David Bowie: More than 30,000 people back petition calling for music legend to be on the new £20 note

The music legend died on 10 January aged 69 from cancer

David Bowie pictured at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983 (Richard Young/REX Shutterstock)

A petition calling for David Bowie to be the new face of the £20 note has surpassed 30,000 signatures.

The music legend died on Sunday from cancer, aged 69. Tributes have been paid to the musician who has been praised as one of the most significant figures in British pop and rock.

The Bank of England has announced that it is replacing Adam Smith who currently features on the reverse of the twenty pound note and has asked for the British public to nominate a potential successor.

The petition states: “We can think of no better way to honour David Bowie, who died on 10 January 2016, than by depicting him on the forthcoming £20 note.

“His music has sound-tracked events in the lives of many of us. His visual art and sense of character brought a new combination of music, performance and imagery into the mainstream culture.”

It adds: “There is no better person to be on the next £20 note.”

In 2013, a petition calling for novelist Jane Austen to feature on the Bank of England £10 note succeeded after a petition backing the proposal reached 35,000 signatures.