Grayson Perry

Grayson Perry tackled his childhood in his book Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl

In a Hardtalk Extra programme broadcast on Friday 30th March, Gavin Esler spoke to leading British artist, Grayson Perry.

The potter Grayson Perry emerged as one of Britain's
most high profile artists when
he won the Turner Prize in 2003 - not least because he accepted the award wearing a dress, as his alter-ego "Claire".

His friend Damien Hirst has called his work a "vehicle for venom", and the personal images he paints on his ceramics are often disturbing.

But then so too was his childhood in Essex, where one of his means of escape from a broken home was to dress as a little girl.

He explains to Gavin Esler why he actively embraces the "transvestite potter" label.

HARDtalk Extra can be seen on BBC World at 0330 GMT, 0830 GMT, 1430 GMT, and 1830 GMT.

It can also be seen on BBC News 24 at 04:30 and 23:30.