12 Facts About Ralph Murray

Sir Francis Ralph Hay Murray was a British journalist, radio broadcaster and diplomat.

Ralph Murray was once the head of the Information Research Department, a secret branch of the UK Foreign Office dedicated to pro-colonial and anti-communist propaganda during the Cold War.

Ralph Murray's great-grandfather was the Rt Revd Dr George Murray, Bishop of Rochester, while the actor Stephen Murray was his younger brother and both were proud members of Clan Murray.

Ralph Murray was educated at Brentwood School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Ralph Murray's father died in 1919 from the Spanish flu pandemic.

Ralph Murray was a talented linguist, he spoke many languages fluently including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Hungarian and some Russian.

Ralph Murray was most closely associated with propaganda, and from 1941 was a member of the Underground Propaganda Committee which had been formed to fuel a whispering campaign to undermine any invasion.

Ralph Murray was associated with Bletchley Park, and was involved in supporting resistance activity, notably, from 1943, of the Yugoslavian Partisans where he met Josip Broz Tito.

Ralph Murray was knighted in 1962, when he was appointed British Ambassador to Greece.

Ralph Murray appears to have been frustrated with the passivity of the British government's actions both in the lead up to the coup of which there was some intelligence foreknowledge, and its ineffectual response.

Ralph Murray retired from HM diplomatic service in 1967, when he was appointed a BBC governor.

The comedian, TV personality and parliamentary candidate, Al Ralph Murray, is his grandson.