Murray Walker: Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken

Whether he's talking about his first experiences of motor sport as a competitor, his time in the army, his career in advertising, his transition from media part-timer to media legend or his retirement from frontline F1 broadcasts at the end of the 2001 season, Walker has a fascinating story to tell--and he retains his journalist's sense of what the people really want to know. He shares his face-to-face knowledge of motor sport gods like Fangio and Enzo Ferrari and recalls his less daunting encounters with British luminaries such as Nigel Mansell, the Hills, Jackie Stewart and James Hunt, including the occasion when the latter pair sniped at each other in a memorable commentary box match-up. There's also a good selection of the best Murrayisms, such as "And the battle is well and truly on if it wasn't before, and it certainly was!", "There's nothing wrong with the car except it's on fire!" and "I just stopped my startwatch".

Tremendous admiration for the skills and courage of the stars of his sport epitomises the Walker approach. This is no doubt fuelled by his own slightly fraught attempt at piloting a Formula One car in 1983 and by his experience at less pedestrian speed 15 years later when he was strapped into a two-seater McLaren behind co-commentator Martin Brundle. But he also gently settles one or two scores along the way. Elsewhere he reflects on the itinerary of affection so peculiar to the life of a British celebrity--This Is Your Life, Desert Island Discs and an OBE--and on his private life, his hugely influential parents, his late and happy marriage and what he hopes retirement will bring. It's a tribute to the man's singular voice that so much of the tone of this book is unmistakably Murray. It's not high-octane blunder-speckled race vintage, but the scripted television style he has made his own, a more measured bombast that makes this generously illustrated tome very easy to like. --Alex Hankin