Murray Walker

[Alfa Fan]

BBC Sport - Murray Walker: F1 commentator diagnosed with cancer (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/22946026)

Has, at the age of 89, unfortunately been diagnosed with lymphatic cancer.

[webberf1]

;_;

[henners88]

Nearly posted this thread earlier myself. Very sad and hope he pulls through. I know he's 89 but he's a character we sort of hope will be around forever. Get well soon Murray.

[Knock-on]

Real gent of the sport. Good luck Murray :up:

[Nikki Katz]

That's sad news. I didn't realise he was so old, still seems so much younger. I hope he gets better.

[MAX_THRUST]

Love the guy, everyone dies eventually, but I hope he is ok.....dread the day he leaves us. Will shed a tear when that day comes. Hope he has many years with us left to come.

[steveaki13]

Really sad to see this, I hope he can pull through and keeps enjoying his life.

[Storm]

Yeah it's difficult at this age but hopefully he has a few years left in the tank. Good luck MW.

[Donney]

I hope he beats the cancer.

[Dave B]

In a strange way, his recent fall may have been a blessing in disguise as it seems to be what lead to the early detection of his cancer. Hopefully the treatment will allow him to make a swift and full recovery.

[jens]

I have to say that Murray Walker has been one of the inspirations in my life. I like to look for good people to learn from and he is one of them. In a way he feels like a friend or a member of family. :) And it is always great to listen old races/qualis with his commentary. It gave a different and unique athmosphere, one full of life wisdom and full appreciation of everything that was going on. It felt like Murray viewed himself as a friend among drivers and everyone in the paddock. He could never have a bad attitude about anybody. Instead tried to understand every unique character involved there.

Of course, Murray had a great mindset for having an energetic commentary and lifestyle. Good energy to share with others. In addition, may I say that I use his commentary in my head during my everyday life activities as well. :p : Just as an example:

"Fiiive seconds to go as we are waiting for the green light and this is going to be full of excitement. Cars are gonna stop now any time soon. Yeees... and it's go! A brilliant start. Look at that, you are already well in front of everybody! Look at the speed! One meter, two meters advantage as we are crossing the road. A brilliant performance! Do I feel some raindrops from the sky? Indeed I do... You have to be cautious now. It is very easy to make a mistake here as the road is getting very slippery indeed. Meanwhile we are approaching the bus stop now. Is it going to be enough? Where is the bus? Do I see it from the distance? No, I do not see, so you are going to make it to the bus-stop before the bus. Yes, you have done it! Two and half minutes to go. Look at the cars going past. They are very fast indeed. Two VW's sandwiched between a Toyota, who is looking for a way through. And yes, there is the bus. He turns into the 90-degree corner. Look at this brilliant piece of driving as the driver exits the tight corner and turns into the pitstop. The bus is going to be in a standstill any time soon now. Yes, it's go and the doors are open now. Five seconds, ten seconds. Time is ticking away as we are waiting for the bus the exit the pitlane. That's it. It was a good stop with a time of twenty seconds as we are off again."

[emporer_k]

I hope he makes a full recovery.

[zako85]

He was a commentator in BBC around 1993-94, and even back then he already didn't look like a young man. It's nice to know that he made it this far. Let's hope he gets well soon.

[Mark]

He was a commentator in BBC around 1993-94, and even back then he already didn't look like a young man. It's nice to know that he made it this far. Let's hope he gets well soon.

He started TV commentary in the 1970's and started commentating full time in 1978 and continued through to 2001.

[AndyL]

He started TV commentary in the 1970's and started commentating full time in 1978 and continued through to 2001.

And his commentary career outside F1 goes back much further than that of course, to 1949 apparently. His old Isle Of Man TT commentaries are great, they played some of them on Manx Radio a few years ago.

[BDunnell]

He started TV commentary in the 1970's and started commentating full time in 1978 and continued through to 2001.

In fact, his first TV commentaries on F1 were in the 1960s — races Raymond Baxter couldn't attend — and he was doing TV commentaries on motorcycle scrambles and so forth in the '50s as well.

[steveaki13]

He started on local events like Hill Climbs. Announcing and commentating over the tannoy.

He used to commentate with his Dad for Motorbike events. His Father was a very successful racer on bikes way back.

[joeyz_f1]

Good luck, Murray. :(

[Knock-on]

I like this one:

BBC Sport - British Grand Prix: Hill wins 1994 race after Schumacher's black flag (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/22903751)


I began my commentary career at Silverstone, back in 1949 and have been to every British Grand Prix since then.

There have been many memorable races over the years at Silverstone, but also at the other tracks that have hosted the race such as Brands Hatch and Aintree.

Some of them have been all-time classics - close fights between drivers, timeless victories in the wet and so on - but when I think back one really sticks in my memory, for the controversy more than anything else.

Following Ayrton Senna's death at the San Marino Grand Prix, the 1994 F1 season broke out into one of bitter dispute - and it really erupted at the British Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher was handed a five-second stop-go penalty after illegally passing pole-sitter Hill

It all started before the race had even got under way, when Benetton's Michael Schumacher illegally passed pole-sitter Damon Hill's Williams on the formation lap.

Hill and Schumacher led but, when the German was handed a five-second stop-go penalty, he kept racing while his team bosses, Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw, argued with officials in the pit lane, trying to overturn the penalty.

Their failure to call him into the pits led to Schumacher being shown the black flag, which demands that the driver calls into the pits or face disqualification.

Schumacher did eventually stop to take his penalty, while Hill raced ahead to a popular victory. It was an emotional win for Damon, at a race his father Graham had never won, and it kick-started the strong title campaign he mounted in the second half of the season.

Schumacher finished second but was later excluded from the results and handed a two-race ban.

There was a lot more anguish to come that summer for Schumacher and Benetton.

Following a pit-lane fire for his team-mate Jos Verstappen in Germany, the team were found guilty of removing a filter from the refuelling system, for which they escaped punishment.

Benetton's attempt to overturn the two-race ban eventually failed and he had to serve it over the Italian and Portuguese Grands Prix - and after winning the Belgian race, which immediately preceded Monza, he was disqualified from that, too, because his car's underbody plank had worn too much.

He came back from his ban to win in Jerez, but then was memorably beaten by Hill in the rain in Japan before contentiously winning the championship when the two collided at the final race in Australia.

Definitely one for the memory book!

[tfp]

Oh no! Here's hoping he will get better soon. Still one of the highlights of silver stone is when dc and Irvine bring him into the commentary box and have him say a few words, everyone sits up and listens.

Hello my sweet Murray you have good job i really appreciate you now its time to come back but first get well soon.I want to see again in the commentary session...