Peter Watts (road manager)
{{Short description|English road manager and sound engineer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Peter Watts
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Peter Anthony Watts
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1946|01|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1976|08|02|1946|01|16|df=y}}
| death_place = Notting Hill, London, England
| occupation = {{Unbulleted list|Road manager|Sound engineer}}
| employer = Pink Floyd
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
- {{marriage|Myfanwy Edwards-Roberts|1966|1972|reason=div}}
- {{marriage|Patricia Deighton|1976}}
}}
| partner =
| children = {{Plainlist|
}}
}}
Peter Anthony Watts (16 January 1946 – 2 August 1976) was an English road manager and sound engineer who worked with rock band Pink Floyd.{{Cite book| publisher = Omnibus| isbn = 978-1-84938-370-7| pages = 160p| last = Mabbett| first = Andy| title = Pink Floyd – The Music and the Mystery| location = London| year = 2010}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/22/1077384633676.html|title=How Naomi told her mum about Oscar|accessdate=15 December 2008|author=Sams, Christine|date=23 February 2004|work=The Sun-Herald}}
Early life
Watts was born on 16 January 1946, in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, the son of Jane Patricia Grace (née Rolt; born 1923, in Naivasha, Kenya Colony)UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969 and Anthony Watts. Watts had one older brother, Michael, and one younger sister, Patricia. Watts' mother remarried, to Anthony Daniells, in 1989.England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005
Career
Watts was the road manager for Pretty Things before joining Pink Floyd as their first experienced road manager.[https://books.google.com/books?id=idOGghPNM6UC&q=Peter+Watts&pg=PA167 Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd] Nick Mason Alongside fellow roadie Alan Styles, he appears on the rear cover of Pink Floyd's 1969 album Ummagumma, shown with the band's van and equipment laid out on a runway at Biggin Hill Airport, with the intention of replicating the "exploded" drawings of military aircraft and their payloads, which were popular at the time. On the 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, he contributed the repeated laughter on "Brain Damage", and was also heard in the album's overture, "Speak to Me". His wife Patricia 'Puddie' Watts[https://books.google.com/books?id=hKXhLoWCPQ8C&dq=Puddie+watts&pg=PA196 Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd] Mark Blake was responsible for the line about the "geezer" who was "cruisin' for a bruisin{{'"}} used in the segue between "Money" and "Us and Them", and the words "I never said I was frightened of dying." heard near the end of "The Great Gig in the Sky".{{Citation | last1 = Sutcliffe | first1 = Phil | last2 = Henderson | first2 = Peter | title = The True Story of Dark Side of the Moon | newspaper = Mojo | issue = 52 | date = March 1998}} Retrieved from {{cite web |url=http://www.pinkfloyd-co.com/band/interviews/art-rev/art-mojo98.html |title=Pink Floyd and Company - Pink Floyd Articles and Reviews |accessdate=2011-08-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611233023/http://www.pinkfloyd-co.com/band/interviews/art-rev/art-mojo98.html |archivedate=11 June 2011 }} on 23 December 2010.
Personal life
In 1966, Watts married Myfanwy Edwards-Roberts, the daughter of a Welsh father and Australian mother, who was an antiques dealer and costume and set designer.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FORkAAAAMAAJ&q=antiques+dealer+costume|title=Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television: A Biographical Guide Featuring Performers, Directors, Writers, Producers, Designers, Managers, Choreographers, Technicians, Composers, Executives, Dancers|publisher=Gale / Cengage Learning|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7876-9037-3|page=340}} They had two children, Ben (b. 1967; a photographer), and Naomi (b. 1968; an actress).
The couple divorced in 1972.{{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2003/11/23/naomi_watts/|title=A role filled with rage and anguish reveals the fearless side of an actress who respects the power of emotion|work=The Boston Globe |publisher=The New York Times Company|first=Scott|last=Heller|date=23 November 2003|accessdate=5 July 2011}} After the divorce, the children were raised by their grandparents and their mother as she built a career. The family relocated to London.{{cn|date=June 2023}}
Peter Watts left Pink Floyd's service in 1974. In 1976, he married Patricia Deighton, known as "Puddie", who can also be heard on The Dark Side of the Moon.{{cite news |last1=Gaita |first1=Paul |title=Naomi Watts Gets Candid About Her Father's Drug-Related Death |url=https://www.thefix.com/naomi-watts-gets-candid-about-her-fathers-drug-related-death |accessdate=2 February 2019 |work=The Fix |date=18 July 2017 |language=en}}
Death
In August 1976, Watts was found dead in a flat in Notting Hill, London, from a heroin overdose.{{cite web|url=http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/naomi-watts/biography/157?page=2|title=Naomi Watts Biography|work=TalkTalk|publisher=Tiscali UK Limited trading|accessdate=5 July 2011}}{{Cite book| publisher = Di Capo Press| isbn = 978-0306817526| pages = [https://archive.org/details/comfortablynumbi00mark/page/213 213]| last = Blake| first = Mark| title = Comfortably Numb – The Inside Story of Pink Floyd| year = 2008| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/comfortablynumbi00mark/page/213}} After his death, Pink Floyd provided financial support to his two young children. The money allowed the family to move to Sydney, Australia, in 1982, where Edwards-Roberts became part of a burgeoning film industry.{{cite news |last1=Petit |first1=Stephanie|title=Naomi Watts Opens Up About Death of Her Father from Drug Overdose When She Was 7 |url=https://people.com/movies/naomi-watts-opens-up-fathers-death-drug-overdose-child/ |accessdate=3 January 2023 |work=People |date=16 July 2017 |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDB name}}
{{Pink Floyd}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Peter}}