A David Bowie superfan has rediscovered a hat the icon gave him more than 50 years ago - as he served him porridge at Glastonbury.

Steve Hazelton, 67, was given the peculiar accessory by the superstar in 1971, after they got chatting over breakfast at Michael Eavis' farmhouse.

Mr Hazelton, who now lives in Pool, Cornwall, hitchhiked from his house in Essex when he was just 16-years-old to get to the second ever festival at Worth Farm.

He bumped into Eavis while looking 'dishevelled' who told him to go to the farmhouse where a "handsome man with long blonde hair" would make breakfast for him.

There he was 'flung' the distinctive head piece by Bowie and he had it stored away in a box for decades.

He only recently found it again -but it now has pride of place on a "ram's head" at his home.

Mr Hazelton said: "That night, we slept on the field with no tent and got absolutely soaked.

"The next day we were walking across a field and a chap, who turned out to be Michael Eavis, walked towards us and said 'look at the state of you, covered in grass and mud.

"'If you want a good breakfast head to my farmhouse, there's a handsome man with long blonde hair there, he'll make you some.'

"We went over, the door swung open and a really smiley face greeted us - it was David Bowie.

"He said 'I know what you lads want, you want some porridge and tea,'

"There were a few other musicians sat round the table, I remember Bowie giving us our porridge and sitting on the table.

"We spoke about all sorts, not just music. He said he'd gotten lost down the country lanes and when we told him we slept under Stonehenge he was amazed because he was really interested in the energy of the stones."

During their meeting, Mr Hazelton took a keen interest in the hat Bowie was wearing.

It was a blue vintage ladies hat, made in Ireland in the 1930's, with green leaves around the crown.

Mr Hazelton said: "He noticed me looking at it and we spoke about the old saying 'blue and green should never be seen'.

"As we were leaving, he shouted 'Oi, Stevie Haze, come and see me play tonight', and threw me his hat."

Steve and his friends waited by the whole evening to see his set, but they eventually dozed off at 1am.

At 5:30am, they were woken up by the sound of David Bowie's keyboard.

Mr Hazelton wore the hat for the entire day, although it didn't fit his head, noting that Bowie must have 'had a very small head,' or didn't wear the hat properly.

After the festival, Steve's mother put the hat away in a cupboard, and when he moved to Southampton months later it was put in a box.

He since moved 12 times with the box, but only reopened it properly when he moved to Cornwall four years ago.

He said: "When I saw the hat I thought my goodness, I've still got it.

"I hadn't thought about the hat since, but there it was and it felt so fresh like it was yesterday.

"I remember it all so well."

The hat has since been on display in a gallery in Penzance, Cornwall, but now lives at home with Mr Hazelton.

He said: "At the moment the hat is sitting on a ram's head in my hallway, but I need to decide what to do with it.

"I need to find a photo of Bowie wearing the hat, it's going round the fan community, so I'm hoping someone else has seen him wearing it."

Mr Hazelton said he and his friends had heard about the early festival through word of mouth, and were keen to go before he started an apprenticeship as a boat builder in Southampton.

They left home without so much as a tent, and had a one night stopover sleeping under the rocks of Stonehenge.

The artist said: "We weren't prepared at all, we just heard about a music festival down in Glastonbury and thought 'yeah, lets head there then.'

"We hitchhiked down to Stonehenge and slept under one of the rocks, because you could do that back then in 1971.

"We had no equipment we just slept as we were, we didn't think anything of it, it was just fun."

The group got up the next day and hitchhiked to just outside Worthy farm, where they met lots of other groups of festival goers.

At first they couldn't find the site, but after hours of walking down country lanes they made it to the festival and spent the day watching bands.

They had run out of money and food, but were well looked after by others around them before being spotted by Mr Eavis.

Steve said he has also been working on a series of paintings of Bowie's early life with him wearing the hat.

He's also considering giving the hat back to the Bowie estate at some point.

Images: SWNS