Aussie historian, author & entertainer Jim Haynes joins Overnight each week for his unique knowledge of the not-so-famous characters from Australia’s history.  This week Jim shines the spotlight on Will Ashton – ‘Fatty’ the Impressionist.

Sir John William Ashton, (20 September 1881 – 1 September 1963) was the son of English artist and art teacher James Ashton of York.  Will, as he was always known, was three his father ‘made up his mind to go to Australia’ and the family migrated to Adelaide.

Will’s school nickname was ‘Fatty’ and he was always self-effacing and freely admitted that the name fitted him. He also claimed that he was not very good at anything at school – except art.

His only other claim to fame at school was that he once took a bicycle apart and put it back together. On the basis of that achievement his parents decided he should be an engineer, but Fatty Ashton was always destined to be an artist. Today, the life and times of Will Ashton, a prolific Australian Impressionist artist and director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1937 to 1943.

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