It's PROST!, no it's MANSELL!, no it's SCHUMACHER!: It's Murray Walker (Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken - Murray Walker)

Member Name: markos9

Product:	Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken - Murray Walker
Date:	17/04/09 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well written with some great stories

Disadvantages: None.

Murray Walker is possibly the most popular and famous motor sport commentator in the world. He commenced his motor racing commentating career in 1949, and completed his last Formula 1 commentary in 2001; a time span of over fifty years.

His autobiography, tells his life story, from growing up in the Midlands and Essex, his time in the British Army during World War II, and, of course, his activities in the world of motor sport.

Murray wrote this book soon after his retirement, and was encouraged to do so after remembering advice he'd given to a motor racing great that if he did not write his autobiography, he'd be committing a crime against motor sport.

Murray realised that he's been present at many of the most important events in motor sport over the last 50 years; he's been in a privileged position to witness these events and such memories should be written down or be lost forever.

Murray was almost 80 years old when he wrote this book; his life has been, in his own words "full of richness, variety, satisfaction, with hardly any setbacks". He has packed an awful lot into those 80 years and has some real tales to tell. Fortunately, his writing style, whilst less frenetic and excitable than his style of commentary, is fast paced, witty, and enjoyable.

His early days are covered very quickly. He reached the rank of Lieutenant during the war, as part of a tank division and saw some hellish sights. These are not covered in detail, almost as if he does not want to give too much information to the reader about exactly how bad it was. Reading this account, makes you understand a bit about how it was and what he went through, however.

Many people do not realise that for many years, Murray was a part time commentator. His 'main' career after the army was actually advertising. He spent 20 years as an advertising executive, with such famous clients as British Rail, the Co-op, and Mars, to his name, before giving this up in 1979 at the age of 56 to become a full time commentator.

Murray Walker will always be remembered for two things; the "Murray Walker Kiss of Death", and his (often hilarious) mistakes made whilst commentating, known as "Murrayisms".

He became infamous with the Formula 1 drivers for his "Kiss of Death". He would predict something that looked almost inevitable; and it wouldn't happen. After prematurely congratulating Damon Hill for achieving pole position, Murray was aghast to see Prost beat Hill to it. Later on, Damon asked a favour of Murray:

"In future, just keep your mouth shut will you?!"

Never one to take himself too seriously, Murray recounts in the book, that his mistakes never bothered him too much. He could see the funny side and was smart enough to realise that they did him more good than harm.

Fans of Murray will be pleased to know that many of his funniest, most famous Murrayisms are shown in Chapter 14. Have a read of these:

"Either that car is stationery, or it's on the move"

"Prost can see Mansell in his earphones!"

And my personal favourite:

"There's nothing wrong with the car except it's on fire"

Murray explains the mistakes as being due to him getting carried away. He put his heart and soul into every commentary and got terribly excited. Occasionally his mouth got ahead of his brain and out popped another Murrayism!

During his career, he's seen and commentated on some tragic events. None affected him more so than the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994. I watched that race live, but what I never realised until reading this book is that there were two TV feeds; the one I saw, and another, closer one that Murray Walker was also seeing in his commentary box. It was evident to Murray that the accident was extremely serious, potentially fatal, and that the TV public could see none of this.

Murray was affected badly by what was happening, but had to choose his words carefully, for the millions of people watching back home. He says in the book that it its an experience he would never like to repeat. The emotion of that time comes across clearly in the book; it brought a lump to my throat remembering the events of that terrible day.

This book then is well written, readable, and extremely interesting for anyone with an interest in Formula 1. Murray's experience and insight into this super-rich world was always a pleasure to listen to on TV. Reading his book was just as pleasurable and I learnt a lot from and about this iconic figure from the world of motor sport. Highly recommended.

Amazon has this book for sale from around £2.75 from its resellers.

Summary: Learn about F1 and its greatest commentator.