Murray Walker

Above: Murray's new book

Above: Collecting his OBE

Above: Meeting the Queen

Above: Murray with one of his heroes - Nigel Mansell

Above: In the driving seat

Above: Murray always commentated standing up

Visiting Murray Walker at his home in the New Forest, I asked him if, now into his seventh year of retirement, he would ever slow down.
“I hope not. My idea of purgatory is leading what I would call the conventional life of a retiree.” For a man of 84 he is certainly showing no sign of taking the ease his years should allow. He continues to travel the world, having recently returned from Australia. “I haven’t stopped commentating. I did four things last year, and will continue if people want me to.” Given that he has one of the most recognisable voices in sport, it seems unlikely that he will run out of offers.

At home in Hampshire
When he is not out of the country, Murray enjoys the comfort of the home that he and his wife have kept for nearly 25 years. “The benefits of Hampshire from my point of view are, first of all, I like where I am living here.” The Walkers enjoy a large house in beautiful grounds with uninterrupted views of open fields and forest. The former farmhouse is a half mile of track away from a quaint New Forest village. “Secondly, Salisbury, Southampton, Bournemouth is a nice triangle of places to be able to get too easily.”
However, while talking about the benefits of where he lives, thoughts of travel were not far from his mind. “It’s also pretty convenient travelling from here. You can go from Eastleigh to most places, and even Heathrow is only an hour and a half from here.”
It is perhaps this restless energy that keeps Murray so active. When he is at home, he regularly visits the Health Club at the Chewton Glen hotel in New Milton, using their gym and swimming pool.

The local connection
Murray Walker’s relationship with Hampshire dates back to his childhood: “My grandfather was the company secretary of the Union-Castle Line, which was headquartered in Southampton. My grandmother continued to live in Banister Road in Southampton after my grandfather died, and when I was a child I used to come down to Southampton with my parents to see my grandmother.”
The family connection continued when Murray’s father, who was a successful professional motorcycle racer, and a very knowledgeable race commentator himself, was asked to help establish the motor museum at Beaulieu: “Edward Montagu, when he started the museum, asked my father if he would come and help build up the museum, particularly with reference to the motorcycle line.
“My parents lived in the east wing of Palace House at Beaulieu. They actually got fed up with all the people that were coming to Beaulieu to see Graham Walker the commentator. So my parents moved to Lyndhurst.”

Naturally, Murray continues the family link to the museum. “They did a big renovation comparatively recently of the main building and they had a ceremonial opening. I did it for them. I go along and have a look at it every so often for old time’s sake, because the motorcycle section of the museum is named in honour of my father.”
Another strong connection that Murray has with the south coast comes from his time in the army. He did his training with the tank regiment at Bovington, before serving as a tank commander in a regiment that led the 21st army into northern Germany. His interest in Bovington continues: “I still go to the tank museum a lot. It’s the finest in the world.”
However, as he explained, the decision to settle in Hampshire was taken out of his hands: “When I retired from the advertising business, we lived in Hadley Wood on the north edge of London. I thought we were living in the country, but my wife said, ‘Now can we live in the country?’ It didn’t make any difference to me if I was not at home in Hadley Wood, or if I was not at home somewhere else.” His wife eventually found the house that they live in today.
 
Memories and memorabilia
Conversing with Murray in the study of his home, I was surrounded by an Aladdin’s cave of memorabilia from a lifetime spent around motor sports of one kind or another – awards, cartoons, portraits, model cars and a special ‘Murray Walker’ crash-helmet among them.
All the time, Murray sat, and bounced, on a giant exercise ball and talked with the energy and enthusiasm one would expect from a man known for his high-octane commentating style. The wealth of his motor sports experience, from childhood continuing right through to his non-existent retirement, is reflected in his wonderful new book, Murray Walker Scrapbook. The heavy, hardback volume is ram-packed full of photos, news-clippings, caricatures and letters almost entirely from Murray’s own collection. “My mother was very good at making family albums of childhood photographs and my father’s career, and so I suppose I subconsciously carried on something she was doing.”
The ‘cast list’ of interviewees includes such racing luminaries as Jackie Stewart, Stirling Moss, Nigel Mansell and Lewis Hamilton, all of whom Murray considers friends he has gained through his work as a commentator.

Double life
One of the things about Murray that I find most surprising is that until retiring from his day job in 1982, his commentary career was only pursued as a hobby. During the week he worked in advertising, giving him an incredibly busy lifestyle. “I think my hour record was thirty-two successive weekends in one year – leaving the office in the west end of London on Friday evening, driving up to Yorkshire with my wife, working all day Saturday, all day Sunday until it got dark, and then we would drive back to London and I would work on the Monday.”
Meanwhile, his work with clients such as General Motors and Dunlop had him travelling internationally. He courageously points out: “In this life if you want to do things badly enough, you will find the time to do them.”
It is clear that with his great success in parallel careers, Murray can achieve the things that he has talent for, and the process of co-writing his current book has allowed him the opportunity to reconsider and enjoy his successes. This does not mean, however, that his old desire to race has left him. “People say to me, ‘If you weren’t you, who would you like to have been?’ and I say, “I would like to have been Stirling Moss.”’ Moss is now a close friend of Murray’s. “I say to him, ‘You’re my childhood hero, you know,’ and he says, ‘Hang on, I’m six years younger than you.’”
Perhaps it is a belief in his own youthfulness that helps Murray Walker sustain the dynamism of a much younger man.

Murray’s favourite Hampshire haunts
Favourite towns: Ringwood and Salisbury
Favourite restaurants: The Three Lions in Stuckton, Les Mirabelles in Nomansland and Le Poussin near Brockenhurst
Favourite hotel: Chewton Glen in New Milton

Buy the book
Murray Walker Scrapbook
Porter Press, 2008. £34.95
ISBN 978-0-955654-5-3