By Emma Saunders
Culture reporter
For years, art fans and journalists have been trying to figure out the identity of the Bristolian renegade and global phenomenon that is the street artist Banksy.
Now a new podcast, hosted by self-confessed superfan James Peak for BBC Radio 4, aims to understand the man behind the myth, who took graffiti from the underground to the high end art world.
Peak's fascination with Banksy began when he moved to London's east end around the year 2000. He soon became intrigued by "these little rats sprayed everywhere.... and more and more of Banksy's street pieces just started to reveal themselves".
But as with many Banksy fans, it wasn't just the artwork itself - and its social commentary - that fascinated Peak. He was also drawn in by the artist's mystique, and the huge effort involved in producing graffiti undercover at speed to avoid both being identified and arrested by the police.
"There's a great line in his latest show which I think is something like: 'Monet had light, Hockney had colour and I've got police response time,'" Peak says.
Over the years, various news outlets have reported that they know who Banksy is, and in 2017, DJ Goldie referred to Banksy as a man called Rob in an interview.
While rumours abound, his real identity has never been revealed. But have we gone beyond needing to know who he actually is?
Peak says Banksy's anonymity "let's him keep doing the campaigning stuff he does unfettered" which, along with loyalty,...
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