Leamington Spa artist helps actor David Bradley fall in love with painting

When a Hollywood actor wandered into her studio and asked for lessons, artist Lynne Gougeon was a bit taken aback. David Bradley, perhaps best known for his roles in Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, had recently moved to Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, and decided to find a new way to express his creativity. "I was just very impressed with her as a person and clearly she was passionate about what she did," Bradley explained. "I said, 'do you teach?'" "And she said yes. I said, 'can I have a go?' Having never painted, not even in school, the 84-year-old had to begin with the basics. "He couldn't manage the paintbrush on the first lesson, I don't think," Gougeon said, although "he took to it straight away". "I think, if you've never painted before, then you learn very quickly." Still working as an actor, with a Channel 4 thriller and new films in the pipeline, he acknowledged sometimes calls from Hollywood took precedence. "I did have to miss one art lesson to go to the Oscars," Bradley smiled, adding the production he starred in, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, won. "It was the best excuse I've ever heard for missing a lesson," Gougeon said. The lifelong Aston Villa fan came upon h