IN MEMORIAM We shared hospital time together; on the same weekend that this writer was hospitalised after the major accident in 2000, Murray also spent a night at the same St Richards hospital in Chichester, having fallen and hurt his hip and was kept in overnight for observation.
He added a note “From your fellow hospital bedmate” to my autograph book when I met him subsequently. From then on we would meet up from time to time in pitlanes and paddocks; he checking how my health was, me asking questions about his past, which he always answered fully and methodically.
In 2005, I was at Kyalami, working with friends from the Kyalami Marshals Association at the inaugural GP Masters meeting, and while sat inside race control, Murray suddenly appeared, was delighted to see me there. He went on to exclaim his joy about being with all his old Grand Prix friends again, including Nigel Mansell. The commentary he provided that weekend was just as fresh and lively as it had been twenty years earlier - time making him wiser, but never taking away the “kid in a sweet shop” style. From that time until a couple of years ago, the meetings were less frequent but still remained just as enjoyable as ever, getting him to recount some of his wartime and advertising stories, watching him still preparing some small item as a contribution to a production at Goodwood.
The last time we met up was four years ago, at Silverstone on a media press day, and Murray had come along for a visit. Sadly, I could see that age was catching up with him, needing helpers to get around, but this still had not affected his mind, as he was as sharp and perceptive as ever. The world of sports fans from around the entire world owe him a huge debt of thanks for everything he did during the whole of his life, something not many people can say they have achieved. Social media went into meltdown from as soon as the announcement was made, showing how he had touched so many lives, either in person, or just as the mate on TV. Few people earn that amount of recognition from the public, showing the measure of the man, and I just feel so lucky to have actually been a tiny piece of his circle of life. Goodbye my friend, Thank You for the times we shared. You were one of a kind.
image: Kelvin Fagan
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