Murray Walker

Walker in a promotional photo for BBC TV's Grand Prix

**Graeme Murray Walker** (known as **Murray Walker**; born 10 October 1923) is a Formula One commentator. He has been the lead commentator for live Formula One coverage for the BBC from 1976 onwards.

As full-time commentator, Walker has become known for his animated enthusiasm, authoritative voice and comical blunders – dubbed "Murrayisms" by fans – during live races. His commentary voice has been likened to a "screech and resembles a 500cc engine being revved up".

## Early life

Graeme Murray Walker was born at 214 Reddings Lane in Hall Green, Birmingham, England, on 10 October 1923. His family is of Scottish descent. His father Graham Walker was a despatch rider and works motorcyclist for the Norton Motorcycle Company who participated in the Isle of Man TT. His mother, Elsie Spratt, was the daughter of Harry Spratt, a businessman from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. Walker was an only child. In 1925 Walker and his family moved to Wolverhampton when Graham became the Competition Manager for Sunbeam. The family later moved to Coventry in 1928, when Graham worked as the Sales and Competition Director for Rudge-Whitworth.

Walker's education began with a governess at the family home, followed by spells at preparatory schools around the country. He attended Highgate School, gaining a Distinction in Divinity. While at Highgate he joined the School Bugles, learning to play the bugle. Walker was at a trials event with his father in Austria when the outbreak of the Second World War occurred in September 1939. Upon returning to Britain, the Highgate School governors became concerned about the possible extent of bombing raids on London, and so Walker and his fellow pupils were evacuated to Westward Ho! in Devon, staying there until 1941. During this time, Walker rose to the rank of Company Sergeant Major of the School Corps.

Walker was later conscripted into the armed forces and applied to volunteer for tanks, but was required to wait until a training place became available. In the meantime, he worked with the Dunlop Rubber Company, which offered 12 scholarships annually and was based at Fort Dunlop in Erdington, Birmingham. Walker had been evacuated to Erdington and lived with the Bellamy family at 58 Holly Lane. On 1 October 1942 he travelled to Wool in Dorset, where he reported to the 30th Primary Training Wing at Bovington, the headquarters of the Royal Armoured Corps.

Walker later attended and graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Scots Greys on 16 April 1944. The salute at his commissioning parade was taken by American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander for the upcoming Allied invasion of Normandy. Walker went on to command a Sherman tank and to participate in the Battle of the Reichswald with the 4th Armoured Brigade. He left the Army in 1946, having attained the rank of captain.

Following the war, Walker briefly followed in his father's footsteps by taking up motorcycle racing, competing against, among others, a young John Surtees. After limited success, he switched to competing in motorcycle trials, where he made a greater mark, including taking a gold at the International Six Days Trial and winning a first-class award at the Scottish Six Days Trial.

After briefly attending Roehampton Technical Institute to study shipping management, Walker worked in advertising for Dunlop and Aspro. He was then headhunted by McCann Erickson, where he worked on the firm's account with Esso. Following this, he was employed as an accounts director by the Masius advertising agency, with clients including British Rail, Vauxhall and Mars, for whom the agency created the slogan "A Mars a day helps you work rest and play"; Walker repeatedly denied the attribution of the slogan to himself, saying that he was only an administrator on the project. He did not retire from this job until the age of 59, long after he had gained fame as a commentator.

Walker created the slogan "Trill makes budgies bounce with health" – an advertising slogan for bird seed in the 1960s – as well as the slogan "Opal Fruits, made to make your mouth water." He is credited with the naming of the late 1960s Vauxhall Ventora, with the car's original proposed name, Ventura, being rejected by General Motors.

## Career as a commentator

Walker made his first public broadcast at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb in 1948. He was given a recorded audition for the BBC at the 1949 Easter Monday Goodwood race. Walker later commentated on races alongside the tennis commentator Max Robertson, with his first radio broadcasting coming at the 1949 British Grand Prix for the BBC. He and Robertson were positioned at Stowe corner for the event. His debut television broadcast came in the same year when he commentated on hill-climbing at the Knatts Valley motorcycle venue in Kent. His first regular broadcasting work was on radio coverage of the Isle of Man annual Tourist Trophy motorcycle race alongside his father. Walker and his father were the single father and son sports commentary pair within the BBC from 1949 to 1962. After the death of his father in 1962, he became the BBC's chief motorcycling commentator.

He did occasional Formula 1 commentaries during the 1970s before going full-time for the 1978 season. Walker was asked by the head of BBC Sport Paul Fox to commentate on the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Bristol, and he asked the weightlifter Oscar Slate to educate him on the sport. He covered motocross (initially for ITV and BBC) during the 1960s and rallycross in the 1970s and early 1980s. He occasionally commentated on scrambling (now motocross) motorcycle racing and rallying during the 1960s through to the 1980s. Walker covered the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for the BBC between 1969 and 1971 and from 1988 onwards, and the Macau Grand Prix for Hong Kong TV on nine occasions. As the BBC began to broadcast additional forms of motor racing, he commented on Formula 3, Formula Ford and truck racing.

On Formula One coverage from the 1980 Monaco Grand Prix onward, Walker struck up a surprisingly successful, and extremely popular, double act with 1976 World Champion James Hunt. Initially, they did not get on, as Hunt's interests, personality and private life appeared to have little in common with Walker's. However, the pair eventually became good friends.

When in the commentary booth together, Walker would provide his animated descriptions of the action, with Hunt bringing in his expert knowledge, which included inside information from the pit lane, typically from his former team McLaren, and often opinionated nature, in his co-commentary role. The pair did not always get along in the commentary box. Typically, they had to share one microphone which meant passing it back and forth to each other. On one occasion early in their partnership, Walker would not hand the microphone over after repeated requests by Hunt for him to do so. In frustration, Hunt stood and grabbed the microphone from him, which caused the normally cool Walker to grab the former World Champion by the collar and raise his fist to hit his partner before a producer intervened.

In 1988, Walker appeared in two television advertisements opposite actor Eric Idle, who played the part of a salesman attempting to persuade Walker and racing driver Nigel Mansell to purchase an Austin Metro. Walker also wrote a series of annuals for the Grand Prix season, *Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year*.

## Commentary style

Walker chose to stand while commentating during races rather than sitting down, allowing him to speak louder due to his lungs being inflated and his shoulders pushed back. He was uncritical of drivers who had made errors, preferring to let that judgement pass to his co-commentators. Walker was articulate in his speech, and he was a good reader of mood after an on-track incident. He sometimes made humorous verbal errors known as "Murrayisms" that ranged from "simple misidentifications" to "lovely, labyrinthian, effortlessly complex acrobatic displays of linguistic virtuosity." According to Stephen Moss of *The Guardian*, they were "the hallmark of his commentary over the years" and noted that they made him "the fan who happened to have been given the keys to the commentary box: he couldn't control his enthusiasm and that seemed naturally to lead to catastrophe." Moss likened Walker's commentary voice to a "screech and resembles a 500cc engine being revved up" because he required "a harsh, aggressive, noisy, fast-moving voice" to comment on a constantly changing landscape.

He prepared himself for every piece of commentary work by meticulously researching facts and statistics on every driver and race track, updating and rewriting them for the following event. George Tamayo described Walker as having an "encyclopedic" knowledge of Grand Prix racing, and one who held enough authority amongst the press that members of the Formula One community would rarely decline to be interviewed by him. Before the introduction of reliable satellite broadcast equipment, he was obliged by his superiors at the BBC to prepare for television broadcasts by venturing to a circuit two days before a race to prepare for a broadcast in London, where he would watch the day's events on a satellite feed and then commentate on it during the evening highlights programme.

## Personal life

Despite his love of cars, Walker never took a driving test. He was given a tank driving licence in the British Army and that was considered valid to qualify for a civilian driving licence. He married his wife Elizabeth in 1955; the couple had no children.

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Moss, Stephen (27 December 2000). So, goodbye to Murray Walker. *The Guardian*.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Walker, Murray (2002). *Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken*. London, UK: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-766373-0.
3. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Hannan, Martin (15 September 2002). "Plenty left in the tank". *The Scotsman*. p. 12. Retrieved 10 February 2020 – via Gale OneFile: News.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Young, Graham (5 September 1998). "And there goes Murray Walker!; Brummie motor racing king Murray Walker is back in the Midlands this weekend to celebrate 50 years as a commentator". *Birmingham Evening Mail*. p. 20. Retrieved 10 February 2020 – via Gale OneFile: News.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Cooper, Adam (13 March 2021). "Murray Walker obituary: F1 broadcasting legend dies aged 97". *Autosport*. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Taylor, Simon (April 2011). "Lunch with... Murray Walker". *Motor Sport*. **87** (4): 70–78. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
7. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Albers-Daly, Thiemo (August 2020). "F1 Spotlight – Murray Walker". *DriveTribe*. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
8. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Rick Broadbent (14 March 2019). "Murray Walker: the public do not understand how talented drivers are". *The Times*. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Sweeting, Adam (30 December 1995). "Interview: Full rev to the final straight – Murray Walker may soon be hanging up his microphone but Adam Sweeting meets a man who is not down in the pits". *The Guardian*. p. 25. Retrieved 26 March 2020 – via Gale General OneFile.
10. ↑ Oliver Owen (1 July 2007). Mint condition.
11. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Keating, Frank (14 March 2021). "Murray Walker obituary". *The Guardian*. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
12. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Owen, Oliver (1 July 2007). "Interview: Murray Walker". *The Guardian*. London, UK. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
13. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Roberts, Andrew (November 2017). "Victor turns 60!". *Practical Classes*: 68–78. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020 – via PressReader.
14. ↑ Murray attends as F1 legend honoured. The Shuttle (20 August 2008). “I made my first ever broadcast from Shelsley Walsh in 1948...”
15. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Greenslade, Interview by Nick (1 October 2005). "First and last: Murray Walker". *The Guardian*. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
16. ↑ Hamilton, Maurice (23 July 2013). Murray Walker in his own words.
17. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Horton, Roger (20 December 2000). "There's Something about Murray". *Atlas F1*. **6** (51). Archived from the original on 4 November 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
18. ↑ "Murray Walker: Life in the Fast Lane" (Television Production and video). BBC (London), Airdate 2011.
19. ↑ Walker, Murray 1923–. WorldCat.
20. ↑ Willams-Smith, Jake (30 July 2019). Murray Walker: I wouldn't be here if social media existed in my time.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Doodson, Mike (10 October 2013). "Murray: The Man Behind The Mic". *Autosport*. **214** (2): 69–71.
22. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Bradley, Charles; Freeman, Glenn; Straw, Edd (10 October 2013). "Talking About F1's Most Famous Talker". *Autosport*. **214** (2): 63–67.
23. ↑ Bulgin, Rusel (3 October 2001). Murray Walker retires and he's leaving the F1 broadcasting booth.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Barretto, Lawrence (10 October 2013). Murray Walker at 90 on James Hunt and Ayrton Senna. BBC Sport.
25. ↑ Tamayo, George (16 January 2001). Murray Walker "Voice of F1" interview. motorsport.com.
26. ↑ Ex-Formula One commentator Murray isn't a Walker - he's a driver (23 September 2011).