Brian Bradshaw

Abstract

One assumes that Brian Bradshaw's career in art had been decided upon at an early age, but in fact it was not so. After he had attended the Canon Slade Grammar School in Bolton, his father suggested various options, some of them interesting, like becoming a veterinary surgeon, but that was rejected because although the boy liked 'putting things right' he didn't savour 'cutting things up'. For the same reason he couldn't follow the family tradition on his mother's side and become a doctor. Nor was his wish to become a sea-captain treated with any seriousness, although he thinks with nostalgia of life at sea; and he is pleased he didn't take up forestry because, although he loves the land and admires the art of designing the great gardens and parks which surrounded the Georgian and Regency houses of the 18th Century, he is appalled by the artificial mess they're making of the land now. So in that interim period before being conscripted, they suggested at home that he spend a few months at the Bolton Municipal School of Art under the guidance of Mr. John R. Gauld, and so his course was set for the future. He studied there for three years and was successful in obtaining the "drawing" and "pictorial design" certificates of the Ministry of Education, before joining His Majesty's Forces in 1942.