Born in Gravesend, Kent in 1932, Blake was one of the earliest exponent of the Pop Art movement. He studied at Gravesend School of Art and then at the Royal College of Art. A Leverhulme Scholarship enabled him to travel extensively in Europe, studying popular and folk art. During the 1960's the pop music world became a major source of inspiration for him, (his most famous work is the cover for the Beatles' LP Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,) 1967 and he continues to design album covers for the leading British pop artists. Between 1960 and 1962 he taught at St. Martin's School of Art, London, and from 1962 to 1964 at the Walthamstow School of Art and his influence on the British and international pop and post pop art scene is inestimable. His passions are reflected in his works: one of these is a fascination with all-in wrestling and he has painted and made prints of most wrestlers performing in England. This is just one facet of contemporary life that has influenced Blake: his inventive mind turns virtually any item or event in everyday modern life into a subject for his art. The Tate Gallery in London staged a major retrospective of his work in 1983. He was knighted in 2005 for his services to art