Peter Watts (road manager)

Peter Anthony Watts (16 January 1946 – 2 August 1976) was an English road manager and sound engineer who worked with rock band Pink Floyd.[1][2]

Peter Watts
Born
Peter Anthony Watts

(1946-01-16)16 January 1946
Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Died2 August 1976(1976-08-02) (aged 30)
Notting Hill, London, England
Occupations
EmployerPink Floyd
Spouses
Myfanwy Edwards-Roberts
​
​
(m. 1966; div. 1972)​
    Patricia Deighton
    ​
    (m. 1976)​
    Children

    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)[3] and Anthony Watts. Watts had one older brother, Michael, and one younger sister, Patricia. Watts' mother remarried, to Anthony Daniells, in 1989.[4]

    Career

    Watts was the road manager for Pretty Things before joining Pink Floyd as their first experienced road manager.[5] Alongside fellow roadie Alan Styles,[1] he appears on the rear cover of Pink Floyd's 1969 album Ummagumma,[1] 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,[1] which were popular at the time. On the 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon,[1] he contributed the repeated laughter on "Brain Damage", was also heard in the album's overture, "Speak to Me".[1] His wife Patricia 'Puddie' Watts[6] 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".[7]

    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.[8] They had two children, Ben (b. 1967; a photographer), and Naomi (b. 1968; an actress).

    The couple divorced in 1972.[9] After the divorce, the children were raised by their grandparents and their mother as she built a career. The family relocated to London.

    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.[10]

    Death

    In August 1976, Watts was found dead in a flat in Notting Hill, London, from a heroin overdose.[11][12] 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.[13]

    References
    1. Mabbett, Andy (2010). Pink Floyd – The Music and the Mystery. London: Omnibus. pp. 160p. ISBN 978-1-84938-370-7.
    2. Sams, Christine (23 February 2004). "How Naomi told her mum about Oscar". The Sun-Herald. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
    3. UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969
    4. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005
    5. Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd Nick Mason
    6. Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd Mark Blake
    7. Sutcliffe, Phil; Henderson, Peter (March 1998), "The True Story of Dark Side of the Moon", Mojo, no. 52 Retrieved from "Pink Floyd and Company - Pink Floyd Articles and Reviews". Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011. on 23 December 2010.
    8. Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television: A Biographical Guide Featuring Performers, Directors, Writers, Producers, Designers, Managers, Choreographers, Technicians, Composers, Executives, Dancers. Gale / Cengage Learning. 2005. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-7876-9037-3.
    9. Heller, Scott (23 November 2003). "A role filled with rage and anguish reveals the fearless side of an actress who respects the power of emotion". The Boston Globe. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
    10. Gaita, Paul (18 July 2017). "Naomi Watts Gets Candid About Her Father's Drug-Related Death". The Fix. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
    11. "Naomi Watts Biography". TalkTalk. Tiscali UK Limited trading. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
    12. Blake, Mark (2008). Comfortably Numb – The Inside Story of Pink Floyd. Di Capo Press. pp. 213. ISBN 978-0306817526.
    13. Petit, Stephanie (16 July 2017). "Naomi Watts Opens Up About Death of Her Father from Drug Overdose When She Was 7". People. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
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