Lost recording of Banksy unearthed after 20 years exposes his real voice

It's a question that's preyed on the minds of art lovers everywhere... just who is Banksy?

The mysterious and anonymous artist is definitely not that bloke off Art Attack and some folks reckon they're sure who's behind the street art, but you can't be 100 percent certain.

While we know precious little about him there are the occasional snippets where you can get a bit more information on them.

Take, for example, a recently recovered recording of someone claiming to be the real Banksy during an interview with the BBC 20 years ago.

This was done back when Banksy was setting up their 'Turf War' show in London and spoke to Nigel Wrench about their art.

Getty Stock Photo

In the interview Banksy sounds a bit like Stephen Merchant doing a voice, but the accent tallies with another interview done with someone saying they were the mysterious artist.

During the chat he answered questions on whether what he was doing was vandalism and illegal.

He said: "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.

"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?"

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

The 20-year-old lost recording will be played in full as part of a special episode of The Banksy Story, which will be available from today (21 November) on BBC Sounds.

This special episode follows on from a 10-part series on BBC Radio 4 which charted Banksy's career and what we know about the artist.

Banksy said during the interview 20 years ago that his name was 'Robbie Banks', though whether that's true or not is anyone's guess.

We could soon learn Banksy's real name as the artist has been sued for defamation and may need to be named in official court proceedings.

The lawsuit is also being brought against a man named Robin Gunningham, who has sometimes been suspected of being Banksy.

Topics: Banksy, Art, UK News, BBC

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker