2 min readRichard Jones, publisher of the Banksy Bristol Trail app gives us some inside info on the secretive street artist...
1. Banksy’s original Wikipedia page described him as: ‘Born in Yate near Bristol in 1974. The son of a photocopier engineer, he trained as a butcher…’ The page has long since been taken down.
2. Banksy is said to have been a pupil at Bristol Cathedral School and also to have attended St Brendan’s Sixth Form College.
Image - Banksy versus Bristol Museum in 2009. Credit - Tangent Books
3. At the 2011 Bristol Anarchist Bookfair all stallholders were given a free copy of Banksy’s Tesco Value Petrol Bomb print.
4. The Grim Reaper now on display in M Shed used to be on the side of the Thekla nightclub in the Floating Harbour.
Image - Banksy's Grim Reaper on the side of Thekla. Credit - Tangent Books
5. Banksy decorated the coffin of Bristol club legend Lez Hutchinson in 2000.
6. The first crew that Banksy joined was Kingswood-based Bad Apples who also painted as DryBreadz. Members included Lokey, Soker, Kato, Tes and Sorse.
7. Banksy’s original tag was Robin Banx, which quickly became Banksy.
8. Banksy’s first ever stencil was an ant in a spotlight on a wall near the railway line in Windmill Hill.
Image - Banksy's ant in a spotlight stencil. Credit - Tangent Books
9. Banksy played in goal for Bristol football team the Easton Cowboys.
10. Banksy paid Bristol City Council £1 to hire the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery for the 2009 Banksy versus Bristol Museum extravaganza. The event generated tens of millions pounds for the local economy.
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