Artist, born and based in Salford, Lancashire, where he attended the Grammar School. Won a scholarship to Slade School of Fine Art aged 17, did a postgraduate year at London University and two travel scholarships took him to study in Italy and Spain. After returning to Salford in 1960 Riley decided to concentrate his talents on depicting the area and its life. In 1975 Greater Manchester Council commissioned Riley to work for three years recording the older areas of the county and its people in a variety of media for eventual exhibition. Riley said afterwards that such an area could not be “considered in a vacuum; you must smell it, hear it, and be touched by it day and night … A person’s view is most valid when it relates to the things he feels closest to.