Colin Watson (28 September 1898 – 13 June 1963) was a successful British

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider from the sport's early years in the late 1920s and 1930s. He earned nine international caps for the England national speedway team.

Biography

Born in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, Watson was involved from the earliest days on British speedway, taking part in the early meetings held at High Beach in 1928.Storey, Basil (1947) "Colin Watson Blazed His Way Through" in ''Speedway Favourites'', Sport-in-Print, p. 3 He joined White City in 1929 and Harringay Canaries and

Wembley Lions The Wembley Lions were an English ice hockey team. History The team were founded in 1934 but showed a continuity with the London Lions team which had played at various venues since 1924. The Wembley team were based at the newly built Empire ...

in 1930, playing a leading role in the team that dominated the sport in the early 1930s. He was a finalist in the Star Riders' Championship five times between 1929 and 1934.Bamford, Robert (2003) ''Speedway: The Pre-War Years'', Tempus, , p. 222 He was selected for the England team to face Australia in Test series in 1931, 1932, 1933, and 1934, also captaining the team.Morgan, Tom (1947) ''The People Speedway Guide'', Odhams Press, p. 73-4 He suffered a broken leg in 1935 that kept him out of the sport until 1937. In 1938 he moved on to the

West Ham Hammers The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team that raced at West Ham Stadium in London, England, from 1929 to 1971. The team were twice champions of the United Kingdom. History Origins and 1920s Speedway arrived at West Ham in 1928, the ina ...

, also spending a period with Sheffield Tigers. He was allocated back to West Ham after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. On 13 July 1946, during a second-half scratch race after a match between the Odsal Boomerangs and West Ham, he was critically injured in a crash when he hit a lighting standard and was dragged along the track by his bike, suffering a fractured skull and a punctured lung. He lay unconscious in a Bradford hospital before recovering consciousness four weeks later. Just one week earlier on 6 July, Albert Rosenfeld Jr. had been critically injured at the same track but died 10 days later. The accident ended Watson's career at the age of 47 and he had impaired eyesight as a result. He took up the job of inspecting the pits at West Ham afterwards. He earned nine caps for the England national team. After his racing career, Watson ran a successful car hire business in

and in 1963 took on the role of machine examiner at

New Cross New Cross is an area in south-east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the London_postal_district#List_of_London_postal_districts, SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, London, St Jo ...

Film appearance

The speedway scenes from the 1933 film Britannia of Billingsgate were shot at Hackney Wick Stadium and featured some of the leading riders in Britain at the time including Colin Watson, Arthur Warwick, Gus Kuhn,

Tom Farndon Thomas Farndon (11 September 1910 – 30 August 1935), was a British speedway rider who won the Star Riders' Championship in 1933 whilst with the Crystal Palace Glaziers. Career Born in Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City sta ...

, Claude Rye and

Ron Johnson Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American businessman and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Rep ...

Players cigarette cards

Watson is listed as number 47 of 50 in the 1930s Player's

cigarette card Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco industry, tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and nicotine marketing, advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible car ...

collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Colin 1898 births 1963 deaths British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Wembley Lions riders West Ham Hammers riders Harringay Canaries riders Sheffield Tigers riders 20th-century English sportsmen