A college based in Walthamstow helped spawn a generation of rock stars, film directors and award winning artists as it took its place on the cutting edge of pop-art in the 1960s.

Walthamstow School of Art, now Waltham Forest college, in Forest Road counts many alumni and painters of progressive art taught under the tutelage of the widely regarded ‘Godfather of Pop Art’ Sir Peter Blake.

Sir Peter Blake taught at the school between 1961 and 1964, before going on to produce iconic album covers for The Beatles' 1967 album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paul Weller, the Who and Oasis.

The artist, who was knighted in 2002, said: "The Sgt Pepper album cover was made by cutting pieces of cardboard and hand-colouring them.

“I often thought that if I did it again it would be very quick on the computer but it was very laborious.”

Ian Dury, of later Blockheads fame, had his eyes opened about the possibility of art at the school where he was taught by Blake who says he “legitimised” Ian’s interest in pin-up girls, cowboys, rock stars and other pop-art subjects as his most important mentor.

"Pop Art, I suppose you would call it," Dury said later of the dynamic at the school.

"Jazz was involved. It was OK to be rude or common in our art, nobody was aiming to be academically clever.

“I got good enough to know my limitations. To exactly place myself, and ambition is one of the driving forces of anyone’s creative output and the thought that you’re gonna be the best. You want to rank with your heroes like Renoir."

Peter Blake, who formed a long lasting friendship with Dury, and designed the album cover to his tribute album following his death from cancer in 2000, told the Guardian he used to booze a lot when teaching.

He said: "I thought I'd pop into a pub - only to find that Dury and other students were already there. Instead of saying, 'Let's get working,' I suggested we all had a drink, and after that Ian did a very nice painting. I think he was a bit shocked by a teacher being all right, and from then on we were friends, right through."

Blake took Ian on to the Royal College of Art where in 1970, Ian formed the band Kilburn & the High Roads but shot to fame with Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Begun in 1975 with Stanmore-born pianist and guitarist Chaz Jankel, the band reached number one with Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick in 1978 and number three with Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3 in 1979.

An actor as well as a singer, Ian appeared in his Walthamstow class mate Peter Greenaway’s film ‘The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover’ in 1989.

Peter Greenaway studied at the school between 1962 and 1965 training as a mural painter but developed a strong interest in cinema and went on to become one of the most original and adventurous film-makers of recent years.

His experimental and visually spectacular films include The Pillow Book (1996), starring Ewan McGregor and Drowning by Numbers (1988), with Juliet Stephenson and Joely Richardson.

Discussions are at an 'early stage' with the William Morris Gallery as regards to putting on an exhibition celebrating the Walthamstow School of Art in the near future.