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Murray Walker RIP

RIP Murray, I remember his commentary on muddy motorcycle scrambling on Saturday afternoons on BBC1 in the mid 60s, I think he took over F1 from Raymond Baxter, a very different type of presenter.
 
What a legend, like others his pairing with Hunt made for great viewing. I remember the Murray curse when in a rally cross event he stated that the car in the lead now had a clear windscreen so he had would have no problem seeing the course, immediately afterwards the car went into a mud bank.

Will have to watch some old F1 races tonight in remembrance of him. RIP Murray.
 
I was watching the British GP circa 1987 this morning whilst making pancakes for the kids..

The opening sequence was Murray about 300ft up in the camera crane - Neither a safety harness or a quiver in his voice apparent.. A true professsional.

The whole F1 scene will miss him.

edit - here you go, I had to go back and get some screen grabs...! The camera man is way above the side rails. The only safety harness I can see is Murray’s microphone cable.

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I bet it’s bending a big up there... :eek:
 
A legend especially with James Hunt as others have mentioned , he also often gave us quite a few laughs with his Murrayisms and as already commented on the finger poke EIP
 
I just have to post this...one of the reasons I’ll remember Murray so fondly ....a few of his best quotes:

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

"With half the race gone there is half the race to go"

"I imagine the conditions in those cars are totally unimaginable"

"Either that car is stationary or it's on the move"

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

"And the first five places are filled with five different cars"

"And this is the third-placed car about to lap the second-placed car"

"The battle is well and truly on if it wasn't on before, and it certainly was"

"Two laps to go, then the action will begin. Unless this is the action, which it is"

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

"It's a sad ending, albeit a happy one, here at Montreal for today's Grand Prix"

"Andrea de Cesaris, the man who has won more grand prix than anyone else without actually winning one"

"Unless I'm very much mistaken... I am very much mistaken!"

"The young Ralf Schumacher has been upstaged by teenager Jenson Button, who is 20"

"It would have been Senna's third win in a row if he'd won the two before"

"I'm ready to stop my start watch"

Murray you legend!
 
RIP. But, a good innings as already said.
No commentator before or since was able to speak with so many sets of open vocal brackets in play at any one time.
 
thank you for all the comments thetimintoor, sometimes got on my fuuking nerves but always passionate and knowledgeable , if you dont care for him, do what i did and google him it changed my opinion of him, rip
 
RIP. But, a good innings as already said.
No commentator before or since was able to speak with so many sets of open vocal brackets in play at any one time.

For me, Murray's charm wasn't the murrayisms, they were always forgivable because what he exuded was excitement in the moment, in the race at that moment, that made the race he was commenting on - whatever it was, exciting, and interesting, and immediate.

It was never about him; but always - portraying the tensions as they unfolded before him, with a passion ( and no little humour) to everyone else as if he wished 'we too' could witness it live. I think Murray Walker had a special ability to communicate that sense of ..presence; and in such a way we now remember his foibles fondly - they never really got in the way of what he did so very, very well.

[yeah, there's a deliberate dose of aspirates, run-on sentences, and verbal parentheses in that post, If I'm not mistaken...]
 
Very sad news, but I’ll happily take 97 if its on the table. That is a good run. A remarkable life. RIP.

Read somewhere in the 1990's he had been to every F1 WC race bare three! I think he's even had been to a pre war race with the Auto Unions and Mercs of that day. That plus becoming 97, I wouldn't mind having his life.

There is an recent interview with him on youtube.
 
Oft forgotten, and barely touched in many obits is the fact that he graduated from Sandhurst during the war, and commanded a Sherman tank in the bitter and costly fighting in northern Germany in 1944/45, rising to the rank of Captain.

I can hear his distinctive voice so clearly, unbelievable that he retired 20 years ago.
 


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