Banksy’s former manager and best mate speaks out about artist’s secret identity

Banksy’s former manager and close friend has spoken about the artist’s unknown identity and how seriously he takes it. Steve Lazarides, who, like the artist, is also from Bristol, photographed, worked with, and managed Banksy from 1997 to 2008, spending more time with him than most. It’s fair to say that Banksy is a British icon, recently coming back into the spotlight with some street art of spray-painted animals popping up all over London. “Banksy will never retire. I’ve told him countless times to do so. He needs to enjoy his life,” Lazarides claimed. A number of Banksy’s works have started to appear across the British capital (Simone Joyner/Getty Images) Now 55, the photographer revealed that he met the artist as a graffiti lover in the late nineties, and was sent to photograph the him in Bristol, eventually hitting it off and exchanging numbers. He recalled: “It was funny and he had balls, I was fully sold and I would do anything to help this kid. After the shoot we had a few beers… And then a few more.” They started to sell paintings out the back of a car, going from £5 a print up to £5 million a...