‘Split’ Waterman
Devil-may-care star of postwar speedway who later applied his ‘quick, decisive mind’ to crime
SPLIT WATERMAN, who has died aged 96, was a speedway star of the postwar era, an Errol Flynn lookalike of great daring and charisma who could draw crowds of 80,000 – many of them women; after retiring, however, he turned his talents to crime.
Waterman (real name Francis) took up speedway while serving in the British Army in Italy, riding an adapted BSA M20 bike and gaining his nickname after splitting his racing leathers down the back in a fall, after which his colleagues referred to him as “split arse”, later shortened to “split”.
After the war he emerged as the “Speedway Sensation of 1947” when he was snapped up by the Wembley Lions, thrilling audiences with his skill and risk‑ taking on the track. Unlike other riders, who had taken to riding with their left foot forward, giving them more control, Waterman rode with a trailing left foot, kicking up showers of ash which added to the spectacle – and the danger.
In 1948, he became the first Englishman in many years to win the London Riders’ Championship, the Speedway Express reporting how “like a bolt out of the blue … cheeky, cheery, devil‑may‑care, ‘Split’ Waterman” had cracked an “eleven‑year‑old jinx”.
Among other tricks Waterman was said to know how to hook his handlebars under an opponent’s throttle cable while travelling at 80mph, and once rode “on pure nitro” (nitromethane, a highly explosive solvent and sometime rocket fuel which, according to one specialist website, adds “so much power that engines run with it are literally skating on the edge of destruction”).
In 1950 Waterman was transferred from Wembley to Harringay for the then record fee of £3,500, and he went on to ride for West Ham, Wimbledon, Southampton and New Cross, holding the Golden Helmet, representing England in 30 Test matches and captaining the team in the 1953 series against Australia. He also rode in five World Finals, finishing second on two occasions, in 1951 and 1953.
Not surprisingly he was unlucky with injuries which many felt prevented him from becoming World Champion. His career was almost ended in 1952 by a crash at Odsal Stadium in which he sustained two broken teeth and a smashed kneecap, which had to be replaced with an artificial one.
By the time he retired in the early 1960s, however, his daredevil reputation and flair for getting in the news had made him a household name.
But in 1967 Waterman, now described as a “businessman” who had been a gun‑runner in Africa, was arrested at Newhaven while attempting to board a ferry to Dieppe, after gold bullion worth £10,000, believed to have come from a robbery in Clerkenwell, was found hidden in the chassis of his fiancée Avril Priston’s Triumph Herald.
A subsequent raid at her home found illegal firearms, including two Schmeisser submachine guns, and in August the pair were charged with conspiring with others to evade prohibitions on the export of gold, receiving 26 gold bars knowing they were stolen, and unlawful possession of firearms.
In September Waterman faced further charges under the Coinage Act of possessing dies and crucibles for purposes of forgery.
In 1968 he was found guilty of all charges at the Old Bailey and sentenced to four years in prison; Avril Priston got six months. As he passed sentence the judge observed, almost admiringly: “You were a man who was, by character, prepared to face danger and take risks – a gun‑runner in Africa, and a man with the quick, decisive mind of a speedway rider. You were unable to resist the financial attractions and the risk of the adventure.”
In the same year Waterman was implicated in the case against the Kray twins and two other men, who were charged with conspiring to murder George Caruana, a nightclub owner. Paul Elvey, a witness in the case who had confessed to being involved in three unsuccessful murder attempts, claimed that Waterman had provided him with a briefcase containing a hypodermic syringe loaded with hydrogen cyanide and operated by a spring mechanism.
After leaving prison Waterman and Avril Priston married and moved to the Costa del Sol, but in 1977 he was sentenced to three and a half years by a Milan court for possessing £500,000‑worth of forged Spanish pesetas. His defence, that the forged notes had been part of a cunning plan to bring down the Franco government, was not believed.
In 2002 Waterman returned to Britain and was a guest at the 45th annual dinner dance of the Veteran Speedway Riders’ Association at the Coventry Hilton. “Despite the presence of the four‑times world champion Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger, whose bike was plated in gold after his third successive world title in 1970,” wrote The Guardian’s Paula Cocozza, “the man who had all 280 diners on their feet was one Split Waterman, second in the toasts only to the Queen … his charisma at 79, in tinted aviators and royal‑blue cummerbund, was enough to send multitudes of septuagenarians sprinting to the top table, autograph books in hand.”
Squire Francis Waterman was born on July 27 1923 in New Malden, South West London and worked as a toolmaker’s apprentice after leaving school. In the Second World War his job was classed as a reserved occupation, but eventually he joined the Royal Fusiliers, serving in North Africa and Italy, where shrapnel injuries led to his transfer to the REME and he was posted to a workshop in Pozzuoli, near Naples.
There, he acted as a dispatch rider and became involved in building – and competing on
– a speedway track at Vomero Stadium.
After a tour of duty in Palestine, Waterman was posted to Germany where his commanding officer wrote to Alec Jackson, manager of the Wembley Lions, suggesting he give Waterman a trial.
After retiring from speedway, Waterman went into business in sheet metal working and plastic injection moulding and had at least some legitimate customers, including Woolworth and Airfix.
When interviewed in 2002, however, he seemed prouder of the shadier aspects of his business career: “I smuggled gold! I smuggled guns! Zambia, Rhodesia, the jungle.”
‘Split’ Waterman, born July 27 1923, died October 8 2019