‘Split’ Waterman
Post-war speedway superstar with matinee idol looks who turned his attentions to crime
‘SPLIT” Waterman, who has died aged 96, was a speedway star of the post-war 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 the war he emerged as the “Speedway Sensation of 1947” when he was signed by the Wembley Lions, thrilling audiences with his skill and risk-taking.
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, devilmay-care, ‘Split’ Waterman had cracked an “11-year-old jinx”.
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. His career was almost ended in 1952 by a crash at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, in which he sustained two broken teeth and a smashed kneecap.
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 (€11,600), believed to have come from a robbery in London, was found hidden in the chassis of his fiancee 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 dyes 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.
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.
After leaving prison Waterman and Avril Priston married and moved to Spain’s Costa del Sol, but in 1977 he was sentenced to three and a half years by a Milan court for possessing forged Spanish pesetas worth £500,000 (€580,000).
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 South West London and worked as a toolmaker’s apprentice after leaving school.
In World War II 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 died on October 8.