Banksy confirms his real name in unearthed recording
Banksy revealed his 'real name' in an interview which had been lost and has been heard for the first time in 20 years since being rediscovered.
Back in 2003 when Banksy was setting up his 'Turf War' art show he was interviewed by the BBC's Nigel Wrench and gave his real name.
Listen here:
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The interview had been lost to time for 20 years before it was rediscovered and will be played in full for a bonus episode of The Banksy Story on BBC Sounds.
This special episode comes after BBC Radio 4 did a 10 part series on the mysterious artist whose identity has been kept a secret.
However, when asked about his name Banksy simply told Wrench what it was... or did he?
In the interview clip the man claiming to be the artist was asked if his name was 'Robert Banks', which would give the name Banksy a rather obvious origin.
The artist confirmed this was the case, saying 'it's Robbie' so apparently he told us who he was 20 years ago and we just lost the recording.
Before you go declaring it a mystery solved and going off with certainty that this Robbie Banks fellow is Banksy there has been plenty of speculation around other figures.
Some believe that Banksy's true identity is that of one Robin Gunningham, who has been named in a defamation lawsuit alongside Banksy's company Pest Control Ltd.
Gunningham has long been suspected as one of the possible culprits behind Banksy but whether he's really the artist or this Robbie Banks person is still not entirely known.
Remember, just because a man who famously keeps his identity a secret directly tells you his name it doesn't mean it's true.
Whether he's Robbie Banks, Robin Gunningham or someone else entirely we do at least appear to know what Banksy sounds like.
Other old interviews done with Banksy give him a rather distinctive accent, though at the same time when asked if they could be sure he was who he said he was 'you have no guarantee of that at all'.
He's also dropped clues in the past of having a 'big beard', but again this might all be misdirection.
Banksy also said in the 2003 interview which had been lost for 20 years he had a reason for his art being vandalism.
He said: "It's a quicker way of making your point, right? Like, in the same way my mother used to cook Sunday roast every Sunday and say ‘it takes hours to make it and minutes to eat’.
"And these days she eats microwave meals for one and seems a lot happier, I'm kind of taking that approach to art really.
"I want to get it done and dusted. You know, for me the golden aim really is... for it to take you less time to make it than it takes people to look at it."
Joe Harker