F1 legend Murray Walker: 'I'm coming back!'

Murray takes a deep breath as he explains a prank played on him at the 10th anniversary of the Grand Prix programme…

“We took a cake over to Monaco – I got all the team owners, including Bernie Ecclestone, Jackie Oliver, Ron Dennis and Frank Williams – to stand behind the cake.

“I told them to say ‘Happy Birthday Grand Prix’ after I’d done my piece to camera.

“We did the rehearsal and everything went fine, but I noticed Bernie Ecclestone was muttering something to the rest of the owners.

“So I said my piece to camera, and right on cue, they all shouted back ‘B*ll*cks!”

Dad’s Army

Yet this was unlikely to upset ‘the voice of Formula One’ and one of the best-loved sporting commentators in history – Murray Walker saw active service in World War II, after briefly turning his hand to motorcycle racing, following in his father Graham Walker’s footsteps.

“My father was a professional racing motorcyclist. He won the TT, the Isle of Man, and the Continental Grand Prix – he was the equivalent of world champion in 1928.

“I grew up in an atmosphere of motorsport, and because of my father, I was either going to like it or loathe it – thankfully I liked it!

But while most part-time jobs involve throwing newspapers, sweeping floors or cashing tills, Murray decided to commentate on Formula One. And when British driving legend James Hunt won the 1976 Grand Prix, the BBC asked Murray to head its coverage – and a star was born.

“I loved being a part of it”, Murray exclaims, in his inimitable tone. Despite his 85 years, the veteran commentator still rankles with excitement at F1.

“I’ve never paid to go to a meeting in my entire life, I’ve always been able to go anywhere in the paddock and talk to anyone down there – it’s a very lucky situation and absolute heaven for someone like me.”

Hit-and-smile?

Indeed, Murray’s enthusiasm and knowledge of the sport has made him a vital part of Formula One. F1 driver David Coulthard, who retired last season, once said “Murray Walker is as big a name as Ferrari, McLaren or Bernie Ecclestone – there is no question about that.”

And this has helped the high-pitched pundit – who returns to F1 commentating this year with the BBC – get out of some tricky situations…

“I remember driving into the back of somebody coming out of Silverstone after the British Grand Prix in 1993.

“I had this irate bloke jump out of the car and bear down on me menacingly”, Murray remembers, in pitch-perfect vivid detail, “…only to burst into a big smile and shout out: ‘Oh ‘ello Murray!”

And that wasn’t Murray’s only scary moment…

“I was being taken through a rally stage in a Rover V8 Vitesse by Tony Pond – we were going around a left hand bend at enormous velocity…which I was looking at through the right hand window! Just think about that for a moment!”

“I was a bit panic-stricken to say the least.”

Happy Hamilton

As panic-stricken as he was watching Lewis Hamilton’s final race of the 2008 F1 season?

“I was watching the final on a cruise ship halfway across the Atlantic with a few friends. We were all absolutely hanging on tenterhooks on that last corner.

“We were all thinking he’s got to get past Sebastian Vettel and didn’t realise until the last moment that he had got past Timo Glock and was home and dry!

Murray has nothing but praise for Britain’s newest F1 golden boy.

“It was both brilliant, and very lucky.

“Hamilton was driving a very sensible, mature and controlled race. I thought his performance was praiseworthy – he was able to overcome his natural aggression and his instinct to go for the win, which must have been very difficult. He naturally drives very hard indeed, but he was in the lap of the gods.”

So why does Hamilton get so much stick?

“I think its pure jealousy.

“Most F1 drivers have come up the hard way through the ranks – as Lewis has – but from their point of view, they will be thinking he’s had all this help from McLaren and he hasn’t had to try as hard as they did, he hasn’t had to look for sponsorship the way they have had to, they didn’t have the advantage of the simulator at McLaren…grumble grumble grumble!

“It’s a fairly human reaction, and in the super competitive lives they all lead, they’re going to do whatever they can to break the guy down psychologically, because they can’t drag him down on the track.”

So how would Murray have fared on the track?

“I don’t know really. The fact I never tried to get further in my motorcycle racing career than I did indicates that it really didn’t matter enough to me – and if didn’t matter to me, I was never going to get to the top!”

M is for Murray

But Murray is a wheels man – as his garage attests…

“I’ve got a BMW 335d saloon – I wouldn’t want anything else to be honest. I’m a great BMW fan – because I am very much affected psychologically by its sporting record. I’ve got a great deal of respect for their business methods and the way they go about things altogether.

“And they make bloody good sportscars!

“I haven’t [been tempted by the M3 or M5]. It’s probably to do with my age – I’m past the boy racer stage. To me, it’s utterly pointless – except for prestige and envy reasons – to have an M3 or an M5.

“You pay a lot of money for performance you can’t use, or if you do use you’re going to get into trouble. It’s a practical point…but it’s also a rather pathetic point!

“I would like to say I’m enormously attracted by them, but there’s really no reason why you should be.”

Murray's got a new DVD out too...

“My new DVD is called Murray Walker’s Motorsport Madness. It’s a very light-hearted entertaining DVD where we’ve taken film clips from all sorts of dramatic collisions, coming togethers, people fighting etc. It’s F1, its touring cars, its motorcycle road-racing, motocross, aeroplanes…”

You've read Murray's funniest lines - now read The Stig's best intros...

Check out Lewis Hamilton...in a taxi: