Rare Richard Wright interview in upcoming auction
Written by Matt   
Thursday, 01 December 2005

A host of rare Pink Floyd items are due to be auctioned on 7th December, by auction house Cooper Owen. Amongst the items is a very rare interview with keyboard player Richard Wright, conducted backstage at one of the 1967 Winter Tour shows that Jimi Hendrix headlined.

John Altman
John Altman
The interviewer was John Altman, who later became an actor, most famous for his role as "Nasty Nick" in the BBC's Eastenders soap opera. He is auctioning off his collection of music memorabilia, which includes this interview, which comes on a tape with a short chat with Jimi. Both are from the Central Hall, Chatham in Kent.

Altman was only 12 at the time, and managed to get backstage by helping to carry equipment into the venue. In the Guardian newspaper, Altman recalled that he chatted with Richard before being shown into Hendrix's dressing room: "It was the only time that I bunked off school in my life. He showed us some films he'd made. I wonder what happened to those movies? Half the time I don't think he knew what a bunch of schoolkids were rambling on about, but he was a really gentle, lovely guy."

The recording is expecting to fetch around £6,000 when it is auctioned at Cooper Owen's Music and Silver Screen Legends sale, being held at the Proud Gallery, Camden, in London.

Other items in the sale include two sets of autographs; the first with Richard, Nick and "Roger the Dodger", the second including Syd Barrett's autograph. A rare programme for the 1971 Crystal Palace concert also figures, as does an extremely rare 1969 poster for their February show at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, Kent.

Our thanks to Kevin De Ornellas for his help with this story.