The work of Swindon artist Ken White, 73, is known throughout the world. Last week it was announced that Swindon Museum and Art Gallery had acquired a selection of his work. Ken lives in Old Town and is married with three children and two grandchildren.

ALL being well, it won’t be too long before Swindon has its new art gallery, probably somewhere in the area of the Wyvern Theatre and the Magistrates’ Court.

When that gallery is built, it will stand on or near Gordon Gardens, which was once a residential street. Ken White was born there in a bedroom of his grandmother’s house, number 22.

Perhaps Ken White’s work, recently added to his home town’s collection, will hang in roughly the same space where the artist first drew breath.

The notion amuses him. In spite of being one of the country’s most successful artists, he is modest about his reaction to the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery’s acquisition.

“I was shocked – just to have that happen while I’m still here! These things happen when you’re gone, don’t they?”

The thought of a new, bigger, gallery delights him.

“It would be nice to see more local exhibitions and travelling exhibitions. There should be more travelling exhibitions bringing different painters to the public.”

Ken was a middle child with an older brother and younger sister. His father was a military PT instructor and a strict disciplinarian with little time for art or artists.

After attending school in Pinehurst and Moredon, Ken went into the Railway Works at 15, first as a rivet hotter and later as a sign writer. His brother remained at the Works until they closed.

Ken still has his equipment from his days at the Works, and although he wasn’t happy there the people he met and the things he saw have inspired countless artworks.

His favourite art includes a movement known as the Ashcan School.

“They were a group in America in the early 1900s and they painted the man in the street – basically life in New York at the time.

“Most people in America said, ‘You have to go to Paris, that’s the only way you can become an artist. That was the main place to go. But the Ashcan School said, ‘We’ve got places to paint here – we’ve got lots of ideas and images’. So they stayed in the ‘States.

“They were looked down upon when they first did that.

“When I worked in the railways I used to go to evening classes. I got my O-Level and A-Level in art, against my parents’ wishes.

“My dad thought I should stay where I was with an apprenticeship, and that I was wasting my time with all these long-haired hippies. That was the attitude then.”

Ken’s first experience of success as an artist involved his local newspaper.

“When I was in junior school I did a painting of a clown and it went into the Adver.”

It was a significant psychological boost to the boy, who at that time was in the bottom set at school, albeit toward the top of that set.

“The teachers used to say, ‘Oh, we’ve got you morons again. The art class I used to love, and that made me think, ‘I can do something – I’m not that thick!’”

As a young man Ken moved to London with two fellow former Swindon College Art students. One, Raymond O’Sullivan, would later take the name Gilbert and have a string of international chart hits. The other, Rick Davies, would find global rock success with Supertramp.

The three remain friends more than half a century later.

They set up home in Ladbroke Grove just as the Sixties began to swing. Ken remembers seeing the Rolling Stones’ concert in Hyde Park, the band’s legendary first performance following the death of founder member Brian Jones.

Ken was a commercial artist while working steadily on his own projects, and helped to paint the famous psychedelic mural on the Baker Street headquarters of the Beatles’ Apple business.

“I think it was done in two days,” said Ken. The design was created by legendary art collective The Fool, and the painting was supervised by future T Rex member Mickey Finn.

It isn’t Ken’s only Beatles connection; a striking painting of the four from 1969 was used in a book, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, which is prized by collectors.

Years later, Ken would work on another musical icon, the cover of XTC’s Black Sea album.

Ken returned to Swindon in the early 1970s and continued in commercial art, providing images and lettering for travelling exhibitions by organisations such as the British Council. He also spent a few months in New Zealand after his parents emigrated.

On returning to Swindon he became involved with a form of public art which put the town on the map.

“When I came back from New Zealand, I was out of work and I got a job with Community Arts. It was job creation – Labour had this job creation scheme going round, so I was put on that.”

The artist worked on posters for various events – and on the first of many murals on walls and gable ends throughout the town.

That first piece, showing the Golden Lion Bridge on a gable end in Fleming Way, soon attracted the attention of the Sunday colour supplements.

Ken went to bed one Saturday evening and woke the following morning to discover he was a famous artist.

“I became a muralist over the weekend…”

One of the millions of people who saw the images of his work was Richard Branson. It was the start of an association which would see Ken work on Virgin projects across the world and provide the iconic Scarlet Lady images used on the firm’s aircraft.

Virgin is only one of a long list of organisations and individuals who have commissioned murals, ranging from restaurants to hospitals.

For all his success on a national and international scale, though, his priority is to continue capturing the working lives which first fascinated him all those years ago.

“Still the same thing,” he said cheerfully. “Men in caps on bikes.”