David Bowie's original handwritten lyrics for the pop classic "Starman", part of an album that catapulted him to international stardom, on Tuesday sold at auction in Britain for £203,500.

Released as a single in 1972, the song about a Starman who would "like to come and meet us but he thinks he'd blow our minds" featured on the Ziggy Stardust concept album.

The handwritten lyrics sold for five times as much as the £40,000 estimate.

The winning bidder was Olivier Varenne, director of acquisitions and alliances and collections at the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania, on behalf of a private collector.

"We had almost unprecedented interest from around the world for this historic piece of memorabilia," said Paul Fairweather of Omega Auctions.

"We’re very pleased with the incredible price achieved and are sure the lyrics will be rightly prized and treasured by the winning bidder."

The lyrics were previously on display as part of the V&A Museum's David Bowie Is collection. They had been owned by the same person since the 1980s.

The A4 page features handwritten amendments and edits by Bowie, including corrected spelling mistakes and additions.

The lyrics were sold as part of a David Bowie and glam rock sale on Tuesday.

In 2019, the first demo of Bowie singing Starman sold for 51,000 pounds after gathering dust in a loft for nearly five decades.

Bowie can be heard telling his guitarist Mick Ronson, who died in 1993, that he has not finished singing the song when he tries to end the demo.

The singer, born David Jones, died aged 69 in New York in 2016.