Father of two daughters and a son: Penelope, Fiona and Alastair.
His father's real name was Vernon Watson and his mother, Barbara Hughes, was a Gaiety Girl.
Son of British Music Hall comic Nosmo King who took his stage name from a pair of swing doors that had "No Smoking" written across them.
When he was 16, he appeared in a double act on the variety stage with his father. He played a precocious teenager named 'Hubert Hubert', which can be said to be his first film role, since the act was captured in several Pathé Pictorial shorts.
When the Second World War broke out, his physical fitness led Watson to become a PT instructor with the Royal Navy. His variety experience, coupled with a talent for various regional accents, led to regular appearances on the Navy's radio variety show and, after the war, on BBC Radio comedy and children's drama programmes.