Nick Mason I REMEMBER...

Nick Mason (76) is a British drummer and cofounder of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd. He talks about keeping the band’s legacy alive as the frontman for Saucerful of Secrets

- Simon Button

…SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN CORNWALL. We’re talking the late 1940s and early 1950s so it was the classic thing of beaches and buckets and spades. We’d venture as a family there from Hampstead in London, which is where we moved to from Birmingham when I was about two years old. My father was a documentary filmmaker who ended up working for Shell’s film unit, and that was based in London.

…THE FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN. It was held in 1951 and I recall visiting the South Bank to see the science-themed Dome Of Discovery and the huge Skylon tower, which were really impressive for a seven-year-old to encounter. I had such a happy childhood, living in a house that backed onto Hampstead Heath in a world when kids could still go off and play without their parents worrying about them.

…DAD LOVED CARS. He was what is now called a petrol head, having an old car and racing it, and I was taken to Silverstone as a very small boy. I eventually got into motor racing and collecting classic cars, so it’s stayed with me all my life. If I had to pick one word to describe Mum it would be “patient”. A lot of dad’s work was in the summer so she was in charge of myself and my three younger sisters, with Dad being in and out whenever he could.

…WE HAD AN AFRICAN DRUM IN THE HOUSE. A musician friend of my parents gave me a pair of wire brushes and that’s where my love of drumming began. I’d played a tea chest bass but the drums were a lot more fun. Then someone invented rock ‘n’ roll and the rest is history.

…MEETING ROGER WATERS AT REGENT STREET POLYTECHNIC WAS SLIGHTLY SCARY. It was the first day of term, when we were both studying to be architects. I suspect he was somewhere at the back being rather aloof or trying to blag a cigarette off Rick Wright.