:00:00. > :00:00.is heavy, industrial activity. Understanding the potential impact
:00:00. > :00:00.on the countryside matters more than ever. The next round of government
:00:00. > :00:27.licences to allow drilling is expected soon. Today, extratime has
:00:28. > :00:30.come to Hampshire in the English countryside to meet at one of
:00:31. > :00:33.motorsport's commentators. He built a reputation for delivering verbal
:00:34. > :00:35.gaffes. I don't make mistakes, he once said, I make prophecies that
:00:36. > :00:38.turn out to be immediately wrong. With the British Grand Prix at
:00:39. > :00:40.Silverstone coming up this weekend, we talked to former broadcasting
:00:41. > :01:08.icon, Murray Walker. Murray Walker, welcome to this
:01:09. > :01:15.edition of extratime. You made your name with commentary for Formula 1.
:01:16. > :01:19.I am going to try to take you back to a time before then, something you
:01:20. > :01:22.learned about yourself. You said that you'd liked marching about,
:01:23. > :01:31.firing guns and charging around in a tank. Tell us a little bit about
:01:32. > :01:35.that. My school was evacuated during the war and I came out and joined
:01:36. > :01:38.the Army as a volunteer in 1942 because, at that time, there was
:01:39. > :01:42.conscription but if you waited to be conscripted, you went where they
:01:43. > :01:58.sent you and I did not want to be in Wolverhampton.
:01:59. > :02:03.So I volunteered for tanks and I got accepted and I went through all the
:02:04. > :02:13.usual business, including Sandhurst and I came out at the beginning of
:02:14. > :02:16.1944. I joined my Regiment in Holland, which was the premier
:02:17. > :02:19.cavalry Regiment and still is as the Royal Scots Guards and I stayed with
:02:20. > :02:28.them until we linked up with the Russians in 1945 on the Baltic
:02:29. > :02:37.coast. We were having a race with the Russians. They were coming in
:02:38. > :02:45.from the east westwards and we were coming from the West eastwards and
:02:46. > :02:53.we were going to meet somewhere. We got told by the 21st Army group that
:02:54. > :03:01.we had to get to Lubeck before them. They would control the whole Baltic,
:03:02. > :03:10.who ever got there first. In May 1945, you met your father on the
:03:11. > :03:14.battlefield. It was earlier than that. It was the day before the
:03:15. > :03:23.Rhine crossing where we had a lot of pretty bloody fighting and there was
:03:24. > :03:27.going to be a lot more to come. If you are in a tank and you run out of
:03:28. > :03:31.ammunition eventually, you have to go back to get some more and I was
:03:32. > :03:34.going back to get some more and when I got towards the replenishment
:03:35. > :03:37.depot, I was sitting just like I am now and I looked down and three men
:03:38. > :03:41.were coming towards me and I thought, one of them looks just like
:03:42. > :04:06.my father and when he got a bit closer, I saw it was my father. He
:04:07. > :04:10.was half an hour from being shot by a shell. What was he doing there? He
:04:11. > :04:13.had got himself accredited as a war correspondent with an army uniform,
:04:14. > :04:16.and somehow, he had gotten on an army control board and found out
:04:17. > :04:25.where the Regiment was and had gotten there to where I was and we
:04:26. > :04:27.met up for roughly half an hour. I couldn't stand around chatting
:04:28. > :04:31.because I had some pretty urgent business to attend to but we stood
:04:32. > :04:34.around chatting and I was obviously, as a son who worshiped his father
:04:35. > :04:38.because he was a great man, pretty worried about his well`being and I
:04:39. > :04:56.wanted to get away as quickly as I could. Did it ever occur to you at
:04:57. > :05:02.the time that that might be the last time you ever saw him? Not
:05:03. > :05:07.consciously. No. I mean, you mean because he might've been killed? One
:05:08. > :05:17.or the other. No, you are pretty much occupied in trying to kill
:05:18. > :05:19.other before they try to kill you. I didn't have much time. What did
:05:20. > :05:36.amaze and appall me was that he was there. Because I was astounded that
:05:37. > :05:40.he had been able to get there and I was extremely worried about him
:05:41. > :05:42.being able to get away. You left the Army and went into a career in
:05:43. > :05:47.advertising. When you joined the Army, you joined it as a boy but you
:05:48. > :05:52.left it as a man and I'm sure many men went through that experience.
:05:53. > :05:56.It's a maturing process. A toughening`up process. I was a
:05:57. > :05:59.schoolboy, 17 or 18 when I joined and I had a very privileged and
:06:00. > :06:02.comfortable life. You joined the world of advertising, you were good
:06:03. > :06:13.at it and created well`known slogans. Trill makes budgies bounce
:06:14. > :06:23.with health. Made to make your mouth water. Yes. A tang of citrus,
:06:24. > :06:32.strawberry, orange and lime. And an only budgie is
:06:33. > :06:36.you like advertising? I adored it. It is like the broadcasting world in
:06:37. > :06:38.that you are working with young, ambitious and extremely bright
:06:39. > :06:43.people who set very high standards and you have to keep up with them
:06:44. > :07:03.with very high standards. Tell us how you got into an motor racing
:07:04. > :07:06.commentary? You have a reputation around the world as being the voice
:07:07. > :07:10.of Formula One specifically. How did that start? As I have said, because
:07:11. > :07:13.my father did what he did and made his living on racing bikes, I grew
:07:14. > :07:17.up in that kind of environment and when I came out of the Army, I
:07:18. > :07:19.started racing bikes. I was reasonable at club standard, but I
:07:20. > :07:23.had delusions of grandeur that I would show the old man up and I very
:07:24. > :07:33.rapidly discovered that I wasn't going to do that. You know what they
:07:34. > :07:36.say, those that can, do, and those that can't, talk about it. My father
:07:37. > :07:45.had retired to become a magazine editor and also did commentary for
:07:46. > :07:48.the BBC on motorcycle racing. Looking back at my motivation, both
:07:49. > :07:51.for racing bikes and for broadcasting, I think I must've been
:07:52. > :07:55.trying to be what my father was because he was very good at both of
:07:56. > :08:07.them and I think I wanted to be like him. Or even better? To cut a long
:08:08. > :08:10.story short, I was doing some public address commentary, a combined bike
:08:11. > :08:23.and hill climb, and the BBC were doing it. If you are doing public
:08:24. > :08:27.address commentary, you don't really have to talk a great deal because
:08:28. > :08:36.the people you're talking to can see what you're talking about. It is not
:08:37. > :08:39.like radio. But I knew there was a man there from the BBC and I wanted
:08:40. > :08:43.to get his attention and I submitted the public to a nonstop barrage of
:08:44. > :08:50.how I thought it ought to be done as a result of which, I got an
:08:51. > :08:53.audition. As a result of which, they asked me at the second point of the
:08:54. > :09:03.British Grand Prix at Silverstone to be there. And I did it with Max
:09:04. > :09:11.Robertson who was the number one commentator and the BBC's tennis
:09:12. > :09:15.man. He loathed and detested motor racing and knew as much about it as
:09:16. > :09:23.I knew about tennis but we got through it all and then they put me
:09:24. > :09:33.on. From 1949 until I retired from the business in 1982, I combined the
:09:34. > :09:42.commentary and the advertising. What did the BBC see in you as a
:09:43. > :09:52.commentator? What did they see in me? What skills and talent did they
:09:53. > :09:55.identify in you? I hope they saw in me a gigantically enthusiastic
:09:56. > :09:59.person about the sport that I love. A knowledgeable person about the
:10:00. > :10:01.sport that I love because I had been soaked in it all my life. Somebody
:10:02. > :10:06.who wanted to communicate with people and somebody who enjoys being
:10:07. > :10:22.with people. That is the key. You use the word people. It's the
:10:23. > :10:25.general public, rather than what we call petrol heads. If you are doing
:10:26. > :10:28.either radio or television commentary, you are talking to
:10:29. > :10:31.people who would give their eye teeth to be where you are because
:10:32. > :10:35.you are in the very best place to see what ever it is you're talking
:10:36. > :10:39.about. In my case, motorcycle or car racing. And I was absolutely flooded
:10:40. > :10:43.with adrenaline and I wanted all the people that I was talking to to
:10:44. > :10:46.enjoy my sport is much as I did. I metaphorically got them by the
:10:47. > :10:53.throat and subjected them to nonstop talk. And I had a producer who would
:10:54. > :11:06.say to me through my earphones occasionally, pause Murray, pause.
:11:07. > :11:09.And I would for ten seconds and then the excitement of the occasion would
:11:10. > :11:14.overcome me and I would be off again. You are known for a
:11:15. > :11:18.distinctive style and that includes a word in the English language which
:11:19. > :11:43.you probably won't find in the dictionary, the Murray`ism, a kind
:11:44. > :11:46.of jumble of something. The car in front is absolutely unique, except
:11:47. > :11:52.for the one behind it, which is identical. Or there is nothing wrong
:11:53. > :11:56.with it but it is on fire. It made sense to me at the time. I could
:11:57. > :12:00.explain them and rationalize them to you if you press me but as you well
:12:01. > :12:03.know, when you are standing in front of a microphone and you have got to
:12:04. > :12:06.communicate with literally millions of people, because the BBC's
:12:07. > :12:10.commentary was taken for Formula 1 by virtually every English`speaking
:12:11. > :12:16.country in the world. I was speaking to people from all over the world
:12:17. > :12:27.and something happens when you do. You don't have time to contemplate.
:12:28. > :12:31.Shall I say it this way or that way? You say it the way it comes out of
:12:32. > :12:34.your heart and because you are in an exciting environment, the words
:12:35. > :12:37.sometimes come out in the wrong order and sometimes the wrong words
:12:38. > :12:40.come out. Sometimes words come out that don't make sense and people
:12:41. > :12:48.say, why don't they get somebody who knows what he is talking about? But
:12:49. > :12:50.you did of course. That is probably why the BBC never reprimanded you
:12:51. > :13:12.for these verbal faux pas. I got a reputation for making
:13:13. > :13:15.mistakes. If I had made mistakes about facts, getting the driver
:13:16. > :13:19.wrong or the section of the road wrong, that would be different, but
:13:20. > :13:28.as you have pointed out, they were malapropisms or getting the words in
:13:29. > :13:31.the wrong order. Soon after you started, you were
:13:32. > :13:39.joined by the 1976 world champion, James Hunt. That is probably one of
:13:40. > :13:47.the most famous commentary relationships in the history of BBC
:13:48. > :13:51.sport. Very possibly, Rob. It was fraught with all sorts of problems.
:13:52. > :13:55.James and I were about as different as two people could possibly be. I
:13:56. > :13:58.was old enough to be his father, pretty serious about what I did,
:13:59. > :14:03.stomping around and getting the facts and talking to people. James
:14:04. > :14:06.was very devil may care. There were aspects about his private life I
:14:07. > :14:17.didn't like. There were probably things about me that he didn't like.
:14:18. > :14:23.And there was a fair amount of friction in the commentary box when
:14:24. > :14:32.we started off. I remember one occasion at the British Grand
:14:33. > :14:46.Prix... I always stood up to do commentary. I was on the balls of my
:14:47. > :14:50.feet, giving it plenty, and James was sitting, as he did, and he
:14:51. > :14:53.thought, I have had enough, and he took the microphone out of my hands
:14:54. > :14:57.and I was incandescent with rage. I had my fist out ready to hit him. We
:14:58. > :15:04.were told off and it preserved a wonderful friendship and it was a
:15:05. > :15:07.good friendship. There was a good chemistry too.
:15:08. > :15:10.For whatever reason, probably because we were so different, the
:15:11. > :15:14.chemistry worked well and the public seemed to like us.
:15:15. > :15:23.You have had to commentate on a range of incidents in Formula One.
:15:24. > :15:27.There have been lows and highs. The high was the Damon Hill championship
:15:28. > :15:37.of 1996. The low was the death of Ayrton Senna.
:15:38. > :15:40.The death of Ayrton Senna, live in vision, was the hardest and most
:15:41. > :15:44.challenging commentary job I've ever had to do. I had seen three other
:15:45. > :16:08.drivers crash in exactly the same corner in identical circumstances
:16:09. > :16:11.and get away with it. One driver, Gerhard Bergher, had crashed and was
:16:12. > :16:17.in his Ferrari and it was on fire and they got him out. So, my
:16:18. > :16:27.reaction with Senna was that it was a big one. Because I'd seen three
:16:28. > :16:30.other people get away with it, and I thought he was all right. It became
:16:31. > :16:35.very clear from the body language and what was happening that he was
:16:36. > :16:39.not all right. But I didn't know. Nobody was giving the information. I
:16:40. > :16:46.had two screens in front of me. One was from the Italian organiser. It
:16:47. > :16:52.was giving pictures that would not have been acceptable to the BBC.
:16:53. > :16:54.Fortunately, for the first time ever at the Grand Prix, the BBC had their
:16:55. > :17:07.own camera crew so they were able to cut away to other pictures. I was
:17:08. > :17:10.having to walk the line between saying, don't worry, I have seen
:17:11. > :17:14.people crash in identical circumstances and I am sure he will
:17:15. > :17:17.be all right, and I didn't know that was the case, and on the other hand
:17:18. > :17:22.not saying, that is terrible. I fear it is terminal. Because you don't
:17:23. > :17:25.say that sort of thing. But somehow you find the words.
:17:26. > :17:33.Let's recollect something much happier, the win of Damon Hill. That
:17:34. > :17:37.brought you to tears of joy. I have known Damon Hill since he was
:17:38. > :17:49.a child. His father was a double world champion, Graham Hill. He had
:17:50. > :17:51.been a co` commentator with me on one or two occasions. I had seen
:17:52. > :18:02.Damon Hill grow up and the misery that the family went through when
:18:03. > :18:05.Graham was killed. Damon was living a very comfortable life at that time
:18:06. > :18:09.as the son of a wealthy man and I won't bore you with the details, but
:18:10. > :18:17.all of a sudden, the family were plunged into peniary. But Damon
:18:18. > :18:21.started racing bikes and his mother persuaded him to go into cars. He
:18:22. > :18:30.was a talented driver, but he had to put into it lot of slog. `` a lot of
:18:31. > :18:33.hard work and slog. When he crossed the line in Suzuka 1996 to win the
:18:34. > :18:38.World Championship, all of this welled up inside me and I said I had
:18:39. > :18:50.to stop because I had a lump in my throat. People accused me of
:18:51. > :18:53.thinking of emotional things to say and writing them on the wall of the
:18:54. > :19:00.commentary box to produce at the right time but it is not like that.
:19:01. > :19:03.You say what is inside you. I had to stop because I did have a lump in my
:19:04. > :19:06.throat. When sportsmen and women retire,
:19:07. > :19:09.they often find a void in their lives. Did you have that? Were you
:19:10. > :19:14.concerned about that? I was 78. I felt I was getting
:19:15. > :19:20.towards the end of the road for two reasons. One, the travel, which is
:19:21. > :19:32.enormous in Formula One, was getting to me. Secondly, the Daily Mail had
:19:33. > :19:40.done a hatchet job on me for a bad and inexcusable
:19:41. > :19:52.mistake I made on some commentary. They said the old fool's got to go.
:19:53. > :20:00.They had a lot of talk about whether I should go or stay. They had a
:20:01. > :20:05.vote. Did that get to you? Yes, it did. We all have thin skins. It got
:20:06. > :20:10.to me. I felt that while it was hurtful, there was an element of
:20:11. > :20:15.truth in it. I thought that I ought to stop. We are coming up to the
:20:16. > :20:20.50th anniversary of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. You could
:20:21. > :20:23.still do it? Given a bit of time for preparation. You don't just walk
:20:24. > :20:26.into the commentary box and pick up the microphone. Well, you do, but
:20:27. > :20:29.beforehand you have done an enormous amount of preparation. You have half
:20:30. > :20:33.a season of preparation behind you by the time of the British Grand
:20:34. > :20:36.Prix. I couldn't do that now. I could walk into the commentary box
:20:37. > :20:42.and give a fair imitation of what I used to do. But would it be to my
:20:43. > :20:54.satisfaction? I don't think so. You are a more distant observer of
:20:55. > :21:03.the Formula One scene now. What do you think of the issues currently in
:21:04. > :21:06.the sport? The noise is reduced. We have a more balanced season and
:21:07. > :21:09.Sebastian Vettel is no longer dominant. Now it is Lewis Hamilton
:21:10. > :21:17.and Nico Rosberg. I think we are having a fabulous
:21:18. > :21:21.season. I say that every year, but I think we are having a fabulous
:21:22. > :21:24.season and for all sorts of reasons. One is that we are having a
:21:25. > :21:34.wonderful battle at the top between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
:21:35. > :21:37.That will go on all season. The British Grand Prix is going to be
:21:38. > :21:45.particularly exciting because Lewis Hamilton is behind Nico Rosberg, 29
:21:46. > :21:48.points behind him. That is a lot. Lewis Hamilton feels he ought to be
:21:49. > :21:59.world champion and Nico Rosberg wants to be world champion. No
:22:00. > :22:03.matter what they say about each other and the eternal friendship
:22:04. > :22:05.they have got, there is a lot of needle there. It is nice to see
:22:06. > :22:09.Mercedes`Benz winning again. They have a good history behind them. I
:22:10. > :22:12.think the formula for the cars is working well with the turbocharged
:22:13. > :22:18.engines. I think the fuss about the comparative lack of noise is
:22:19. > :22:21.rubbish. Engines make the noise that they make and turbocharged engines
:22:22. > :22:25.make less noise because the energy that went down the exhaust pipe in
:22:26. > :22:31.the form of noise last year is being retained to drive the turbo. I don't
:22:32. > :22:38.want to get too technical, but the result is a lot quieter. They make a
:22:39. > :22:43.different noise, which is no less evocative and exciting in my
:22:44. > :22:47.opinion. There are a couple of political problems in the sport but
:22:48. > :22:55.there are in every sport, as you well know. Formula One is in good
:22:56. > :23:02.shape, if only they could get on top of the major problem, which is what
:23:03. > :23:09.it costs for the teams. They have made their efforts, but it is too
:23:10. > :23:11.expensive. They are trying but the big teams like Mercedes`Benz, Red
:23:12. > :23:16.Bull and McLaren have enormous funds and don't want to spend any less.
:23:17. > :23:20.The other teams don't have enormous funds and don't want to spend and it
:23:21. > :23:23.is the case that the two will never meet. But they must do something
:23:24. > :23:27.because there is a real danger of a few of the teams dropping out
:23:28. > :23:30.altogether and that would be very sad. With that, we will have to
:23:31. > :23:39.close. Thank you very much indeed.