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BRUSH WITH FAME
Mystery man who onlookers are convinced is Banksy breaks his silence after being pictured at scene of latest artwork
The man said he'd prefer to 'get a roller and go over it, get it over and done with, just paint it'
A BLOKE at the centre of a Banksy ID storm says accusations he's the elusive artist are "nonsense" - admitting he doesn't even like graffiti.
Snaps of a mystery man next to a new Banksy in Finsbury Park, North London, fuelled speculation the artist’s identity had finally been confirmed.
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Onlookers were convinced he looked similar to Robin Gunningham – who many people believe to be Banksy after mysterious photographs appeared to show him working on a famous mural in 2004.
Conspiracy theorists went wild as the man was also papped sporting similar specs to those worn by Mr Gunningham.
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But The Sun tracked down the man who confirmed his name is actually George Georgiou.
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The 67-year-old builder claims he is the dad of the graffitied building's landlord, Alex Georgiou, and is installing perspex to protect the art.
Waiting for materials to be delivered on Monday, he told The Sun how "all hell broke lose" after the work appeared in Hornsey Road.
He said: "Instead of just whipping a picture, they should've just said who are you? Would've been so much easier.
"It's nonsense. I'm the landlord's father. I know nothing at all about the work.
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"We found out at about 3pm on Sunday afternoon. One of the tenants rang my son up and told him.
It's not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination
George Georgiou
"That was it, the rest of it was speculation. Then it was confirmed Monday, Tuesday.
"Monday evening they done that (chucked white paint on it), and ripped a big chunk out the middle of it."
George said he's spent nearly £2,500 on perspex for the mural so far and has 24/7 security protecting it.
'Our rent will skyrocket' worry residents after Banksy work appears on side of North London homes
Despite shelling out a small fortune on protective measures, he has no plans to sell the work and isn't even a fan of it.
He explained: "I'd like to get a roller and go over it, get it over and done with, just paint it.
"It's not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination.
"It's for the public really. Unfortunately, there are a bit too many jealous people around.
"Am I fan? I dunno, not a thing I have ever really thought about. We are running round like headless chickens trying to protect it."
Who are Robin Gunningham and his wife Joy Millward
There has been much speculation Banksy's real identity is Robin Gunningham - but who is he?
Robin was born in 1973 in Bristol, also known to be Banksy's long-supposed stomping ground.
He was a pupil at Bristol Cathedral School.
Robin's father, Peter Gordon Gunningham, was a retired contracts manager from the Whitehall area of Bristol.
His mother, Pamela Ann Dawkin-Jones, was a company director's secretary and grew up in the exclusive surroundings of Clifton where he also has an older sister called Sarah.
When Robin was nine, the family moved to a larger home in the same street and it is there he spent his formative years and became interested in graffiti.
Joy Millward, the suspected wife of Banksy, has never broken her silence on rampant speculation.
The lobbyist, from the West Midlands, is understood to have met Gunningham in 2003, just before she started working as a researcher for Labour MP Austin Mitchell.
They got hitched in Las Vegas in 2006 and have been married for 17 years.
A source previously claimed the couple lived in an isolated community and had "little to do with even their closest neighbours".
An insider told the Mail: "Even those they occasionally speak to have no idea who they really are.
"The only people who know his real identity are those in the inner circle, who have been vetted.
"Some of Joy’s relatives have not been told who her husband is or what he does."
Two workers putting up the perspex said they were hired by George, not Robin Gunningham.
George's son Alex last week said he could be tempted to sell the Banksy-adorned flats if the offer's right.
He told : "If somebody offered me millions and they can have the building and take the flats with it. Feel free.
"Unless we have a massive Banksy fan who is prepared to pay over the odds. But a property is worth what a property is worth.
"I definitely plan on keeping it on there and letting people enjoy it."
The block, which Alex estimates is worth around £1.3m today, contains three flats.
George admitted he had "no idea" if the mural will stay there as Islington Council have shown no interest in it.
He slammed: "They want us to preserve it, we asked them to cough up a bit, they completely blew us out. They weren't interested in any financial help."
The builder also blasted the "unnecessary" attention he's got as a result of the ID mixup, adding: "We've all had a good giggle about it down the office.
"The less out there with my face on it, the better."
George works on Hornsey Road, where he has also lived for over 60 years.
He said his son is "as bemused as the rest of us" about the scrawl on 390 Hornsey Road, which has attracted admirers from as far as Italy and China.
He added: "Every day there is 400-500 people, every day!
"I came by Sunday morning, around 9am, there were at least 200 people and it was a miserable day.
"It's nice in a way, it can't do any harm, but it worries me he [Banksy] is going to encourage idiots to do this kind of thing [vandalise].
"You know this used to be my house, this is where I grew up, before the council done a compulsory purchase.
"This used to be my dad's shop, a tailors. That used to be a butchers, further down used to be a chip shop."
The artwork appeared overnight earlier this month in North London.
Banksy claimed the mural as his own in an Instagram post, but the elusive artist didn't add a description with the three pictures he uploaded.
The creator often refers to contemporary issues in his work, and what is understood to be his latest addition, shows a woman with a pressure hose apparently spray-painting a leafless tree.
The creator of the BBC Radio 4 series The Banksy Story, James Peak, previously told the BBC: "The message is clear. Nature’s struggling and it is up to us to help it grow back.
"If you go way back to the beginning of his work, he is always looking for something he can do with minimum effort to make something look really cool."
But, some local residents are concerned the new artwork will hike up rent prices in their area.
COURT CASE
It comes as Banksy's identity will remain a mystery after the graffiti artist prevented their name being revealed at the High Court.
The spray can maestro is being sued over an Instagram post where they encouraged followers to steal from the GUESS store on Regents Street after it advertised an apparent collaboration.
As part of the £1.3m defamation proceedings, British greeting card company Full Colour Black and its owner Andrew Gallagher, 56, had sought an order for Banksy to be identified.
But documents obtained by The Sun show the artist applied for the order to be struck out and the claimant gave up the bid on January 17.
For years many people have speculated Banksy's true identity is that of a man called Robin Gunningham.
Theories were sparked in 2008 when a photograph was circulated of a man, believed to be Gunningham, wearing dark jeans and a navy shirt.
It was taken in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2004 and appeared to show Banksy smiling while he worked on his latest project.
The man, believed to be the famous graffiti artist, was crouched in front of a bag with stencils and spray paint.
Peter Dean Rickards, who captured the moment, confirmed it was of Banksy after leaking the images - however it has never been officially proven.
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A man who claimed to know Banksy did confirm the image showed Mr Gunningham, according to the Mail.
And, there are many more clues that led people to believe he could be the spraycan maestro.
BANKSY MYSTERY
Many believe they have found "evidence" to suggest Robin Gunningham is Banksy.
Both Banksy and Gunningham appear to live in the same locations at the same time artwork pops up.
In 1998 Gunningham was living in Easton, Bristol, and at the same time Banksy painted the famous Mild Mild West sign, which shows a stuffed bear with a Molotov cocktail.
Banksy's signature artwork was then found in London in 2000, the same year Gunningham lived in a flat in Kingsland Road, Hackney.
Another piece of evidence some people say points towards Gunningham is items he left behind in his Bristol home.
He lived there with pal Egan but the property was bought by Camilla Stacey, a curator at Bristol's Here Gallery, in 2000.
She claimed the artist had lived at the house because he left pieces of artwork behind.
Camilla said: "I bought the house that he used to live in. He had rented out a room but I think there had been problems with the tenants and the landlord had to sort of repossess it or whatever, so he was just selling it.
"When I moved in, the place had been covered in graffiti and stuff like that. I threw things in the bin."
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