73 Facts About Murray Walker

Graeme Murray Walker was an English motorsport commentator and journalist.

Murray Walker provided television commentary of live Formula One coverage for the BBC between 1976 and 1996, and for ITV between 1997 and 2001.

Murray Walker retired from full-time commentary after the 2001 United States Grand Prix, but returned to broadcasting part-time in 2005 and made occasional appearances on the BBC, Channel 4, Network 10 and Sky Sports F1.

Graeme Murray Walker was born at 214 Reddings Lane in Hall Green, Birmingham, England, on 10 October 1923.

Murray Walker's father Graham Walker was a despatch rider and works motorcyclist for the Norton Motorcycle Company who participated in the Isle of Man TT.

Murray Walker's education began with a governess at the family home, followed by spells at preparatory schools around the country.

Murray Walker attended Highgate School, gaining a Distinction in Divinity.

Murray Walker was at a trials event with his father in Austria when the outbreak of the Second World War occurred in September 1939.

Murray 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.

Murray Walker had been evacuated to Erdington and lived with the Bellamy family at 58 Holly Lane.

Murray 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.

Murray Walker went on to command a Sherman tank and to participate in the Battle of the Reichswald with the 4th Armoured Brigade.

Murray Walker left the Army in 1946, having attained the rank of captain.

Murray Walker was then headhunted by McCann Erickson, where he worked on the firm's account with Esso.

Murray Walker did not retire from this job until the age of 59, long after he had gained fame as a commentator.

Murray Walker made his first public broadcast at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb in 1948.

Murray Walker was given a recorded audition for the BBC at the 1949 Easter Monday Goodwood race.

Murray 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.

Murray Walker did occasional Formula 1 commentaries during the 1970s before going full-time for the 1978 season.

Murray 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.

Murray Walker covered the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967, motocross during the 1960s and rallycross in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Murray Walker occasionally commentated on scrambling motorcycle racing and rallying during the 1960s through to the 1980s.

Murray Walker covered the British Touring Car Championship for the BBC between 1969 and 1971 and 1988 and 1997, and the Macau Grand Prix for Hong Kong TV on nine occasions.

Murray Walker joined the Channel 7 commentary team of the Bathurst 1000 Australian touring car race in 1997 and 1998.

On Formula One coverage from the 1980 Monaco Grand Prix to the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix, Murray Walker struck up a surprisingly successful, and extremely popular, double act with 1976 World Champion James Hunt.

When in the commentary booth together, Murray 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.

In frustration, Hunt stood and grabbed the microphone from him, which caused the normally cool Murray Walker to grab the former World Champion by the collar and raise his fist to hit his partner before a producer intervened.

Murray Walker opted not to renew his contract with the BBC in 1998 to focus on ITV's broadcasting on Formula One and he did not want to frequently commute to London to record commentary of the BTCC.

In 1988, Murray Walker appeared in two television advertisements opposite actor Eric Idle, who played the part of a salesman attempting to persuade Murray Walker and racing driver Nigel Mansell to purchase an Austin Metro.

Murray Walker presented a six-part radio series called "Murray Walker's Grand Prix World" on BBC Radio 5 Live from May to June 1997, detailing the history and development of Formula One.

Murray Walker had a column in the F1 Racing monthly magazine.

Murray Walker broke his hip at the 2000 Goodwood Festival of Speed and was replaced for the French Grand Prix by pit lane reporter James Allen.

At the 2000 German Grand Prix, Murray Walker erroneously said that Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello had crashed when it actually was his teammate Michael Schumacher.

Murray Walker told the broadcaster's head of sport Brian Barwick that he would retire.

Barwick told Murray Walker he did not believe that retirement was ideal and suggested to Murray Walker he commentate for another season to wind down his career.

Murray Walker announced to the press his retirement from Formula One commentary in December 2000.

Murray Walker was appointed an OBE in the 1996 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting and motor sports.

In November 1997, Murray Walker was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Bournemouth University.

Murray Walker was later honoured, in July 2005, with an honorary doctorate from the Middlesex University, London.

Murray Walker was the subject of This Is Your Life in November 1997.

Murray Walker was named the winner of the Gregor Grant Award from the motor racing magazine Autosport in 1993.

Murray Walker was retained by ITV on a part-time role reviewing the 2002 season at various points.

Murray Walker had eight publishers who wanted to put out the book, and he began to compose it in early 2001.

Murray Walker negotiated payment of the book sales with the publishers HarperCollins, and he ventured to various worldwide locations to promote it.

Murray Walker competed in Australia's Targa Tasmania tarmac rally road race as navigator to driver Colin Bond in a Toyota Team Racing-entered Toyota Camry Sportivo in May 2003, finishing second in their class and 44th overall.

Murray Walker navigated former Grand Prix competitor Chris Amon in a Toyota Camry Sportivo at the Targa New Zealand that took place five months later, where they finished eighth in their class and 114th outright.

Murray Walker conducted interviews and special features for the radio station throughout the 2006 Formula One World Championship.

Years of exposure to loud engines and age-related hearing problems had left Murray Walker with hearing loss in both ears.

In March 2006, the Honda Racing F1 Team, formerly British American Racing, announced that Murray Walker would become its team ambassador for half of the 2006 season's 18 Grands Prix, starting with the San Marino Grand Prix in April.

Murray Walker welcomed Honda Racing's VIP guests and entertained them with his F1 commentary.

Murray Walker was Sky Sports' commentator for their coverage of Grand Prix Masters, performed commentary duties of the Australian Grand Prix for the Australian television broadcaster Network Ten in 2006 and 2007, and voiced the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercars race in Adelaide.

In July 2007, Murray Walker commentated on the European Grand Prix for BBC Radio 5 Live.

Murray Walker commented on the qualifying session, the race and presented the phone-in programme 606 to answer listeners' questions.

On 28 June 2008, Murray Walker was honoured by the people of his hometown and presented with a "Star" on the Walk of Stars on Broad Street, Birmingham.

Murray Walker became a freelance website columnist for the BBC's recovered coverage of Formula One in 2009.

Murray Walker voiced the part of his own character in two episodes of the Five children's television programme Roary the Racing Car in late 2009.

Murray Walker made a further appearance on the programme as a professional skateboarder the following year.

In June 2013, it was reported that Murray Walker was to receive chemotherapy in the coming months, and had cancelled plans to attend the 2013 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Murray Walker was the guest star on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on 16 March 2014, where he selected Chris McNab's How to Survive Anything, Anywhere: A Handbook of Survival Skills for Every Scenario and Environment as his choice of book, and a hammock and pillow as his luxury items.

In 2016 Murray Walker moved with many other BBC F1 staff to Channel 4 to present a series of interviews with the sport's key players.

Murray Walker provided continuity announcements to Formula One programming and races.

Murray Walker withdrew from Channel 4's commentary for the 2018 British Grand Prix due to ill health but appeared in recorded features.

Murray 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.

Murray Walker was uncritical of drivers who had made errors, preferring to let that judgement pass to his co-commentators.

Murray Walker was articulate in his speech, and he was a good reader of mood after an on-track incident.

Murray Walker 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.

Murray Walker was voted "the greatest sports commentator of all time" in a poll conducted by British sports fans in late 2009.

Murray Walker was given a tank driving licence in the British Army and that was considered valid to qualify for a civilian driving licence.

Murray Walker married his wife Elizabeth in 1955; the couple had no children.

In December 1992, Murray Walker had surgery but twisted his hip the day after surgery.

In June 2013, aged 89, Murray Walker was diagnosed with lymphoma and received chemotherapy.

Murray Walker was memorialised by the Williams team at the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix, where a sticker on the car's halo featured a quote from Walker's commentary, "And I've got to stop, because I've got a lump in my throat", on the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix, when Damon Hill secured the Drivers' Championship.

Murray Walker did not have a funeral or memorial service as per the instructions he made in his will.