His identity is a closely guarded secret, with some people believing it covers a team of artists rather than a lone genius.
But Louis Theroux believes he has unmasked the real Banksy.
Or, rather, he did in 2001, at a Queens Park Rangers match of all places, where they bonded over a mutual appreciation for a “lanky, ungainly” young Peter Crouch.
Documentary maker Louis, who was in a VIP box watching QPR take on Fulham, recalls: “One of the people was a young artist. He wasn’t terribly outgoing.
“He said he was a street artist, and he gave me a little booklet of some of his art. It looked quite good.
“I made awkward chitchat... he said his name was Banksy. Fast forward a year, and people were going: ‘Have you heard about this guy called Banksy? Nobody knows who he is.’
And I said: ‘I know who he is, we went to a QPR game together’.”
The artist has gone on to win global fame, with works selling for £10million, his own post-apocalyptic theme park, Dismaland, and a hotel at the West Bank barrier.
“I am one of the only people who has met Banksy... and we bonded over Peter Crouch,” laughs Louis, telling the tale to none other than Peter himself on the retired striker’s BBC podcast.
Louis recently revealed he almost had an extremely different career after being offered a job as a porn star.
While starting up at the BBC, the documentary maker wanted to fully immerse himself in America's pornography industry, specifically the lesser known subculture of male performers.
Louis discovered that in a business that mainly revolves around images of naked women, it's actually the men that have a far tougher job performing in front of the cameras.
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