Murray Walker RIP

padd b1975 · 13-03-2021 8:02pm

"When did you first realise you had a puncture?"

Damon Hill (through gritted teeth): "When the air went out of the tyre Murray ".

flazio · 13-03-2021 8:22pm

Ah, it's the 99 game that sticks in my mind. Murray and those engines. What an intro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMZu1tKPkD0

WomanSkirtFan8 · 13-03-2021 9:03pm

An absolute F1 legend. He made F1 so much fun back in the day alongside his co-commentators, James Hunt (RIP) , Jonathan Palmer and of course, Martin Brundle.

"There's nothing wrong with the car except that it's on fire!"

RIP Murray and thanks for all of those fantastic memories!

Psychedelic Hedgehog · 13-03-2021 9:08pm

For the first 25 years of my life, Murray was a constant, knowledgeable, soothing (with his pants on fire style!) voice. His Murrayisms only made him more memorable.

It was hard to get used to F1 without him.

May he rest in peace.

enricoh · 13-03-2021 9:12pm

Did he race at the tt at one stage? Bikes were his real passion iirc from an interview years ago, but formula one paid the bills..
97 - not a bad innings at all, rip.

flazio · 13-03-2021 9:25pm

It's a wonder he was never made "Sir Murray Walker"

The Royal Scam · 13-03-2021 9:30pm

RIP, my first few years listening to him and Hunt set the foundation my absolute passion to this day

AMKC · 13-03-2021 9:42pm

RIP Murray Walker you legend. They will never be another like him.
He will ne back up beside James Hunt doing the commentary for those gone before us.

Doctors room ghost · 13-03-2021 9:45pm

“You’re right there Murray”

He was a great commentator

Andrewf20 · 13-03-2021 10:13pm

Pic of 2 great commentators below, looks like Monaco around 1980. Murray even older then that James was when he died.

13-03-2021 10:15pm

flazio wrote: »

It's a wonder he was never made "Sir Murray Walker"

Ya know I'd assumed he had been til you pointed it out.

Bit off topic and maybe not the place for it but Brundle mentioned he was in a care home with his wife in another room. They had no kids and I dunno, just kinda forget that even the well-off and well-liked can still end up like that at the end of their lives.

On a happier note Brundle said the last time he spoke to him he asked how was and the reply was something like "Not great to be completely honest but I won't bore you with the details. What's going on in Formula 1?".

lolie · 13-03-2021 10:25pm

Well that was a genuinely very sad bit of news to hear today, RiP Murray.
I remember when Rte started showing F1 I'd always try get in the sitting room before my brother on Subdays and put it on itv to listen to his commentary and not Rte's.
Even though he may have been prone to errors before he retired he was still 100 times better than James shouty Allen who replaced him.

lolie · 13-03-2021 10:39pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ya know I'd assumed he had been til you pointed it out.

Bit off topic and maybe not the place for it but Brundle mentioned he was in a care home with his wife in another room. They had no kids and I dunno, just kinda forget that even the well-off and well-liked can still end up like that at the end of their lives.

On a happier note Brundle said the last time he spoke to him he asked how was and the reply was something like "Not great to be completely honest but I won't bore you with the details. What's going on in Formula 1?".

He was an only child and had no children himself so its a bit sad to think that apart from his wife he had no close family around him in his later years.
Imagine growing up with him as your uncle or grandad, all the great stories you'd hear.

LollipopJimmy · 13-03-2021 10:40pm

There's a video of Silverstone BTCC from 1992 on YouTube, fantastic race with some gas craic from Murray Walker, well worth a watch

donspeekinglesh · 13-03-2021 10:40pm

enricoh wrote: »

Did he race at the tt at one stage? Bikes were his real passion iirc from an interview years ago, but formula one paid the bills..
97 - not a bad innings at all, rip.

His dad raced bikes and won a TT. He raced a bit, but I think the war got in the way.

13-03-2021 10:42pm

lolie wrote: »

He was an only child and had no children himself so its a bit sad to think that apart from his wife he had no close family around him in his later years.
Imagine growing up with him as your uncle or grandad, all the great stories you'd hear.

Yeah like he just seems like he should have had family all around him. So much knowledge and memories gone just like that.

RobAMerc · 13-03-2021 10:43pm

genuinely saddened by this - a real gent it seems and the back gound voice of my Sunday lunches growing up as a kid.

13-03-2021 10:45pm

Gonna give this a watch in a bit. Watched a video earlier where he mentions going on the show and how excited he was. "That fabulous programme Pointless, my wife and I watch it every night."

lolie · 14-03-2021 12:36am

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Yeah like he just seems like he should have had family all around him. So much knowledge and memories gone just like that.

He gave so many interviews and told many storys over the years but there's surely some great storys that will go untold.

Psychedelic Hedgehog · 14-03-2021 12:59am

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

There's a video of Silverstone BTCC from 1992 on YouTube, fantastic race with some gas craic from Murray Walker, well worth a watch

The 1993 Silverstone BTCC race gifted us another classic Murrayism thanks to Will Hoy's adventures:

"The car upside down is a Toyota" - deliberately or indirectly taking the mickey out of the then current "The car in front is a Toyota" marketing :pac:

Larbre34 · 14-03-2021 2:45am

I was at Silverstone in 1996. I was at the Jordan after party in the Paddock in the evening time and got to see Murray filming his links for the BBC highlights show. He had such a great attitude and enthusiasm and everyone from the tyre techs to the caterers had a cheery greeting for him, even after the long weekend slog.

Grand Prix racing simply wouldn't be where it is today, or at least when it was at its zenith, without the work of Murray Walker.

Captain Graeme Murray Walker (rtd) OBE, tank commander, World War 2 veteran, ad man, commentator, writer, mentor, husband. Not bad for one lifetime.

I wouldn't be one for the British honours system, but how strange is it that Jimmy Savile, Robert Mugabe and Mussolini got knighthoods and they never got around to Murray.

Scotty # · 14-03-2021 9:06am

A remarkable character. One of the first names people think of when they think of F1.

flazio wrote: »

It's a wonder he was never made "Sir Murray Walker"

He never achieved anything. He commented on those that did and they got the knighthoods. Incidentally, Ecclestone turned his knighthood down.

Cork Trucker · 14-03-2021 9:10am

Hamilton received a knighthood for his contribution to F1 after 13 years, Murray never received the same and should have been Sir Murray.

xlogo · 14-03-2021 9:30am

He was employed as an accounts director by the Masius advertising agency, with clients includingÂ British Rail,Â VauxhallÂ andÂ Mars, for whom they created the slogan "A Mars a day helps you work rest and play"; Walker has repeatedly denied the attribution of the slogan to himself, saying that he was only an administrator on the project

Faugheen · 14-03-2021 12:10pm

https://twitter.com/paulmcg92/status/1370806274934276097?s=21

I haven’t stopped laughing at this clip all day. Such a like-able character.

recyclebin · 14-03-2021 12:26pm

Another classic I had not seen before.

Killinator · 14-03-2021 1:55pm

recyclebin wrote: »

Another classic I had not seen before.

Love the fact that he takes the mick out of Damon but is happy to do so out of himself too with the mistake of pasta instead of pizza

jmayo · 14-03-2021 2:57pm

Ahh feck.
First Peter Alliss back in December and now Murray.

Murray wasn't really a great factual commentator as he had habit of getting things wrong, but by god he was great to listen to as his joy and love of the sport was infectious.
He could make the most boring of races sound exciting.

You could forgive his gaffs because you just knew he was excited and was just caught up in the heat of the moment.

Here are a few of his famous lines.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is Senna's car sounding a bit rough?"

"And now excuse me while I interrupt myself!"

Murray: "There's a firey glow coming from the back of the Ferrari!"
James Hunt: "No Murray, that's his rear safety light"

What a partnership they were.

RIP Murray.

Arthur Daley · 14-03-2021 4:11pm

I saw his autobiography 'Unless I'm very much mistaken' by chance today. Started reading it 20 years ago, must go back and finish it. I was particularly interested in the early days of F1 on the BBC, when he would commentate from London, and the early years with James Hunt.

It took Murray and Hunt quite a long time to get on with each other, they only worked together for about 10 years and because they were very different people and Hunt was a wild one coming off the back of his career, it was like cats and dogs in the commentary box together in those early days.

14-03-2021 4:16pm

I’m just seeing this news now.

RIP Murray

Murray Walker RIP

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