117 replies to this topic

[Gary C]

Have just seen the worst tweet from Martin Brundle. It seems our beloved Murray has passed away. The man who single voicedly made F1 in the UK. Proud to have had my photo taken with him at one of Richard's film shows. Wouldn't it be a fitting tribute if EVERY team put his name on their cars at the first Grand Prix of the year in two week's time.

Edited by Gary C, 13 March 2021 - 19:13.

[backfire]

How very sad, a thoroughly decent and humble man with great knowledge of motorsport, especially motor cycling - his first love.

[Rob Ryder]

A true giant of UK motorsport.. RIP

[Doug Nye]

Our friend - very, very sad when I heard the news. A real enthusiast - a genuinely kind-spirited man - and what a largely lovely 97 years he had.  Don't just mourn Murray.  Celebrate him.  To a group of us he was always 'Muddly' - 'Muddly Talker'.  Typically, he enjoyed the affectionate inference.

 

Sincere condolences to his widow, Elizabeth, who I understand is in the same care home.  

 

DCN

[Nick Planas]

Oh no, this is the saddest news. He really was the voice of motor racing for so many in the English speaking world, and his enthusiasm was so infectious it made the dreariest of races seem really exciting. Only met him once, briefly, and he was most charming to me and my young children. He will have many friends on here and I send my condolences to everyone who knew him well.

[RobertE]

What a delightful man he was; a revelation to chat with - the on-screen Muzza was not at all like the real one. RIP

[ensign14]

What a delightful man he was; a revelation to chat with - the on-screen Muzza was not at all like the real one. RIP

The same enthusiasm and delight in the sport though.

[Bloggsworth]

I'd just like to say "Thank you" for years of delight - He made F1 come alive every time he spoke. Rest in peace old friend.

[garyfrogeye]

Its not often you meet your heroes and when you do, they are even nicer than you hoped. I had the honour of sitting next to him at Richard Hinton's motor sport film show where it was showing his final season full time commentating on F1. At the end of the film both the Murray Walker on screen and the one sitting next to me had a tear in their eye. RIP Mr Walker.

[Radoye]

What a sad day, i mean we all knew this was coming, he wasn't getting any younger, but still. A great loss, he will be missed by many.

[cpbell]

As I said on the Other Forum - I'm sure I wasn't the only one for whom his commentary was part of what got me into motorsport as a kid.  R.I.P. Murray - I've long expected this news, but it doesn't make it any easier.

[absinthedude]

Whenever I play back, in my mind's eye, some piece of recent motorsport action....it is still Murray's voice that I hear. To Murray Walker, if sport involved an engine, it was the most exciting thing imaginable. And he conveyed that excitement in every one of his commentaries. My wife is no real fan of motorsport, but she watched when Murray was commentating because his excitement and enthusiasm drew her in....as I am sure it did many people who weren't specifically fans. He was also very knowledgeable, even by 1980 he'd been around motorsport so long that he was the only one on TV who had seen it all. 

 

I was aware that he had moved to a home, possibly last year? And wasn't doing so well. But this is still very sad. Murray was part of the soundtrack to my life as much as any musician was. And music is another huge passion of mine. His voice will live on forever in my head and in my enviable collection of off-air recordings...and no doubt whenever older grands prix are brought to the screen. There will never be another Murray Walker. 

[AJCee]

What can I say but simply ‘Thank you Mr Walker’. Your enthusiasm and knowledge was infectious and you were an absolute gentleman.

RIP Murray.

[68targa]

Very sad to hear this. What a life he had, doing something that he enjoyed and being infectious in spreading that enjoyment to others. We will all miss you Murray.

[Richard Jenkins]

Such sad news. It was a fabulously long-lived and healthy life but even so it's upsetting. He was a great inspiration in my formative years of following the sport.

 

I think what didn't always come over about Murray - partly due to his well-meaning mistakes was just how knowledgeable he was about the sport. But what DID come through was how much he not only loved, but adored and breathed the sport. We will never see his like again. 

 

Not only was it fabulous to see him at the TNF shows but I remember meeting him at various Goodwood and Silverstone meetings. Once he struck up a conversation with me about the buffet Silverstone had laid on and I did my best to reply with something worthwhile, being utterly flummoxed the great Murray would speak to anyone there.

 

 

I decided to watch the 'This is Your Life' episode again tonight. Tough in a way as so many of those featured are now gone but tonight, it stands as a nice tribute to him.

[Doug Nye]

We will all be hearing replayed such lovely frenzied Murray lines as "unless I'm very much mistaken - I AM VERY MUCH mistaken!" - but he once told me the unconscious line that always made him chuckle whenever he recalled it.  

 

It would have been in the early 1950s and it involved NSU's 1953-54 World Champion rider, Werner Haas.

 

Murray explained how he realised he'd just bawled "And here they come out of the final corner - Haas FIRST!"

 

I would love to believe it's true.  

 

DCN 

Edited by Doug Nye, 14 March 2021 - 08:14.

[wolf sun]

How incredibly sad! I’ve always wished we had someone like him over here. A larger-than-life enthusiast if ever there was one.

 

RIP Murray, and thank you so much!!!

[d j fox]

Very very sad news He was the voice of F1 for so many years RIP
Many years ago I was involved in TV graphics with the BBC and was invited up to the old Silverstone control Woodcote Tower where the Beeb were recording the F3 race supporting the GP. Murray commented on the start of the race and then the rest was recorded for later transmission. After about 15 minutes of follow my leader tedium Murray grabbed the mic and yelled “This is a MOST exciting race....at least it will be when we’ve edited out all the boring bits!”- everyone fell about.

[brucemoxon]

Oh so sad. 

 

I did a bit of course (should be coarse, probably) commentary from time to time. I NEVER managed even a small fraction of Murray's enthusiastic delivery. 

 

A wonderful career, by all accounts a wonderful person. 

 

 

 

BRM

[DCapps]

Interesting, but in my only real discussion with Murray Walker, we discussed tanks... I gave him what was essentially a briefing on the M1 Abrams series -- M1, M1A1, M1A2, M1A2 SEP -- as well as others that I had experience with, such as the M48A3, M48A5, M60, M60A1, M60A3, M551, as well the Bradley M2/M3 series of IFVs, and the Strykers and LAVs that were in theater. Not to mention Soviet and Israeli tanks as well. He was far more knowledgeable than I would have expected. I don't think we mentioned F1 at all. I have his signed scrapbook picked up at the 2009 Silverstone meeting, leafing through it while waiting which was the first that I ever realized he was a tanker and how we got on the topic. What a delight.

Edited by DCapps, 14 March 2021 - 00:39.

[JacnGille]

Oh No

[Gary Davies]

A couple of things... I don't think I can recall anyone, other than Murray, using the wonderfully - dare I say - antediluvian word 'antepenultimate'. A little gem that stills delights when I recall it. I bet someone here can recall the race or races in which he used the word.

 

And secondly, Murray always appeared to me to be a most sincere man. That shouldn't be a quality of note but these days, alas, it is a quality of increasing rarity.

 

Thanks for everything, Murray.

[Blue6ix]

Very sad indeed.

 

As of what I have been feeling at the moment and after hearing that out from yesterday my thoughts were the following ones:

 

 "I've got to stop because I have a lump in my throat."

 

Hopefully Mr. Walker (Murray's Pa.), color commentary foremaster/mentor for the F1, meaning Raymond Baxter and of course his own, sometimes radical rascal commentator friend James Hunt will be there for him whether or not there will be something that just isn't for us mortals to experience until the end.

 

RIP. 

Edited by Blue6ix, 14 March 2021 - 06:37.

[Tim Murray]

Like many here I used to get exasperated when Murray got things wrong in his commentaries, but how I missed him after he hung up his mic. His sheer enthusiasm meant that even the most tedious race became exciting, and there was no side or pretence with him, he was a completely genuine guy whose dedication to and love of the sport always shone through. I too was fortunate to meet him and shake his hand at one of Richard’s film shows.

We’ve all got our favourite Murrayisms. Mine is the way he pronounced the first name of a multiple Le Mans winner. It never varied, divided into three distinct units:

Ee Man Welly Pirro

Goodbye Murray, and thank you for everything. Sincere condolences to his wife, family and friends, who must be legion.

[70JesperOH]

Sad news. He commented on a fair few BTCC races (my interest), and if I remember he did a few Bathurst 1000s' as well.

[Allan Lupton]

using the wonderfully - dare I say - antediluvian word 'antepenultimate'.

Probably shows he was a fan of Flanders & Swan, as it appears in "Have some madeira, m'dear"

 

as for drivers' names he insisted on "Airton" Senna until someone got through to him that a Portuguese/Brasilian would pronounce it "Eyerton" - he then used both, calling him "Eye-airton"

[Jahn1234567890]

I was very upset when I heard the news of Murray's passing. As I was born in the Netherlands in 1996 I didn't grow up with Murray's (live) commentary like most of you may have. But given my passion for Motorsports and Grand Prix racing in particular I have probably watched most of the BBC/ITV aired Grand Prix over the years. It was the enthusiasm of Murray Walker's commentary that intrigued me and made me watch every available Grand Prix from yesteryear.

 

To me and probably to many people Murray will always be the voice of F1. And I think that says a lot about the man. Not only the people who grew up with his commentary but also the next generations know the legend and keep him in very high regard.

 

And while his name will always be synonymous to F1 he did so much more. Grand Prix motorcycle racing (which of course was his first love), BTCC, Rallycross etc. Murray truly lived and breathed Motorsport.

 

Goodbye dear Murray.

[Stephen W]

I met him a few times in the paddock at race meetings. He was a fantastic motor sport fan and kept up-to-date on all the up-and-coming drivers. What amazed me was that without the microphone in his hand he was calm, coherent and never seemed to stumble. His "pants on fire" persona when commentating is what made the experience of GP races more enjoyable and the "Murrayisms" were relished.

 

It is a sad day for those of us left behind. He will be missed.

 

My favourite Muddy Talker quote has to be "He's in second place behind the two Renaults." 

[pete53]

A good age, but very sad news nonetheless.

 

I think it is fair to say that, in the UK, his name as well known as any of the drivers - probably more so to the casual viewer. With his passing we have pretty well seen the end of a generation of sports commentators that I grew up with - Bill McLaren, John Arlott and Brian Johnston, Peter O'Sullevan, Dan Maskell, Peter Allis, David Coleman and Kenneth Wolstenholme.

 

One of my all time favourites from Murray's commentaries was that rallycross at Lydden where foul, wet, muddy conditions prevailed. Just as he was explaining to viewers that the cut-away section on the windscreen of a particular Mini was to aid visibility, the said Mini lost it's line and went  straight on, with a thump, into a retaining bank   - "what am I saying, what am I saying"!!

[stuartbrs]

In Australia, growing up and discovering motorsport in the late 70`s and 80`s the voices of Motorsport telecasts was Murray Walker and Mike Raymond. RIP Murray. 

[RobertE]

A good age, but very sad news nonetheless.

I think it is fair to say that, in the UK, his name as well known as any of the drivers - probably more so to the casual viewer. With his passing we have pretty well seen the end of a generation of sports commentators that I grew up with - Bill McLaren, John Arlott and Brian Johnston, Peter O'Sullevan, Dan Maskell, Peter Allis, David Coleman and Kenneth Wolstenholme.

One of my all time favourites from Murray's commentaries was that rallycross at Lydden where foul, wet, muddy conditions prevailed. Just as he was explaining to viewers that the cut-away section on the windscreen of a particular Mini was to aid visibility, the said Mini lost it's line and went straight on, with a thump, into a retaining bank - "what am I saying, what am I saying"!!

I remember watching that - it is my earliest recollection of him...

[BRG]

Don't just mourn Murray.  Celebrate him.  

 

Hear, hear!   Sad but inevitable news.  Let us simply remember with affection the man who epitomised motorsport for decades and for generations of us.  Some mistakes, but always all forgiven and forgotten because of his incredible, bubbling and transparently genuine enthusiasm.  

 

I only met him once, the press box at Brands Hatch and he was exactly as you expected him to be, but with his trousers not on fire!

 

Thanks for it all, Murray!

[proviz]

"Don't just mourn Murray.  Celebrate him."

 

Yes, hear hear from me too, DCN got it right.

I too only once spoke to Murray. It was on a Monday after the San Marino GP as we were both picking our breakfast from a Bologna hotel's buffet. I had time on my hands before an afternoon flight and mentioned to Murray I was planning to still drive to Maranello to have a look. With a full plate in his hand he was in no rush to take his seat at the table as he carefully explained to me how to get there from Bologna. A wonderful man who had no problem whatsoever in coping with his fame. 

Edited by proviz, 14 March 2021 - 13:25.

[BRG]

I just had a peek at Murray's history.  I hadn't known he commanded a tank in the liberation of Europe.  Apparently, he denied composing the Mars jingle "A Mars a day...etc" but he did pen "Trill makes budgies bounce with health" and "Opal Fruits; made to make your mouth water".  They should revert to calling them Opal Fruits from the daft Starburst name, in Murray's honour!  Apparently he also suggested the name 'Ventora' for the six cylinder version of the Vauxhall Victor.  And he raced motorbikes and even co-drove on a few rallies, once even teamed with Chris Amon. 

 

Truly a renaissance man.

[Michael Ferner]

Murray was one of a kind... I will own up to not having been a fan of his commentary, he could be infuriating (like most TV moderators, actually), but then again, I didn't get to experience him that often, which was probably good. But above and beyond his job, he radiated a personality full of joy and enthusiasm, such as is increasingly rare to be seen in this world of today. He can't have had many, if any "enemies", and this "roll call" shows that his detractors were few and far between, despite his bloopers. I think we all probably envied him for the public part of his life - 'nough said. 

[Glengavel]

And he raced motorbikes and even co-drove on a few rallies, once even teamed with Chris Amon. 

 

I hope Murray was driving, and not reading the pace notes!

Edited by Glengavel, 14 March 2021 - 15:25.

[Michael Ferner]

"... and theeere.. COMES A RIGHT BEND, if I'm not very much mistaken... and no, I AM VERY MUCH MISTAKEN..." [crash, expletive]

[Collombin]

"unless I'm very much mistaken - I [/size]AM VERY MUCH[size=4] mistaken!"

I know this one was used on a T-shirt, but was it ever a genuine Murrayism? I don't think it was, but it would be great if it had been.

[Geoff E]

I know this one was used on a T-shirt, but was it ever a genuine Murrayism? I don't think it was, but it would be great if it had been.

 

Try here at about 3m 30s

 

 

Edited by Geoff E, 14 March 2021 - 16:50.

[BRG]

I hope Murray was driving, and not reading the pace notes

I fear that I must dash your hopes!  He apparently co-drove for Colin Bond in Tasmania and for Amon in NZ.  

 

I recall my most favourite Murray moment, during the Belgian GP at Zolder.  As Alan Jones hove into sight in his Williams, Murray announced, in his inimitable style, "And THERE is Williams in the Jones"  Rearrange this commentary into a well-known phrase or saying!

[Collombin]

Try here at about 3m 30s

Interesting, but the T-shirt dated from the 1980s and a lot of these quotes are from later than that, so I wonder if the T-shirt led to the comment rather than vice versa.

[MartLgn]

We all mourn his passing but 97 is a fine age and what a life lived to the full! I need to stop typing now, i've got a lump in my throat!

[Parkesi]

The passing of Murray Walker makes me very sad. Thanks to him I cought the racing bug.

My father and Murray worked in the same advertising agency in the sixties.

My dad in Hamburg/Germany and MW in the headquarters in London.

In 1970 Murray invited us to the British GP/Brands Hatch and he very kindly offered an "all-inclusive" weekend.

From staying in his house to taking us to Brands Hatch. We were able to get into the paddock and

he introduced us to each and everyone there: from Bev Bond to Jackie Stewart.

We sat next to him in the main grandstand close to the finishing line and witnessed the most exciting end of the race

with the result we all know. Murray kept a lap chart and noted each car every lap.

I watched him closely - for young Andreas (16) pure magic.

He served the most delicious picnic in the car park and drove us back to Heathrow after the race.

No wonder that I fell in love with motorsports!

At the end of the year we received the perfect X-mas card: Brands Hatch/Brabham & Rindt, by Michael Turner.

The first of many - I still have it.

For 50 years Murray had a special place in my heart and for me it will always be: "Walker FIRST!"

 

 

[sstiel]

The passing of Murray Walker makes me very sad. Thanks to him I cought the racing bug.

My father and Murray worked in the same advertising agency in the sixties.

My dad in Hamburg/Germany and MW in the headquarters in London.

In 1970 Murray invited us to the British GP/Brands Hatch and he very kindly offered an "all-inclusive" weekend.

From staying in his house to taking us to Brands Hatch. We were able to get into the paddock and

he introduced us to each and everyone there: from Bev Bond to Jackie Stewart.

We sat next to him in the main grandstand close to the finishing line and witnessed the most exciting end of the race

with the result we all know. Murray kept a lap chart and noted each car every lap.

I watched him closely - for young Andreas (16) pure magic.

He served the most delicious picnic in the car park and drove us back to Heathrow after the race.

No wonder that I fell in love with motorsports!

At the end of the year we received the perfect X-mas card: Brands Hatch/Brabham & Rindt, by Michael Turner.

The first of many - I still have it.

For 50 years Murray had a special place in my heart and for me it will always be: "Walker FIRST!"

That's a wonderful anecdote. Murray brought happiness to millions. Commentated on so much and was also a patron of Racing for Britain which was aimed to help up and coming drivers.

 

Vale Murray and condolences to Elizabeth who he called his rock in his autobiography

/

[sstiel]

Commentating on snooker on Jeremy Clarkson's chatshow ha ha.

[backfire]

Caption?

 

 

 

[ensign14]

"it's that rivet there that makes this one VW9 rather than VW8...I did tell Cyril, but..."

[Lee Nicolle]

RIP Muddle Talker.

[Derwent Motorsport]

Also a successful advertising executive as well, making iconic ad for Kit Kat and Trill that lasted for decades.

[Doug Nye]

Just issued this morning by the BRDC:

The BRDC has already acknowledged on social media that Murray Walker passed away peacefully on Saturday at the age of 97. What follows are a few more reflections on a unique career.
Murray’s father Graham was a leading motor cycle rider in the 1920s and ‘30s for Norton, Sunbeam and Rudge-Whitworth, for the last of which he won the 250 Lightweight Isle of Man TT in 1931, the 1928 Ulster Grand Prix and many more races besides. After retiring from racing, Walker Senior took on the editorship of Motor Cycling, transforming it from a struggling magazine into the market leader. This in turn led to Graham being invited to commentate for the BBC’s radio and, such as it was in 1938, TV coverage of ‘bike racing. By the 1950s just as Raymond Baxter was the BBC’s voice of four-wheeled motor sport so Graham Walker was his equivalent on two wheels.

During World War 2 Murray saw service with the Royal Scots Greys tank regiment, rising to the rank of Captain. In the latter months of his service, after peace had been declared, Murray re-kindled his involvement in the world of motor cycle racing whilst at the same time securing a scholarship with the Dunlop Rubber Company just down the road from the parental home in Birmingham. In 1947 he became assistant to the company’s advertising manager in the tyre division and the course of his future career was set. Parallel with the day job, Murray took the opportunity to ‘try his hand’ at commentating when offered the chance through his father to provide the PA commentary at a 1948 Shelsley Walsh hillclimb. As Murray would describe it later, his ‘non-stop barrage of facts, figures, hysteria and opinion’ were heard by and impressed a BBC sports producer. After a successful audition, Murray was asked to cover the 1949 British Grand Prix as number 2 to Max Robertson who was better known for his tennis commentaries. It was literally a baptism of fire when John Bolster’s ERA crashed heavily, rolled over and caught fire at Stowe Corner directly in front of Murray’s ‘box. John was badly injured but recovered; he retired from racing and went on to become the BBC’s charismatic pit lane commentator for many years.

Over the next 10 years or so, as his career in advertising flourished, Murray’s motor sport involvement very much revolved around two wheels both as a competitor and as an increasingly busy broadcaster. Murray won a gold medal and was a member of the team which won the 1949 International Six Days’ Trial and also earned a first class award in the Scottish Six Days’ Trial. He also raced motor cycles at Brands Hatch and Cadwell Park but without any notable success. However, motor cycling commentary opportunities continued to crop up through the 1950s, Graham and Murray Walker becoming the best double act in the business on both radio and television.

Raymond Baxter continued to be the BBC’s leading voice of four-wheeled motor sport through the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s while Murray sought every opportunity he could to be available and become the specialist in the TV coverage of motocross, rallycross, Formula 3, truck racing and offshore powerboat racing. Whatever type of ‘sport with engines’ it might be, Murray’s commentaries would benefit from his prodigious capacity for preparatory ‘homework’, speaking with as many of those involved in whatever branch of motor sport it might be before infusing his commentaries with an exceptional enthusiasm.
On the day that James Hunt won the 1976 Formula 1 World Championship in the dramatic Japanese Grand Prix, Simon Taylor’s BBC radio broadcast was the only live coverage available in the UK. The BBC then realised that there was a serious gap in its treatment of Formula 1 and plans were made to cover from 1978 every Formula 1 World Championship race. Initially the coverage was on an edited highlights package basis for most races and Murray was asked to provide the voiceover commentary. For the first couple of years, he worked alone but in 1980 the BBC proposed that he should be joined by the recently-retired James Hunt. Murray was unconvinced that this was a good idea, and the challenge was exacerbated initially by the fact that they had to share a single microphone to avoid the risk of talking over or interrupting each other – as if! However, the Murray and James double act, which lasted until James’s premature death in 1993, set a standard both for information and entertainment which has rarely if ever been matched since.

Alongside his F1 commentaries, Murray covered the British Touring Car Championship for BBC Grandstand from 1988, when the Group A Ford Sierra RS500s dominated, and then through the
2-litre Super Touring era of the 1990s. As with the early days of F1 coverage in 1978, so the BTCC was packaged into a highlights programme with Murray seamlessly ‘joining the dots’ with a typically frenetic commentary.

Although Murray’s commentaries were renowned for their hyperbolic excitement, when the occasion demanded a different tone, he was well able to come up with the right words, no more so than at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola when Murray and Jonathan Palmer, who had succeeded James Hunt, had to cope with the pictures showing the immediate aftermath of Ayrton Senna’s fatal accident.
In 1997 the contract for coverage of Formula 1 was lost by the BBC to ITV. So highly was Murray regarded by the decision-makers that he was one of the few from the BBC team to be asked to join ITV where he was paired with Martin Brundle. Murray’s last Grand Prix as commentator was the 2001 United States Grand Prix held at Indianapolis just 19 days after the horrific events of 9/11. Not far short of his 78th birthday, Murray called it a day but remained as enthusiastically interested in and excited by not just Formula 1 but motor racing generally, the gossip, the changes to the cars and the rising stars. He remained much in demand for guest appearances at numerous events many of which were not directly related to motor sport.

Just as Murray had the ability to make a dull race interesting so he invariably saw the best in people. He was friendly towards everyone and ruffled no feathers. Everyone in the Formula 1 paddock would give Murray the time of day. He became a proud Associate Member of the BRDC in 1985 and took a keen interest in the Club’s affairs although saddened by the attitude of some Members towards their fellow Members whom he held in the highest regard as racing drivers. In 1996 Murray was made an OBE. Two years later he received Honorary Degrees from De Montfort University (Doctor of Letters) and the University of Bournemouth (Doctor of Arts). In 2001 he was awarded the BRDC’s Gold Medal having received the BARC’s Gold Medal in 1996. There were Lifetime Achievement Awards from BAFTA (2001), the Royal Television Society (2000) and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (2001), a Television and Radio Industries Club Special Award in 1997 and the Autosport Gregor Grant Award in 1993.

Murray will always be remembered by those who had the pleasure of hearing his commentaries as the voice of Formula 1 whose enthusiasm never dimmed. If this enthusiasm sometimes caused the words to tumble out in the wrong order like the notes in Eric Morecambe’s piano, then that was part of the fun and Murray could usually see the funny side. He underplayed the demands of his job which he loved so much and which he once likened to ‘standing in the living room excitedly describing what you can see out of the window while your wife gives you a furious earful about coming home drunk with a pair of knickers in your pocket’.

Any reflection on Murray Walker’s commentary career would be incomplete without at least a couple of ‘Murrayisms’. Everyone will have their own favourites but how about: ‘Prost can see Mansell in his earphones’ or ‘I’ve just stopped my startwatch’?

Whatever the mistakes, it could never be questioned that Murray had put in the hours doing his homework, talking to people and assembling the facts.

To Elizabeth, Murray’s wife whom he married in 1959, and to his many friends and fans within and outside the motor racing world, the BRDC offers its deepest condolences.

(Murray was always very proud to have been asked to be a member (as am I). The universal regard in which he was held is most evident here)

DCN