Murray Walker is as inextricably linked to motor racing as

Des Lynham to football, Sue Barker to tennis and Harry Carpenter to boxing, you can't have one without

the other, writes Katherine MacAlister.

But Murray Walker has hung up his microphone once and for all, and, after writing his autobiography, Unless I'm Very Much Mistaken, the doting public have realised there is more to the 79-year-old than his often excitable radio persona.

Not only was he a long-serving tank lieutenant during the Second World War and witnessed the allied liberation of Berlin in 1945, but he also ran a very successful career in advertising alongside his 'hobby' of motor racing until the 1980s.

He hates holidays, his worst nightmare is having nothing to do, and he is busier now than he has ever been, much to his wife's relief. If he's not conducting book tours, he's travelling the world to commentate on car races, receiving doctorates from Southampton University and rarely has a second to himself, which is just the way he likes it.

Despite spending the best part of his life broadcasting to hundreds of thousands of avid Formula One fans, it seems Murray Walker hid from his fame behind his headphones, and had no idea how popular he was with the general public, despite his OBE.

"I pick up the microphone and don't know if I'm talking to nobody or half the world. I just got fired up by my own enthusiasm and adrenaline, bursting to tell people what was happening in front of me."

But it was this catchy enthusiasm that made his name, and his voice was broadcast all over the world, from

India to Indonesia, Pakistan and South Africa.

"Commentating is based on two things; you need to be knowledgeable about a subject and have the ability to talk about it. That might sound blind flashingly obvious, but lots of people can talk about something without

knowing about it and others have the knowledge but can't talk about it."

But if it hasn't got an engine, he's not interested. This love of two to four wheels stems back to his childhood.

His father was a national motorbike champion, winning numerous prizes around the world.

While Murray also raced motorbikes relatively successfully, he found his forte was in the commentator's box rather than on the track.

"I have exploited every situation and always make the best of circumstances," Murray says modestly about his seemingly faultless ability to keep climbing the ladder, both socially and professionally, ending up in his dream job.

But ambition, determination and sheer hard work have a bigger part to play than luck.

"I did not consciously plan to have concurrent careers, it just happened that way. Advertising was my career and my bread and butter Monday to Friday, and at weekends I commentated.

"They worked in parallel until 1980, when I was 59 and something had to give. I was due to retire anyway, so it was an easy decision. I just stopped six months early and my hobby really took off."

He admits this meant he had no time for anything else, including a family, but does not regret the decision.

"My father didn't particularly want children, but I came along and he was a wonderful father. I like to think I would have been the same. You make time for the things you want to do, don't you, and what you've never had, you can't miss.

"We certainly never felt that life wouldn't be complete without the patter of tiny feet."

His long-suffering wife Elizabeth, who avoids all publicity, told him not to retire because he wouldn't know what to do with himself.

Luckily, Murray has been rushed off his feet ever since.

"I don't know how I found the time to work now. I remember putting the microphone down in Indianapolis after my last Grand Prix, and thinking 'I'm now yesterday's man', but I'm glad to say that hasn't proved to be the case. "I'm still meeting interesting people and travelling to wonderful places. I don't understand people who say they want to retire early. I believe very strongly in keeping an active mind."

But the response to his three-month international book tour, the biggest Harper Collins has organised, took even him by surprise.

Everywhere Murray went, including America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, he was met by at least 400 fans.

"I met a woman who had named her dog after me, another who had named her son after me and a girl with a hamster called Murray, all of whom were brought to the signings.

"I visited two bookshops a day and signed 46,000 books overall. I enormously enjoyed it, because these were the people I have been talking to for many, many years and they were invariably very nice."

The one thing Murray doesn't do anymore is go to the motor races.

"It would be like a retired man popping back to the office all the time. I had a job that was part of the Formula One format and now I haven't got that. I don't want to end up wandering around the paddock looking for people to talk to.

"Of course I miss it, but if you do something because you enjoy it as much as I did it would be more strange if you didn't".

Murray Walker will be visiting Borders bookshop, Magdalen Street, Oxford, on June 26 at 6pm.