In case you have not heard the news, our best ever motorsports commentator Murray Walker has died today aged 97.
I had the good fortune to meet him on a couple of occasions, and he was always the absolute gentleman and great fun to be around.
RiP Murray, and thank you for some wonderful memories in both 2 wheel sport as well as 4…
He was a legend. I think part of my love of F1 died when he stopped as the commentary.
97, that’s a great life.
Tank commander, advertiser, motorsport legend…He will be sorely missed
Sad news but he had a great innings. I didn’t realise he was that old. To get to 97 in such good health is excellent.
Yeah, his first F1 commentary was 1949. Hell my dad was only 4.
Murray Walker, right, in 1945, as a 21-year-old tank commander, in the 4th Armoured Brigade.
He had just crossed the Rhine, when who should be bump into, but his dear old dad, left, who was covering the advance for the British newspapers.
I read his autobiography years ago. What a man. He achieved ten times in his life time what mere mortals achieve; and always the true gent with it.
RIP Murray.
Shamelessly pilfered from a post on The Guardian…
The best way to me to remember this great man, is through the joy he brought and the laughs he gave us…
Here’s a few of the great mans ‘Murrayisms’…“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”
“I’m going for first” (Explaining away a British Touring car driver putting up his middle finger)
Murray: “There’s a firey glow coming from the back of the Ferrari!” - James Hunt: “No Murray, that’s his rear safety light”
“Let’s watch this typical Formula Ford start!” (instead they promptly all ran into each other)
“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!”
“And now excuse me while I interrupt myself!”
“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”
“I’m going for first was a classic.”
