station to Station, which were recorded between the autumns of 1972 and 1975.

He also co-wrote the music for the song Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me on the 1974 album Diamond Dogs.

The two men last met face-to-face in New York in 2013 but kept in contact until Bowie’s death from cancer on January 10, 2016 when he was 69.

Bowie had been diagnosed 18 months before but his illness was kept a secret so his eventual death stunned both friends and fans.

Mr MacCormack was also unaware and the last time he heard from the rocker was late in 2015, by which time the cancer was found to be terminal.

Bowie signed pictures for him but also wrote the message on one: “Night night, Geoff.”

These will be among the exhibits at the show in Deal.

Mr MacCormack said: “I realised afterwards it was a parting message and he had sent such messages to others. He was very brave.”

Mr MacCormack now lives in Southend but decided to show his pictures at Taylor-Jones & Son after he and is wife Jo, 56, came across the gallery while visiting friends in Deal.

Bowie has several Kent connections; his mother, Margaret Jones née Burns, was born in Folkestone, although by the time he was born the family lived in Brixton, south London.

Indeed it was at Bromley Technical High School in 1962 that he got a permanently dilated eye from a punch while in a fight. It led him to have different coloured eyes for the rest of his life.

He went on to attend Bromley Art College.

Bowie joined the Maidstone-based band the Manish Boys in 1964. He was with them for a year as a singer and saxophonist and lived in a flat in the town.

But on one occasion he was attacked in the street in a motiveless assault.

He said in an interview for a fan website in 2003: “It was just this big Herbert walking down the street.

“He just knocked me down on the pavement and when I fell down, he proceeded to kick me for no reason that I can fathom to this day.

“I haven’t got many good memories of Maidstone.”

The Manish Boys also played in venues such as the Astor Theatre in Deal, Wye College, near Ashford, the Invicta Ballroom in Chatham and Sellindge Village Hall.

In 1965, Bowie joined another Kent band - the Margate-based Lower Third.

They played several times at the Working Men’s Club in Minster and at the Conservative Club in Sheerness before moving on to play at London’s 100 and Marquee Clubs.

In 1969, during one of his many changes in musical direction, Bowie started a folk club at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham.

In October 1969, he was booked to play a Halloween gig at the now-demolished General Gordon pub in Cedar Avenue, Gravesend.

At the height of his fame Bowie kept up his connection with Kent, including appearing at its venues during world tours.

For example he played two shows at the Central Hall, Chatham, on June 12, 1973, towards the end of the Ziggy Stardust Tour. Ir ended up being the only Kent venue in the entire tour of Britain, America and Japan.

Mr MacCormack will be at the Taylor-Jones & Son gallery for the launch of the exhibition from 6pm today.

He will also sign copies of his new book, a photographic memoir of his time with Bowie. It is called David Bowie: Rock ‘n’ Roll with Me and has 150 of his photographs.