Sir Peter Blake attended Gravesend School of Art from 1949 to 1951. He carried out his National Service in the RAF (1951-53) going on to study at the Royal College of Art in 1953, gaining a First Class Diploma in 1956. Blake received a Leverhulme Research Award to study popular art, taking him to Holland, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain for a year from 1956 to 1957. He went on to teach at St Martin's School of Art, London (1960-1962), Harrow School of Art (1960-63), Walthamstow School of Art (1961-64) and at the Royal College of Art (1964-76). In 1961 Blake received First Prize in the Junior Section at the John Moores Liverpool Exhibition. This led to his first solo exhibition, held the following year at the Portal Gallery, London. Further solo shows followed at the Robert Fraser Gallery, London (1965) and at Leslie Waddington Prints, London (1969). His first retrospective exhibition was held in 1969 at the City Art Gallery, Bristol. A later retrospective was held at the Tate Gallery, London in 1983, touring to Hanover. Blake's work has also been included in numerous key group exhibitions on an annual basis since 1954.