LESLIE Thornton - a poor boy who went from Bevin Boy to international artist - has died at the age of 90.

He was born in 1925 to Evelyn Thornton, who was a cotton twister at Dewhurst's Mill, Skipton, but was raised from the age of two by his grandmother Eliza Thornton.

His drawing skills surprised teachers at Brougham Street School in Skipton. He left school aged 14 and started work as an apprentice at GH Mason, Skipton – an upmarket painting and decorating company. As part of his apprenticeship he attended Keighley Art School.

Early influences on Leslie’s future art work included an oil painting by his great grandfather.

In 1942, he won a scholarship to study art at Leeds Art School, but was conscripted through National Service in 1943 to work in the Yorkshire coal mines until 1946 as a Bevin Boy.

Leslie married Constance Helen Billows in 1950, and went on to have two children - Lisa Jane and David Robert. Sadly, Connie died in November 2013.

After his National Service, Leslie resumed his scholarship and won a place at the Royal College of Art (RCA).

He found himself at war with traditional sculpture and, on leaving the RCA in 1951, struck out in a new field using metal.

He used British Oxygen equipment and a lightweight blowpipe to create intricately designed figures and forms. His work was “revolutionary” and was snapped up by collectors in the US and Canada.

In 1963 he became a senior lecturer at the Sunderland Polytechnic and was then head of the sculpture department at the North Staffordshire Polytechnic from 1970 to 1989.