Page 142 - Wish Stream Year of 2018

MURRAY WALKER – 1944
ROYAL SCOTS GREYS
Murray Walker was commissioned into the Royal Scots Greys in 1944. The salute at his commis- sioning parade was taken by General Eisen- hower. Walker served as a tank troop leader in the battle of the Reichswald. Demobbed in May 1947, he initially supplemented his work at an advertising agency with motor sport commen- tary before becoming ‘the voice of Formula One’ in 1980. He retired from Grand Prix commentary in 2000 and is perhaps most famous for his dou- ble act with the laid-back former World Cham- pion James Hunt.
Murray Walker writes of his time at Sandhurst in his biography Unless I’m very much mistaken: ‘I was immensely proud to be associated with and shaped by them and to be trained in such impressive surroundings’. He also goes on to write about his commissioning parade: ‘On to that magnificent parade ground in front of the Old College, then, marched the entire Sand- hurst contingent in proud formation, with heads held high, arms swinging and boots resounding to the drum beat and stirring military marches of the band that preceded them. I certainly felt emotional, even 57 years on I can still feel excite- ment and pride’.
CHRISTOPHER TRACE – 1953
ROYAL ARTILLERY
Born in 1933, Christopher Trace was educated at Cranleigh School and worked as a farm labourer before entering Sandhurst in 1951. Commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1953, he was promoted to Lieutenant before resigning his commission in 1956. A somewhat undistin- guished acting career followed with his greatest role as Charlton Heston’s body double in ‘Ben Hur’ (1959).
However, Trace was selected to co-present, with former Miss Great Britain, Leila Williams, a chil- dren’s television programme called Blue Peter which first aired on 16 October 1958. Aimed originally at five to eight-year-olds, the pro- gramme reflected the standards of the day with Trace, dressed in a jacket and tie, building model trains and Williams playing with dolls. The pro- grammes were transmitted live which required learning a script and remaining unflappable. On one occasion, Trace continued as if nothing was happening while a lion cub savaged its keeper in the background and all the production crew fled. He was, however, criticised for giving out a recipe for alcoholic ginger beer. Williams was replaced after three years by Valerie Singleton and the programme grew from one fifteen-min- ute slot a week to two 25-minute programmes. Blue Peter is now the longest running children’s TV show in the world.
Trace trained the first Blue Peter Dog, Petra, and coined the phrases; ‘here’s one I made earlier’ and ‘now for something completely different.’ Such was the workload that he indicated that he would leave the programme if the presenting was not shared, so the BBC hired John Noakes in 1966. However, unbeknown to the public and in contrast to his clean-cut image, while filming the first Blue Peter holiday to Norway in 1965, Trace had an affair with a local girl, the first of a long list of scandals that hit Blue Peter through- out the years. In 1967 he was quietly dropped and replaced with Peter Purves.
Trace joined a new production company, Spec- tator, as writer and manager but the business failed after two years and he lost his life savings. Declared bankrupt, he worked for a while as a mini cab driver and barman before bump-start- ing his career again as a reporter for Nationwide
140 HISTORICAL