14 March 2021 • 11:47am
He wore it lightly, but there were moments when the vast sweep of Murray Walker’s life left even his admirers in awe. One evening at a restaurant in Wanne, a hilltop village near the Spa-Francorchamps circuit where he had watched countless Belgian Grands Prix, he described to assembled journalists how, in 1945, he had driven a tank along the local roads during the Battle of the Bulge. Most of those present knew this corner of the Ardennes forest solely through the noise of Formula One engines, but Walker remembered a time when it had been ablaze with shot and shell.
Murray Walker, much-loved idiosyncratic voice of Formula 1– obituary
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Murray Walker obituary
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Murray Walker
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Murray Walker, who has died aged 97, was for more than half a century the high-octane voice of British motor sport and a consummate exponent of – and, indeed, with a strong claim to have invented – the “pants-on-fire” school of broadcast commentary.
At full throttle at the television microphone for a Formula 1 grand prix, Walker would typically let rip with what he called his “crash, bang, wallop” approach, developed during years of commentating on low-budget motocross and rallycross competitions.
“I reacted excitedly and enthusiastically to their drama, speed and aggression,” he remembered, “and when I moved full time to the more sophisticated tarmac racing I took my whoops, expletives, shouts of amazement and malapropisms with me.”
Legendary Formula One commentator Murray Walker has died aged 97, the British Racing Drivers Club announced today.
Walker, whose broadcasting career spanned more than 50 years, worked for the BBC and ITV, before he retired from commentating in 2001.
Walker will be remembered as the undisputed voice of Formula One. His unique, high-octane style - once described by Australian comic Clive James as sounding like a man whose trousers are on fire - is forever ingrained in British sporting culture.
From James Hunt s 1976 championship triumph over Niki Lauda at a rain-lashed Fuji, to Ayrton Senna s intense rivalry with Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell s 1992 title triumph, Walker called it all in a remarkable broadcasting career which spanned 52 years.