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Mike Plant asked: 'I wonder if you have up to date news about Pete? I know he was associated with the 'News' side of LBC, but have not heard anything of him recently. I especially liked him in his Luxembourg days, later on Radio 2 with 'Pete's Party' and better yet, his morning show, which Ray Moore used to trail saying "...at at 11:30, a pie and a pint with Pete...". Pete differed from most other hosts in that he always made the effort to read the book that was being promoted, hence was able to put relevant questions to the guest. In my book, at his best, one of the great Radio 2 broadcasters, apart from his TV involvements...Regards. Mike."
Profile: Pete Murray OBE: Peter Murray James was born on 19th September 1928 and living in London and taking his education at St. Paul's School. Having won a scholarship to acting academy RADA, and a bronze medal, he toured local repertory theatres until his first real break on stage in 'The Man Who Came To Dinner' at London's Savoy Hotel. The outbreak of World War Two saw Pete do his bit for King and Country when he joined the RAF.
His work on the screen started with unspoken work - first working as a film extra in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' in 1943 - he was seen as one of the last people to walk down the corridor of the BBC's Bunker as Clive Candy arrives to make his broadcast. Another appearance on stage came with 'Power Without Glory', a Broadway production after War finished, with work in both London and New York.
It was 1949 when he joined the mighty and much loved Radio Luxembourg in the Grand Duchy, initially as a stand-in, but ended up spending five years at the station and taking the role of undisputed Number 1 DJ in Europe. Just a small portion of output actually came from there, with just five regular 'announcers' each taking it in turns to spend a month in residential accommodation whilst working there, before going home to the UK for a week on leave. Pete worked alongside such famous names as Teddy Johnson and Keith Fordyce. Midway into his stay at Luxy, in 1952, he met and married a local lady, Germain.
Whilst his Luxy work continued, he began presenting 'The Six-Five Special' for BBC TV, which aired for the first time at 6:00pm on 16th February 1957 alongside Josephine Douglas. The show was only intended to run for six weeks but ran for much longer. Designed to be a show for all, Pete introduced the show in happening style - "Welcome aboard the Six-Five Special. We've got almost a hundred cats jumping here, some real cool characters to give us the gas (!), so just get on with and have a ball!" His co-host then translated for the older more discerning viewer by saying: "Well, I'm just a square it seems, but for all the other squares with us, roughly translated, what Pete Murray said was that we've got some lively musicians and personalities mingling with us here, so just relax and catch the mood with us.. 'Pete's Party' aired for the BBC Light Programme in 1958. On June 1st 1959, BBC TV aired the first edition of music voting panel show 'Juke Box Jury' alongside Alma Cogan, Gary Miller and future Children's radio campaigner and 'Magpie' host Susan Stranks.
Pete regularly mixed stage, TV and radio work and in 1962, appeared on stage as the lead in 'Scapa!', a musical version of 'Seagulls Over Sorrento'. The following year he took over from Bob Monkhouse in 'Come Blow Your Horn'.
When the nation's favourite TV pop show, 'Top Of The Pops' started in 1964, Pete was a presenter alongside Sir Jimmy Savile. His TV work also included ITV's show 'The Lost Enemy'.(1956) in which he played the part of a disfigured pilot, and received acclaim from none other than Laurence Olivier as well as 3rd place in the 'News Chronicler of the Year Awards'. He also appeared in other shows: 'Time Flies', 'Caravan', 'Hungry Hill', 'Captain Boycott', 'My Brother Jonathan', 'Portrait from Life', 'No Highway', 'A Taste of Money', 'Escort For Hire', 'Transatlantic', 'Behave Yourself', 'Design for Loving', 'It's Trad Dad', 'Otley', 'Under the Table', 'You Must Go' and 'Cool It Girl'.
As the 1960s began to gather momentum, so too did the Great British music scene. At the forefront of playing the music that mattered, Pete joined Radio Caroline and Radio London in 1965 to present the sponsored show 'Call In At Currys'. Hugely miffed by the appearance and syndication of this show, the BBC decided it didn't quite like not having Pete all to itself and dropped his show.
In between times, in 1961, Pete appeared in ABC's (for ITV) 'The Dora Bryan Show' aka 'Happily Ever After', alongside Dora and also Bryan Coleman who played neighbour Harry Watkins. Dora played a dizzy blonde woman of the same name who constantly got both herself and those around her, into all kinds of mischief, only to find a way out of it. Pete Murray played the role of Dora's doctor-husband. The show was loosely based on NBC's popular show 'I Love Lucy' after ITV bought the format. Disappointing ratings led to the axe falling on the show which aired in the Midlands, the North of England, and London, after eight of the thirteen episodes recorded were shown. There was no appearance before the run of a pre-recorded pilot episode. However, the remaining four episodes were dusted off and shown three years later in the Midlands and North in May 1964.
Auntie redeemed itself in September 1967 when they realised that they needed him just as much if not more than they ever did when the network released it's answer to the offshore stations - Radio 1 - where he presented such shows as 'Family Choice', 'What's New?' and 'Pete's People' whilst continuing with his acting work. On the first day of Radio 1, Pete aired from 3:00pm-4:00pm with 'Album Time'.
1968 saw a short TV appearance in BBC TV situation comedy 'Mum's Boys', alongside Irene Handl & Carry-On star Bernard Bresslaw. Over just seven 30 minute episodes, aired at 8:20pm on BBC1 from April to May of that year, Irene Handl played the role of Mum 'Crystal Pallise' with Bernard and Pete playing her sons, Leonard Pallise and Robin Fosdyke who came from separate marriages. Bernard was cast as a bit of a dull character always trying desperately to find work as an actor, whilst Pete, playing Robin, the child from a marriage to the Honorable Bertram Fosdyke lands in the household. Comedy came from conflicts in the classes of all occupants of the house.
In 1973, he moved over to Radio 2 to present yet another trademark Murray show - 'Open House' - a mid-morning music magazine programme which was widely acclaimed and appreciated over it's ten-year run. His Radio 2 show 'Two-Way Family Favourites', which linked up with the Armed Forces was immensely popular right up until the last show was broadcast in January 1980 as part of Pete's Sunday slot.
In 1983, the commercial radio world hit it's tenth year, and so too, did one of the once fledgling commercial radio stations - London's LBC 1152AM bringing Pete in to begin another period of popularity for speech based radio. From his inaugural appearance on November 5th 1983, Pete was an ever present through a list of name changes including LBC Crown FM (1989), LBC Newstalk, NewsDirect & London Talkback Radio. Firstly, he presented 'Nightline' until 1987, when he moved to afternoons and then morning. Pete held a 9:00am-1:00pm slot as of 1993 but began a Sunday night show in June 1996. During these changes, he worked alongside the likes of Douglas Cameron, Peter Deeley, Tim Crook, Steve Jones, Mike Dicken, Brian Hayes, Clive Bull & Steve Allen. His Sunday show was laid back, nostalgic and full of celebrity chat.
The arrival of the new Millennium saw an additional landmark for Pete as he celebrated his fiftieth year in broadcasting. The Heritage Foundation gave him a 'Gold' Award in June 2001 acknowledging the part he played in bringing rock 'n' roll to radio and television.
Murrayfacts:
He is married to a former Barrister - wife Tricia.
Marlene Dietrich once offered to be his cleaner for a day.
He once saw a beauty contest from a swimming pool, having been pushed into it by contestants of the show he was actually hosting.
Amongst his likes, Peggy Lee ranks as one of his favourite singers, and Count Basie's Orchestra is Pete's favourite group of musicians. With his involvement in the movie world, his favourite films include 'Charlie Varick'.
He was once offered the opportunity to take over as leader of the Ted Heath band, but turned it down, despite it being something he'd always wanted to do. This was because he thought that the musicians wouldn't accept him.
Bernie Winters appeared alongside Pete in 'The Odd Couple' when the show was on-tour.
Parts of an audience which came to watch him in a play alongside Michael Aspel stormed the box office in protest when they found out the show was not a quiz.
He once said the 'F' word on Radio Luxembourg - a fact recalled in Radio 4's Quiz 'Wireless Wise' which aired from 1999-2003.
Pete once went out with Blue Peter presenter Valerie Singleton.
He released his autobiography 'Someday I'll Forget My Trousers' in 1975.
His favourite football club is Arsenal.
Whereabouts: Pete presented a Sunday evening show on LBC until 22nd December 2002. New owners of LBC, Chrysalis Radio began restructuring for a relaunch in January 2003, and Pete, along with his show, was axed after a run of 20 years - he's not been heard on the radio since - this is when it's thought he took his retirement.