Moment Banksy confirms his real name in unearthed interview from 20 years ago

21 November 2023 , 10:18

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Moment Banksy confirms his real name in unearthed interview from 20 years ago

Elusive street artist Banksy appeared to confirm his real name as far back as 2003 in an unearthed BBC interview.

The Banksy Story on BBC Radio 4 returned with a bonus episode featuring a recording of an in-person interview with the artist that has not been heard for 20 years and was broadcast in full for the first time. During the interview, presented by former BBC arts correspondent Nigel Wrench, Banksy discussed his 2003 Turf War show as it was being installed in an east London warehouse. The show had Banksy's signature anti-authority themes, featuring graffitied police vans, the now iconic image of Winston Churchill with a grass Mohican and live farm animals with the Met Police's blue-checked patterns painted all over them.

One of Banksy's works in London (REX/Shutterstock)

But one of the biggest moments of the interview came when the interviewer asked the artist if he could use his real name, reports Bristol Live. During the conversation Nigel Wrench asked: "Are you happy for me to use your name? I mean, The Independent has." Banksy replied by saying 'yeah' before he was asked 'is it Robert Banks?' Banksy answered: "It's Robbie." The interviewer then said: "Robbie. Okay. Robbie."

The possibility remains that Banksy could be several people, including Robert Del Naja, also known as 3D, the artist and Massive Attack musician. Robbie could also be a nickname for Robin Gunningham - who was born on July 28, 1973 in Yate. Gunningham grew up in Easton and went to Bristol Cathedral School. The story goes that Gunningham started going by the name Robin Banks, which went on to become Banksy.

During his BBC interview, when asked about whether graffiti is vandalism, Banksy replied: "Yeah. If it's done properly it is illegal! But I got a good reaction I think off most people from my work. You know, I've even had policemen in the past say they kind of like things about it, but... I just think it's my right to go out and paint it.

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"And it is equally somebody else's right to go out and paint over it if they don't like it, you know? It doesn't actually take very long with a bucket of white paint to paint over things. I think it's better if you treat the city like a big playground, you know? It's there to mess about in, you know?"

The episode of The Banksy Story is played on BBC Sounds from November 21.

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]

Emma Grimshaw