Murray Walker on 'Desert Island Discs' - this Sunday

The next castaway on BBC's 'Desert Island Discs' programme will be Murray Walker. The programme will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this coming Sunday (16th March) at 11.15 am, and repeated the following Friday (21st March) at 9.00 am. It should also be available on iPlayer. We can all wind down after the GP with some of Murray's favourite music - the BBC blurb below hints that 'The Chain' will be one of his choices.

http://www.radiotime...--murray-walker

Edited by Tim Murray, 14 March 2014 - 10:02.

It may be fun to try to guess what Murray may play (not spoof suggestions though), I mean what we think would reflect his tastes in music.

I will go for Stranger on the shore  -  Acker Bilk.

 

 

I will go for Stranger on the shore  -  Acker Bilk.

Possibly, unless you're very much mistaken.

He's got to include "The Chain" surely?

Edited by Slurp1955, 14 March 2014 - 11:07.

They're very much mistaken about his age. If he turned 90 in October then he is unlikely to be "now 91".

If they'd said "In his 91st year", that would have covered it, but anyone know how the old codger is doing? I used to see him fairly regularly in his local pub The Augustus John in Fordingbridge, but thinking about it, not for quite some time.

On days like these  -  Matt Munro.

http://www.youtube.c...QIRbV_noi8#t=60

Theme from "Grand Priix"

Edited by Giraffe, 14 March 2014 - 11:58.

It may be fun to try to guess what Murray may play (not spoof suggestions though), I mean what we think would reflect his tastes in music.

There are some clues in his autobiography:

Frank Sinatra was the man, Peggy Lee was the woman and the big bands of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller were and still are my passion.

So I'll go for Sinatra's 'My Way' and Peggy Lee singing 'Fever'.

Edited by Tim Murray, 14 March 2014 - 13:24.

Agreed on 'Fever', Tim - but I suspect Murray's taste for Sinatra goes further back than that. 'Angel Eyes' perhaps? Or maybe 'Come Fly With Me' or 'I've Got You Under My Skin'?

Agreed on 'Fever', Tim - but I suspect Murray's taste for Sinatra goes further back than that. 'Angel Eyes' perhaps? Or maybe 'Come Fly With Me' or 'I've Got You Under My Skin'?

My favourite is the Jackie Mason live act where he accuses Sinatra of trying to kill him.

Bang! .... ♫ doobie, doobie, doo.. .♫

Agreed on 'Fever', Tim - but I suspect Murray's taste for Sinatra goes further back than that. 'Angel Eyes' perhaps? Or maybe 'Come Fly With Me' or 'I've Got You Under My Skin'?

Or my own personal favourite this

https://www.youtube....h?v=li_TEs3TANU

It may be fun to try to guess what Murray may play (not spoof suggestions though), I mean what we think would reflect his tastes in music.

 

I will go for Stranger on the shore  -  Acker Bilk.

I agree about not including spoof suggestions, because then people would be suggesting things like The Pointer Sisters "I'm So Excited".

It may be a sign of the times but last week I dropped off a bag of clothes at the local charity shop and spotted Murray's excellent autobiography "Unless I am very much mistaken" on the bookshelf for a whopping 50p.  As I have been a Rudge fan all my adult life and Murray and I rode together on vintage bikes at the Goodwood FoS in 2000 (he on his Dad's ex-works Rudge Replica and me on a borrowed 1902 de Dion-engined Werner), I had always intended to buy a copy.  Never expected to find such a bargain, and first impressions are very favourable.

I shall be listening on Sunday.  Incidentally i-Player now has a lot of early Desert Island Discs programmes from the earliest years which make very interesting listening, if one finds oneself with an hour or two to spare.  A bit like YouTube, you start listening to one then inevitably get drawn into others... Addictive.

Marticelli

PS As I was of course busy riding my feeble veteran Werner that day in July 2000, I have no pictures of the event.  Which is annoying as we were snapped by dozens of photographers as we waited on the line for the off.  I was sandwiched between Murray Walker and the late Barry Sheene, riding one of his old GP Suzukis lent to him for the event.  I have tried before on this forum to locate someone who was taking pictures that day but the longer ago it is, the less likely I am to find them...  Unless you know differently!!  That was the year when the event was stopped short on the Sunday due the tragic accident which killed Australian enthusiast Dawson-Damer driving a Lotus 63 hitting the finish gantry, also killing one marshall and injuring others.  A very sad end to an otherwise delightful weekend.

Edited by Marticelli, 15 March 2014 - 10:56.

Our own RTH hasn't even hinted at the part he played in Murray becoming the guest on this programme........

Whatever his choice on Desert Island I personally wish him well,  I'm sure Murray is as every bit a decent, likeable , intelligent and very witty man as he comes across.. A real character and legend, in this land of many non-entity so called celebrities.. ...

Lovely.

An as enjoyable 45 mins of radio as anyone might wish to listen to. Murray never ever come across as anything other than a sincerely passionate warmhearted person and his selection reflected that perception perfectly. Thanks for the heads up Tim.

Murray's musical choices are now up on the BBC site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/b03xzx62

The only one of them we guessed correctly was (of course) 'The Chain'.

And the number 1 the day I was born was "School's Out" by Alice Cooper.

... with Terry Dactyl/Jona Lewie at #2 and 'Silver Machine' in the Top 10.

However, if you'd been born a few days earlier, your birth #1 would have been 'Puppy Love'.

... with Terry Dactyl/Jona Lewie at #2 and 'Silver Machine' in the Top 10.
 
However, if you'd been born a few days earlier, your birth #1 would have been 'Puppy Love'.

Dammit! I was going to suggest some Glenn Miller! He even chose my favourite Miller tune too! Here's 'American Patrol' with some rather well-preserved warbirds for your delectation: