Painter of busy, colourful, peopled scenes with the deceptively naïve style of L S Lowry, who became a friend and encouraged Stafford to paint while still a child. Stafford was born in Dukinfield, a small Cheshire cotton town, and began painting at age six when he was bought his first set of oils. In 1970, he won the Robert Owen Schools Award for art and the Manchester Evening News Portrait Award. Through 1972–3, Stafford studied art at Hyde College under Christine Kendall, wife of the art historian Richard Kendall. By 1974, Stafford was showing his work in the north of England and London, including RA Summer Exhibition. In 1996, he moved to Cornwall, which offered his art new possibilities. He had solo shows at Oliver Contemporary in 2003 and 2005.