Travel: London to Berlin

David Bowie and his manager Kenneth Pitt flew to Berlin on 28 October 1969.

The trip was for Bowie’s third appearance on the German music TV show 4-3-2-1 Musik Für Junge Leute, which was recorded the following day.

On the 28th David and I left for our first visit to Berlin, where he was again to appear on television in Günther Schneider’s Musik Für Junge Leute. This programme usually came from the Hamburg studios of ZDF, but the Bonn government had political motives for persuading West German authorities to extend their activities to the beleagured West Berlin, surrounded as it was by East Germany. To see West German television shows originating from their own sector of the city did much to reduce the sense of abandonment felt by West Berliners.

David and I stayed at the Plaza Hotel, Kurfurstendamm, where we were picked up by Günther, who took us to dinner and then to one or two interesting clubs. We suspected that perhaps he had telephoned ahead to announce our arrival, for whenever we entered a club one of David’s records would suddenly blare out from the juke-box and all eyes turn toward him.