One light, two lights, three lights, four lights, five lights, pause…..GO! GO! GO! To me that was the sound of my childhood. From my early days watching F1 Murrary Walker was the star attraction of the sport even more so than the drivers themselves. During his 23-year run as full-time commentator, Walker became known for his animated enthusiasm, authoritative voice and comical blunders – dubbed “Murrayisms” by fans – during live races.
In the beginning
From the early goings he was a keen mechanic, 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 which he himself would be a World F1 & Motorbike Champion!
The breakthrough
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. The race was won by Emmanuel de Graffenried driving a Maserati 4CLT.
He did occasional Formula 1 commentaries during the 1970s before going full-time for the 1978 season. He would form memorable partnerships with James Hunt and Martin Brundle during his time as a commentator for the BBC and ITV.
The Dynamic duo
Whilst he was the leading commentator during the races, he had some “moments” with his commentary team particularly with former F1 champ James Hunt. 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 Murray to grab the former World Champion by the collar and raise his fist to hit his partner before a producer intervened. It was a weird but partnership for more than a decade before the 1976 world champion’s death from a heart attack in 1993 days after they commentated together after that year’s Canadian GP.
At around the same time Walker also covered the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for the BBC between 1969 and 1971 and also 1988 and 1997. This brought along a new audience to discover Walker’s talent on the mic especially when the BTCC was at its peak with the Supertouring era. He witty charm and banter was the perfect combination for the sport however at that time age was starting to catch up on the man.
Walker announced to the press his retirement from Formula One commentary in December 2000. His final full-time Formula One television commentary was the 2001 United States Grand Prix at the age of 77.
After Retirement
Once he retired, he made various tv appearances on F1 and on Top Gear in 2002 test driving the Mclaren F1. Walker became a freelance website columnist for the BBC’s recovered coverage of Formula One in 2009. He voiced the part of his own character in two episodes of the Five children’s television programme Roary the Racing Car in late 2009.
Walker was voted “the greatest sports commentator of all time” in a poll conducted by British sports fans in late 2009. As the years progressed, we seen less and less of Murry Walker. A special programme was broadcasted in 2013 to celebrate his 90th year on BBC 2 but at that point his health detreated from him.
On that same year Murray was diagnosed with the blood cancer lymphoma and underwent six months of intensive chemotherapy. He died on 13 March 2021, aged 97. Walker had a passion for motorsport no matter what it was. 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.
Conclusion
It’s such a shame that the younger generation of fans never got a chance to appreciate Walker at his prime whilst we have colourful F1 commentators like David Croft at the helm for Sky tv, he’s no Murray Walker and they’ll perhaps never be another one.
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.
Pundits 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 and still to this day we will always be a tv legend from within the sporting family.
“You have to say what comes into your head, and sometimes the wrong words come, in the wrong order or I’d make prophecies which immediately turned out to be wrong.” – Murray Walker
