Colin Watson (born c.1899) was one of the most 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 anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

riders from the sport's early years in the late 1920s and 1930s.

Biography

Born in Ilford,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Watson was involved from the earliest days on British speedway, taking part in the early meetings held at

High Beach High Beach (or High Beech) is a village inside Epping Forest in south-west Essex, England. Part of Waltham Abbey, the village is within the Epping Forest District and the ward of Waltham Abbey High Beach, and lies approximately north-east of Cha ...

in 1928.Storey, Basil (1947) "Colin Watson Blazed His Way Through" in ''Speedway Favourites'', Sport-in-Print, p. 3 He joined

White City White City may refer to: Places Australia * White City, Perth, an amusement park on the Perth foreshore * White City railway station, a former railway station * White City Stadium (Sydney), a tennis centre in Sydney * White City FC, a football clu ...

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 The Star Riders' Championship was the forerunner of the Speedway World Championship and was inaugurated in 1929. The competition was sponsored by ''The Star ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already m ...

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, first promoted by Jimmy Baxter in 1929. History They operated from the West Ham Stadium until the outbreak of World War II under several different promotions, most successfully under the control o ...

, also spending a period with

Sheffield Tigers The Sheffield 'Tru Plant' Tigers are a motorcycle speedway team based in Sheffield, England. They currently race in the British SGB Premiership, and their home meetings take place at Owlerton Stadium. The Tigers traditionally hold their race n ...

. He was allocated back to West Ham after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. On 13 July 1946, during a second-half scratch race after a match between the

Odsal Boomerangs Odsal Boomerangs were a motorcycle speedway team based at Odsal Stadium, Rooley Lane, Odsal, Bradford, West Yorkshire, from 1945 to 1950. The team became the Odsal Tudors during the 1950 season.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of Britis ...

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. The accident ended his career at the age of 47. Just one week earlier on 6 July, Albert Rosenfeld Jr. had been critically injured at the same track but died 10 days later. After his racing career, Watson ran a successful car hire business in Ilford 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 SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

Film appearance

The speedway scenes from the 1933 film Britannia of Billingsgate were shot at

Hackney Wick Stadium Hackney Wick Stadium was a greyhound racing and speedway stadium located at Waterden Road in the London Borough of Hackney. Origins The site chosen for the stadium was on land known as Hackney Marshes west of the River Lea and on the west sid ...

and featured some of the leading riders in Britain at the time including Colin Watson,

Arthur Warwick Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more ...

Gus Kuhn Gus Kuhn (17 October 1898 – 30 August 1966) was a successful British TT and motorcycle speedway rider during the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in Birmingham, England, and served in the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I. Speedway K ...

Tom Farndon Tom 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, Farndon started his career at the Lythalls Lan ...

Claude Rye Arthur Claude Rye known as Claude Rye (1908–1988) was an international speedway rider from England. Speedway career Rye came to prominence in 1929 after gaining a two year contract with Preston (speedway) and then joined Wimbledon Dons in 1 ...

and

Ron Johnson Ronald Harold Johnson (born April 8, 1955) is an American accountant, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin, a seat he has held since 2011. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. Se ...

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 ca ...

collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Colin British speedway riders English motorcycle racers Wembley Lions riders West Ham Hammers riders Harringay Racers riders Sheffield Tigers riders