“JMW Turner? He’s my four-times great uncle!” - Eastbourne

“Some people say I bear a physical release resemblance to him,” Malcolm says. “That’s what I was told by my uncle who has passed on now, and my dad bore a resemblance to Turner too. They often said to me that if I stood next to the bust of Turner which is in Westminster Abbey you would not really be able to tell the difference. And he was not a good-looking man!

“And I often say that if you look at the portrait of Turner that is on the £20 pound note, you will be looking at a younger version of me!”

Malcolm is himself an artist: “I run an art group... on a smaller scale! And I like to brag about Turner. When we take on new members, I do let them know I am descended from Turner!

“I do like his paintings. You think of the work that he put into it. He never stopped doing what he enjoyed doing and having walked and toured as much as he did especially around England and Scotland and Wales, you realise he was such a great artist, a greater artist than Constable. I think it was his mastership of colour and tone. Constable was very good as far as landscape painting was concerned but he was more detailed. Turner put a lot more imagination into his work and that's the way I work too. The way I do skies and clouds, I think you can see his influence.

“But he was a horrible man. To my mind he was good in some respects but in other respects he was very rude to people. He had numerous affairs, did Turner. He was a difficult man. He treated women with disdain. He wanted one thing and that was it. He was a womaniser whenever he got the chance.”

But as a painter he was a master: “He started off doing watercolours and then went on to oils but he was very good at watercolours. I do landscapes and seascapes but I use acrylics. I prefer acrylic to watercolour. Watercolours are hardest. If you make a mistake right at the very end, that's the whole painting lost. With oils you can cover it up and with acrylics, you can cover it up. A lot of people water acrylics down but I don't. I use them as they are and lay them on quite thick, pretty much as Turner did.”

And now Turner is following Malcolm to Eastbourne: “I think it is great for Eastbourne that the Turner Prize is coming here. It will really show Turner’s paintings off and I think a lot of people from Eastbourne don't really know very much about Turner. The Turner Prize is the biggest prize going for art, and for Eastbourne to host the prize is a great achievement for Eastbourne.”

Malcom is chairman of the Polegate Art Group. Several of his works will be on display in their art show at St Georges Church Hall, Polegate on June 23-24.

Tate Britain has announced the four artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2023 which is taking place at Towner Eastbourne this year. They are Jesse Darling, Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim and Barbara Walker. An exhibition of their work will be held at Towner Eastbourne from September 28 to April 14 2024 as a major moment in the gallery’s centenary celebrations. The winner will be announced on December 5 2023 at an award ceremony in Eastbourne’s Winter Gardens.

Turner Prize 2023 is part of Towner 100, a year-long centenary celebration of arts and culture across Eastbourne. The programme launched with two displays this spring exploring the Towner Collection past and present.