Bob Dylan at 70

Bob Dylan performs at The Bitter End folk club in Greenwich Village, 1961 Photograph: Sigmund Goode/Getty Images

Bob Dylan with producer, musician and critic John Hammond, 1961 Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Bob Dylan reading a copy of US News and World Report in 1962 Photograph: John Cohen/Getty Images

Bob Dylan with Ralph Rinzler (left) and John Herald (right) of bluegrass group the Greenbriar Boys at the Gaslight club in New York, 1962 Photograph: John Cohen/Getty Images

Bob Dylan performs at the Singers Club Christmas party in London, December 1962. This was his first visit to Britain Photograph: Brian Shuel/Redferns/Getty

Bob Dylan in New York, 1963 Photograph: Sony /Getty

Bob Dylan performs Only a Pawn in Their Game at a civil rights gathering in Mississippi, 2 July 1963. The song is about the murder of activist Medgar Evers Photograph: /Getty

Bob Dylan performs with Joan Baez at Newport folk festival, 1964
Photograph: Douglas R Gilbert/Redferns/Getty

Dylan at home in Woodstock with Allen Ginsberg, 1964 Photograph: Douglas R Gilbert/ Redferns/Getty

Bob Dylan and his manager Albert Grossman (on Dylan's right) listen back to recordings of Highway 61 Revisited at Columbia's Studio A in New York, 1965 Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Bob Dylan goes electric at Newport folk festival, 25 July 1965 Photograph: Alice Ochs/Getty Images

Bob Dylan filmed by DA Pennebaker for the documentary Don't Look Back, 1965 Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Bob Dylan at De Montford Hall, Leicester, 1965
Photograph: Richard Mitchell/Rex Features

Dylan films a clip for Subterranean Homesick Blues at the beginning of Don't Look Back Photograph: /Getty

Bob Dylan and Sam Peckinpah on the set of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, 1973 Photograph: SNAP /Rex Features

Bob Dylan performs with the Band at Madison Square Garden, New York 1974. From left: Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson and Dylan Photograph: Gijsbert Hanekroot/ Redferns/Getty

Bob Dylan performs with Richard Manuel (left) and Robbie Robertson (right) of the Band during their final live performance at the Winterland in San Francisco 1976. It was documented by Martin Scorsese and released as a feature film called The Last Waltz in 1978 Photograph: Neal Preston/Corbis

Bob Dylan performing on stage in 1978 Photograph: Keith Baugh/ Redferns/Getty

Ron Wood, Bob Dylan and Keith Richards perform at Live Aid in Philadelphia, 1985 Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Bob Dylan performs at the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope concert, 1986 Photograph: Neal Preston/Corbis

Rupert Everett, Fiona Flanagan and Bob Dylan in a promotional shot for Hearts of Fire, 1987 Photograph: Warner Brothers

Bob Dylan performing with the Traveling Wilburys. From left: Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison Photograph: Neal Preston/Corbis

Bob Dylan performs in Washington DC for the inauguration of Bill Clinton, 1993 Photograph: Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis

Bob Dylan accepts his Oscar for best original song in 2001, via satellite from Sydney, Australia. Dylan won for Things Have Changed, which featured in the film Wonder Boys Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Reuters

Bob Dylan performs at the Newport folk festival, 2002 Photograph: Dave Hansen/AP

Bob Dylan in 2009 Photograph: Sony

Bob Dylan performs at the Beijing Workers' Stadium on 6 April 2011 Photograph: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images