Frank took to Mountainboarding when he was twelve – practicing in Stanmer Park, just outside Brighton. One chilly Autumnal morning David came to watch, and attempt to photogarph Frank as he whizzed past…
About twenty years ago in the morning the front door bell rang. At the time I was living in a Brunswick Road, a barrel fronted Regency terrace just off the sea front in Hove. It was a blustery day and as I opened the door I was confronted by a slightly scruffy individual, wearing...
Briefly, I was married in 1940 to my schoolgirl sweetheart who was then killed by so-called Friendly Fire on 21st December 1943, leading RAF Squadron 609 escorting American Bombers over Northern France. In 1947 I married an old family friend whose wife had walked out leaving him with three attractive children; a girl of...
Apart from poetry and jazz, what else discomforted Mister Watkin? - certainly word play and anagrams. Puns were associated with David Plumtree (see Holleyman and Treacher) who held a Black Belt at Punning. Mister Watkin would groan at word play, screw his face up in agony, and then allow himself a constricted laugh. James...
Ascending the Hierarchy of Conductors we come three conductors at whose rostra Mr.Watkin worshipped. They could do no wrong. In ascending order then, Hans Knappertsbusch Willem Mendelberg Wilhelm Furtwangler Their performances were exemplary despite the ruined surface of scratched shellac disks, despite the ear splitting distortions from the timpani, and sometimes the clear sound...
“The visual style of the film is the province of the lighting director, David Watkin, whose work on Charge of the Light Brigade particularly impressed Nichols. Watkin has the disarming habit of, when being asked a direct question, answering with “Well-…” and then leaving the room. He has spent a great part of...
Auction of the Contents of 6 Sussex Mews It came to our attention that the contents of David’s home were being auctioned at Gorringes Auction House, Lewes, East Sussex on 2nd & 3rd September 2009. The Gorringes website will offer further details. Much of his furniture and many paintings were listed. Apparently some of...
Iain was perhaps David’s greatest love, and certainly his most significant relationship – they were together from the 1950′s until 1974, when Iain died tragically aged 39. This painting was a favourite of their’s – they’d bought it in Italy together, alert to the fact that it held an uncanny likeness to a young...
We’d gone to the Apocalypse Exhibition at the Royal Academy – DW guffawing his way around The Chapman Brother’s ‘Hell‘. Afterwards he took us to visit his chums at Maggs… where a complete tour of the building ensued, courtesy of Mister Maggs, with Jozef taking the following snaps. Maggs Rare Books
I feel very fortunate to have met David. As it transpired, it was towards the end of his life but the man was so full of vitality that you could never have guessed he was ill. I was introduced to him following the completion of a film I’d made on a small boy in...
Filming Tea with Mussolini I met David at a party at Franco Zeffirelli’s home in Rome. My son had been cast to play Franco Zeffirelli in Tea With Mussolini (TWM) and I was to be his chaperone (required by law as he was under 18 years of age). We were told about David and...
I knew David for just over thirty years; I first met him in 1977 on a commercial that we were supplying equipment on. About a year later we were to supply equipment on the film Chariots of Fire which David was to light. David had a couple of scenes that needed high-speed photography and...
Holiday in Positano Glyndebourne August 6th 2006 Scott and Jozef’s Civil Partnership. The reception was held in the Mews.
David would, very occasionally, take a little nap on set.. And, on those rare occasions, invariably somebody would have a camera at hand… David found a little cave-like area near the church in San Gimignano, where he could beat the heat and nap. When Baird found this out, he followed suit. I call these...
My meeting with David: I was part of a jury at the 2004 edition of Cameraimage. We were all staying in a particularly depressing hotel where the smell of fried foods was everywhere. In the morning, while I was having breakfast, a man, who appeared both to be of a certain maturity yet also...
1997 was a difficult and stressful year. The “Gays in the military” campaign was in full swing and I was under intense media scrutiny. My neighbour had just called to let me know that, once again, journalists had been looking in my rubbish bins. That morning I also found a live 9mm round on...
When the boys first met David they were really quite little. They’d been thrilled by the chocolate cake, the painting with the ‘changing-faces’, the piano, the fountain on/off switch, the precariously tall library steps, the phenomenal use of the word ‘fuck’ and the even more delicious ‘cunt’. And they told him as much. Then...
One of my favourite memories is him phoning me, hardly able to speak for laughter, to tell me why I wasn’t going to work with him on a film. He was about to photograph a film for Richard Lester who always used two cameras so needed two camera operators. At the time I was...
This website has been initiated as a response to the hundreds of friends of David Watkin from all over the world who wished to contribute to an archive of memories of this remarkable man. The editors are the designer Rachael Adams and the historian Chris Mullen who were in contact with him in Brighton...
David’s ancestors built The Watkin Path – one of the principal access routes up to the summit of Snowdon. The Watkin Path has the greatest change in altitude out of all the paths up Snowdon. Starting at 60 metres (200 ft) above sea level at the Nantgwynant car park (SH628506) south of Snowdon, and...
David Watkin died at the age of 82 in his mews house in Brighton at 10.15pm on the 19th of February, 2008 This must come as a shock to those of you who did not know of the severity of his illness, or were unaware of the speed of his decline in health. Those...
