A NEW York artist has chosen Newton over the buzz of the Big Apple, after a life of fashion drawing in the city's famous stores.

Before the wide use of photography in advertising, Bill Taylor's deft fingers and sharp eyes won him contracts to draw the latest New York fashions. Now the 80-year-old uses his talent to draw pictures for children in Newton's Community Centre.

Remembering New York in the 1950s, he said: "A few of us would go into Macy's or Grimble's and we'd sketch models wearing the latest clothes, which would then be turned into adverts for the newspapers.

"Like it is now, New York was a big bustling city with an impressive skyline.

"I lived outside the city, so used to catch the train into Grand Central Station to get to work. Its gothic architecture is fabulous, really breathtaking."

Bill was born in Chicago on February 29, 1924, but his dad William was from Lovely Lane in Warrington and his mum Elizabeth from Cross Lane in Newton.

With his parents he has travelled on ocean liners between New York and Liverpool 14 times and, despite turbulent seas, Bill has never been tempted to fly.

He said: "They were big comfortable ships, with good food and had card games and bingo rooms on board. The trip took about a week, but the cabins, which my dad and I shared with two other men, were a fair size and had a porthole.

"I've been on the Britannic twice and Queen Elizabeth once. When I was on the QE we passed the Queen Mary and, as they passed, both ships sounded their horns at the same time."

Originally destined to be a gamekeeper like his dad, Bill's drawing talent was spotted by the reserve owner who offered to fund him through art school.

Bill said: "Dad was a gamekeeper on a 26,000-acre estate, which had deer, wild turkeys, rattlesnakes and brown bears.

"I was trained to be a gamekeeper like him but because I used to sketch all the wildlife and flowers the owner's wife asked if I'd like to have a career in commercial art."

She paid for him to go to art school in Pittsburgh from 1951 to 1953.

Mischievously remembering his figurative training, Bill said: "We used to do life class every Wednesday.

"At first I didn't like it but then I began to enjoy it."

A fan of jazz music Bill has seen many of the stars live, including Benny Goodman, and has little time for today's pop music, laughingly saying 'enough said' when pressed for a comment.

He decided to retire to Newton because his parents had moved back and now spends most days in Park Road South's Community Centre drawing pictures for the children.