Pete Murray (disc jockey)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pete Murray (born 1928) is a well-known British disc jockey and actor, popular during the 1960s.

Murray was one of the original BBC Radio 1 disc jockeys when the station went to air in 1967. He had previously worked on the BBC Light Programme and Radio Luxembourg. He hosted one of BBC television's earliest pop music programmes, Six-Five Special (1957) and was one of the original presenters of Top of the Pops when it began in 1964. By 1969, he was heard on BBC Radio 2 where he presented the daily morning programme Open House, and then in 1983 he moved to LBC in London. He presented his last programme there on 22 December 2002, and has not broadcast since, though he was interviewed by the BBC in connection with the final edition of Top of the Pops in 2006.

Murray hosted the UK heat of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959 and provided the UK commentary on a number of occasions.

Murray also acted, appearing in a short-lived British sitcom opposite Bernard Bresslaw and Irene Handl. His equally famous girlfriend for a time was Valerie Singleton.

Murray attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is a RADA Gold Medallist.

He was notoriously forgetful, and a joke grew up around him that one day he would appear on television having forgotten to put on his trousers.