Pete Murray (disc jockey)
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Peter ("Pete") Murray OBE, (born Peter Murray James on 19 September 1925)[1] is a British radio and television presenter and a stage and screen actor. His broadcasting career spanned over 50 years.
Peter Murray attended St Paul's School, London and joined the English service of Radio Luxembourg in 1949 or 1950 as one of its resident announcers in the Grand Duchy, and remained there until 1956. Back in London, and now calling himself "Pete" rather than "Peter", he continued to be heard frequently on Radio Luxembourg for many years, introducing pre-recorded sponsored programmes. He also presented popular music on the BBC Light Programme, notably in Pete Murray's Party from 1958 to 1961, and hosted one of BBC Television's earliest pop music programmes, the skiffle-based Six-Five Special (1957–1958).[2] He was a regular panellist on the same channel's Juke Box Jury (1959–1967). He was the "guest DJ" on several editions of ABC-TV's Thank Your Lucky Stars (1961–1966).
He was among the first regular presenters of Top of the Pops when it began in 1964.
Murray hosted the UK heat of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959 and provided the UK commentary for the contest itself in 1975 and 1977. He was an occasional compère of variety shows at the London Palladium.
Murray was one of the original BBC Radio 1 disc-jockeys when that station started in 1967. By 1969 he was one of the mainstays of BBC Radio 2, where for over ten years he anchored the two-hour magazine show Open House five days a week, heard by 5.5 million listeners.[3] In 1973, and again in 1976, he was voted BBC Radio Personality of the Year.[4]
In 1980, Radio 2 moved Pete Murray from weekday to weekend programming. In 1981 he began a move into more serious, speech-only radio with a stint as presenter of Midweek on BBC Radio 4.
He courted controversy in 1983 when he appeared as a guest newspaper reviewer on the BBC TV's early morning magazine show Breakfast Time, when he encouraged viewers to "Vote Conservative" at the upcoming election. At the end of 1983 the BBC controversially cancelled his radio shows, describing his style of broadcasting as too old-fashioned.[5] Murray himself blamed his outspoken support of the Conservative party as the reason behind his dismissal. In 1984 he started afresh as a presenter for LBC, a local talk radio station in London. He later won the Variety Club of Great Britain award for this show. He introduced his last programme there on 22 December 2002, and has not broadcast regularly since.
Pete Murray was also an actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is a RADA Gold Medallist. On the London stage he starred in the musical Scapa! (1962).[6] In 1968 he appeared in a short-lived British sitcom, Mum's Boys, opposite Bernard Bresslaw and Irene Handl.[7] He had roles in several films, sometimes as "himself". He also appeared in pantomime, and guested on innumerable radio and TV panel games. In 1984 and 1985 he was a team captain on the ITV panel game Vintage Quiz.
In politics, Murray came out as a Conservative Party supporter in 1983.[8] He is a lifelong teetotaller. He once broke down on live television after his son, Michael Murray James, who had been a pupil at Wycliffe College (Gloucestershire), also an actor, committed suicide at age 27, and afterwards he gave talks on coping with family tragedy.[9]
[edit] External links
[edit] Publications
(With Jeremy Hornsby) One day I'll forget my trousers (autobiography), London, 1975. ISBN 0903925311
[edit] References
- ^ 1928 according to some sources, but the earlier date is more frequently quoted.
- ^ "Three leaving cast of Six-Five Special", The Times, London, 26 March 1958.
- ^ BBC Annual Report, noted in The Times, London, 13 November 1970.
- ^ The Times, London, 1 January 1973; The Times, London, 20 April 1976.
- ^ "Pete Murray is dropped from BBC shows", The Times, London, 18 October 1983.
- ^ "Better Without the Lyrics: Play Disappoints as a Musical", The Times, London, 9 March 1962.
- ^ "Disc Jockey in BBC1 Comedy Series", The Times, London, 6 February 1968.
- ^ "Thespians show their colours", The Times, London, 23 May 1983.
- ^ "A suicide in the family", The Times, London, 1 June 1983.
