Remembering the ‘voice of F1’ who also named Vauxhalls

Murray Walker, the broadcaster known to millions as the voice of Formula One, has died aged 97.

Born into a motorcycle-racing family – his father Graham was a Norton works rider who competed at the Isle of Man TT – Murray Walker briefly raced after being demobbed following his World War Two service. He was unable to counter the likes of John Surtees on track, but was more successful in off-road trials.

Walker began commentating part-time for spectators at the Shelsley Walsh hill climb in 1948 alongside his father, who was chief motorcycling correspondant for the BBC. The performance led to a BBC audition at Goodwood in 1949, and following Murray’s successful British GP commentary, he joined his father in the box for the BBC’S motorcycle racing coverage alongside a career in advertising that saw him work with Vauxhall, christening the Ventora.

By 1978, Walker’s broadcasting career pushed the advertising aside, and he became the BBC’S premier F1 commentator. His distinctive style – standing throughout the race, his voice maintaining a high volume, imparting the excitement of motor sport he knew as a competitor as well as a journalist – endeared him to millions. In 1980, the BBC paired him with 1976 World Champion James Hunt. Initially the pair clashed – Hunt’s open disrespect for certain drivers, chaotic demeanour and near-the-knuckle humour sat ill with the gentlemanly, professional Walker – an antagonism fostered by the BBC, which made them share a microphone. However, over the ensuing decade the pair struck up an unlikely friendship before Hunt’s death in 1993.

Walker became known for his endearing ‘Murrayisms’. While his knowledge of the sport was encyclopaedic, his frantic vocal delivery often resulted in amusing, endlessly quotable malapropisms and unintentionally contradictory statements. In addition to F1, Walker commentated on the British Touring Car Championship, becoming a distinctive part of the series’ Super Touring era. He continued F1 commentary until 2002, whereupon he was awarded a BAFTA Special Award for Contribution to Television.