About twenty years ago the morning the front door bell rang. At the time I was living in a Brunswick Road barrel fronted Regency... »
BTF in the 1950's
The Long Night Haul, 1957 for BTF
Although the film isn’t mentioned in David’s two memoirs, The Long Night Haul (19 minutes) is an ambitious and complex film celebrating the foundation of the British Road Service’s general haulage truck service. Sometimes perhaps David shot a film which was without any notable anecdotes and thus passes without notice in his canon of... »
The England of Elizabeth, 1957 for BTF
“Edgar promised Ritchie, who was getting restless, a break to direct and so I took over The England of Elizabeth with John Taylor again. It is nice to have one’s name on the same picture as Vaughan Williams although on the only occasion when I should have met the great man I was sent... »
Care of St.Christophers, 1959 for BTF
“Happily I was now able in small measure to repay some of my debt to Jimmy Ritchie. The next film for me after THE ENGLAND OF ELIZABETH was his first picture as a director, and it turned out to be a very charming one. It was about a railway orphanage in Derby run by... »
Snowdrift at Bleath Gill, 1955 for BFT
Snowdrift at Bleak Gill, 1955, directed by Kenneth Fairburn, edited by John Legard and photographed by Bob Paynter. David Watkin was an unacknowledged assistant on this film. The film is 10minutes, largely devoted to the single task of freeing a goods engine and carriages from snowdrifts using a mechanised snow plough and gangs of... »
More BTF Images of David
British Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues (extolling the virtues of places that could be visited via the British transport system – mostly by rail), and “industrial films” (as they were called) promoting... »
Working at British Transport Films
The career of David Watkin revealed through photographic glimpses… British Transport Films Alan working at 25 Saville Row, 1955 Alan and Tom in the Post Office Yard, Waterloo, 1956 BTF crew: Baxter, Richie and Williams England’s North Country BTF crew: Robertson and Richie Share/Save »
BTF by Barry Coward
Born into an illustrious railway family, David Watkin began work with the Southern Region Film Unit of British Railways in the late 1940’s. In 1950 he became a messenger boy and assistant cameraman at British Transport Films. Barry Coward writes: One day in 1981 I received a phone call from a David Watkin asking for a... »