Al Murray

Al Murray
Murray as "The Pub Landlord" in 2011
Born (1968-05-10) 10 May 1968
Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, England
Medium Stand-up, television, radio
Nationality British
Alma mater St Edmund Hall, Oxford
Years active 1994–present
Genres Parody, Political satire, Surreal humour, Character comedy, Musical comedy, Observational comedy, Blue comedy
Subject(s) British culture, British politics, French culture, Gender stereotypes, Family, Human interaction, World history, Current events
Spouse
  • Katherine Perry
    (m. 1995; div. 2000)
  • Amber Hargreaves
    (m. 2002; separated 2008)
Children 3
Notable works and roles The Pub Landlord;
Al Murray's Happy Hour;
Time Gentlemen Please;
Multiple Personality Disorder;
Fact Hunt; etc
Website www.thepublandlord.com

Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968), is an English comedian and TV personality.

He was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.[1] In 2007, he was voted the 16th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.

Early life and family background

Murray was born at 44 High Street South, Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, only son of Lieut-Col. Ingram Bernard Hay Murray (a great-great-great-great-grandson of John, 3rd Duke of Atholl, who married Charlotte, Baroness Strange), by his wife Juliet Anne Thackeray, née Ritchie (a great-great-granddaughter of the celebrated novelist William Makepeace Thackeray).[2] His grandfather, the former British ambassador Sir Ralph Murray,[3] was from Scottish aristocracy and married into the Kuenberg family, Imperial Counts,[4] of the Holy Roman Empire. His patrilineal great-great-grandfather, Dr George Murray, was Bishop of Rochester,[5] while Sir Edward Leigh MP is his third cousin.[6] Al Murray is in remainder both to English and Scottish peerage titles, including the barony of Strange and the dukedom of Atholl.[7]

Murray was educated at Bedford School, where he was head boy,[8] and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he read Modern History.[9]

At Oxford he performed in the comedy group the Oxford Revue, in a show directed by Stewart Lee, later an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund Hall.[10]

Personal life and campaigning

Murray (left) with Paul Chambers (centre) and Stephen Fry (right) outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London on 27 June 2012

Murray married Amber Hargreaves in 2002. The couple, who have two daughters, Scarlett and Willow, separated in 2008.[11] Murray is a keen cricket fan,[12] and was invited to attend a farewell lunch for the England cricket team before their departure for the 2013–14 Ashes series.[13]

Murray, together with Stephen Fry, supported Paul Chambers' High Court appeals after Chambers had been arrested for contravening the Communications Act 2003 when a joke tweet was regarded by police as "menacing" and a terrorist threat. An appeal against Chambers' conviction was successful.[14]

In August 2014, Murray was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.[15]

Murray was awarded an honorary degree (Hon MA) by the University of Bedfordshire in 2014,[16] and an honorary Doctor of Social Science (PhD) by the University of Wolverhampton in 2017.[17]

Career in entertainment

Murray started out touring with fellow comedians including Harry Hill and Frank Skinner. He won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1999, after being nominated in 1996, 1997 and 1998.[18] He started out with an act that involved sound-effect impressions, including guns, animals and a car boot. With this act, he supported Jim Tavaré in Leeds in Winter 1992.

In 1994–95, he was the drummer in the band Evangelista,[19] the house band at Stewart Lee's and Simon Munnery's experimental Cluub Zarathustra in London.[19] Film maker Martin Pickles made a short film about the band in 2002. At this time the lead singer Reid described Murray as "he's still not a household name, but anyone who's into comedy knows who Al Murray is".[20]

The Pub Landlord

Murray's character is an English publican with conservative values and an animosity towards Germans and the French; he will challenge the audience to name any country in the world before producing some plausible instance of Britain bettering it. The character has a great love for the British 1970s rock band Queen, often getting musician(s) on his show to perform one of Queen's tunes in their own style.

The character first appeared in 1994 during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in the show "Pub Internationale", with Harry Hill[10] and Matthew Bradstock-Smith (who played "Little Alan" as well as the keyboards in Hill's Edinburgh, radio and TV shows). The show featured the "Pub Band", with Murray playing the drums and compering. After trying out a character deemed not to have worked, at the opening show Murray suggested saying that the compere had not made it to the show and that the barman in the venue, the Pleasance Cabaret Bar, had offered to fill in. At the Edinburgh Festival,[21] Murray came up with "The Pub Landlord".[22]

Murray made his first television appearances on Harry Hill in 1997 playing Harry's big brother Alan ("If it's too hard, I can't understand it!"), and subsequently featured in a short film, Pub Fiction. He made a brief appearance as the Pub Landlord in Series 2, Episode 6 of Lee and Herring's This Morning with Richard Not Judy. Murray's Pub Landlord theatre show, My Gaff, My Rules was short-listed for an Olivier Award in 2002.[23]

The Pub Landlord is the central focus of the television series Time Gentlemen Please, as well as a number of other television appearances, including the An Audience with... strand. Subsequent theatre tours were: ...And A Glass of White Wine for the Lady (another catchphrase) and Giving it Both Barrels.

The Pub Landlord has hosted several television programmes including Fact Hunt, named after the fictional quiz machine of the same name from Time Gentlemen Please,[24] the BBC One show Live at the Apollo and UKTV channel Dave's Compete for the Meat, which is co-hosted by Zöe Salmon, with voice-overs from Jim Rosenthal. His chat show Al Murray's Happy Hour began airing 13 January 2007 on ITV.[25] The show has won a British Comedy Award for "Best New Entertainment Comedy".[26] Murray was the headliner of a July 2009 episode of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, filmed at the Brighton Dome.[27]

From January 2006, the Pub Landlord filled in for Tim Lovejoy on Virgin Radio on Sunday afternoons, broadcasting his final show on 24 December 2006.[28]

The Pub Landlord has written four books: The Pub Landlord's Book Of British Common Sense, The Pub Landlord's Think Yourself British, The Pub Landlord's Great British Quiz Book, and Let's Re-Great Britain.

Other work

As a teenager, Murray was a drummer in the "big band" at Bedford School,[29] and also played percussion in the Bedfordshire County Youth Orchestra.[30] He played drums on the music for "The Pub Landlord" television series and during an appearance on "Happy Hour" by Phil Collins they performed a duet. He also plays the drums for the rock cover band T-34 and appeared at the Download Festival in 2010, returning once again in 2011.[31]

In 2003, Murray appeared on an episode of the BBC's Time Commanders alongside Kate Silverton, Raji James and Ricky Groves.

In 2004, Murray appeared as a contestant in the first series of Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay's cookery based reality show on ITV, and in 2005 appeared as a contestant on Comic Relief Does Fame Academy on BBC One.[32] Murray presented Al Murray's Road to Berlin on the Discovery Channel. This was a series about the last phase of the Second World War, taking him from the beaches of Normandy, through Arnhem and up the Rhine, ending in Berlin. In the series he drove around in a restored Willys Jeep, and interviewed survivors from both sides of the war. In the episode about Operation Market Garden he parachuted, together with veterans, from an aircraft, to commemorate the battle.[33][34]

Murray starred in Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder, a sketch show, which aired in early 2009.[35]

In late 2010, Murray made a documentary on German culture for BBC Four Al Murray's German Adventure in which he presented a different side of the German nation from the one portrayed by "The Pub Landlord" character.[36]

Also in 2010, Murray took part in "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" on Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson.[37]

Murray serves as patron of the Cambodian Children's Charity,[38] a development and relief charity for children in Cambodia.[39]

Murray became the host of the BBC Radio 5 Live show 7 Day Sunday in March 2011, succeeding Chris Addison, with the show later moving to Saturday (and associated name change).

Murray invented his own potato crisps – branded "Steak and Al Pie" – as entered in a "crisp competition" hosted by Gary Lineker, used to raise money for Comic Relief.[40] The other flavours were "Jimmy Con Carne" (Jimmy Carr), "Stephen Fry-Up" (Stephen Fry) and "Frank Roast Dinner" (Frank Skinner). The winner was Stephen Fry-up at 27%, with Al's in 2nd with 25%. The other two got 24% each.[41]

Murray sat in for Dermot O'Leary Saturday show on BBC Radio 2 on 3 September 2011 and 26 November 2011.

On 13 April and 26 July 2012 Murray guest-hosted the Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live. On the latter, he exchanged places with critic Mark Kermode to review the comedy Ted.

On 8 December 2012 Murray appeared on the ITV special The McFly Show starring British pop band McFly. He played the band's drummer in character as "The Pub Landlord" while playing the drums with McFly for their cover version of the Queen song "Don't Stop Me Now".[42]

On 1 January 2013 Murray was guest editor of Today on BBC Radio 4.

Since May 2013 Murray has hosted a show on Bauer's digital radio station Planet Rock called Defender of the Planet Rock Tradition.[43] And he also had a special guest star appearance in the children's comedy Horrible Histories.

In 2014 he appeared as Jon Westmore in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern. He also wrote and presented the TV documentary Al Murray's Great British Spy Movies on BBC Four. A fan of the rock band Genesis, Murray contributed to the BBC's documentary about the band Genesis: Together and Apart.[44]

In September 2015 Murray co-founded the British Drum Company.[45]

In August 2016 and March 2017 Murray sat in for Steve Wright on his Steve Wright in the Afternoon show on BBC Radio 2. In April 2016, Murray played Nick Bottom in Shakespeare Live, a celebration of 400 years of Shakespeare, opposite Judi Dench as Titania.[46]

Murray participated in series three of the comedy challenge show Taskmaster, which aired on Dave in 2017.[47]

In 2018 Murray starred in Pantomime at The New Wimbledon theatre as Jacks brother Al in Jack & The Beanstalk, He won 'Best Newcomer' at The Great British Pantomime Awards in April 2019 for this role.

Parliamentary candidacy

On 14 January 2015, Murray announced the formation of the Free United Kingdom Party (FUKP)[48] and declared his candidacy, deploying his Pub Landlord persona, for the seat of South Thanet[49] running against UKIP leader Nigel Farage, as parliamentary candidate in the 2015 general election.[50][51] Murray’s agent, Dan Lloyd, told the BBC: "it's definitely happening".[50] The party's logo is an upside-down pound sign,[52] not dissimilar to UKIP’s purple and gold pound sign.[53] Murray said: “it seems to me that the UK is ready for a bloke waving a pint around, offering common sense solutions", adding: “let it be known that like many of the parliamentary hopefuls in the forthcoming election, I have no idea where South Thanet is – but did that stop Margaret Thatcher from saving the Falkland Islands? No!”[54]

Farage appeared to welcome his new opponent on Twitter, saying "the more, the merrier", and a spokesperson for the UKIP MEP said: “at last, serious competition in the constituency”.[55] The Conservative candidate, Craig Mackinlay, said he enjoyed Murray's video and his proclamations but was not worried that the comedian would split the anti-UKIP vote.[56] Finally, the Labour candidate, Will Scobie, insisted it was "always good to have people putting their names forward to stand" and that Murray would "certainly make things interesting".[53] When nominations for South Thanet were released on 9 April 2015, it was confirmed that Murray would appear on the ballot paper with no description, rather than his FUKP name and emblem.[57][58][59]

The results of the election were announced on 8 May, revealing that Murray garnered 318 votes. This number of votes was higher than the average votes received by candidates from, amongst others, the Communist, Socialist and BNP parties.[60] When it was announced that Farage had failed to get elected, coming second in the poll to the Conservative candidate Craig Mackinlay, Murray's reaction – feigning shock and clapping on stage – garnered widespread media attention.[61] Speaking to the media during the vote count, Murray invited Farage to a drink in his pub to drown his sorrow at losing.[62]

Stand-up DVDs

TitleReleasedNotes
Live - My Gaff, My Rules24 November 2003Live at London's Playhouse Theatre
...And A Glass of White Wine for the Lady!: Recorded Live at the Playhouse London22 November 2004Live at London's Playhouse Theatre
Giving It Both Barrels: Live29 May 2006Live at London's Bloomsbury Theatre
Live at the London Palladium19 November 2007Live at London's Palladium Theatre
Beautiful British Tour: Live at the O216 November 2009Live at London's O2 Arena
Barrel of Fun: Live22 November 2010Live at London's Hammersmith Apollo
The Only Way Is Epic26 November 2012Live at Brighton's Theatre Royal
One Man, One Guvnor24 November 2014Live at Bath's Theatre Royal

Books

Title Published
The Pub Landlord's Book of British Common Sense 11 October 2007
The Pub Landlord's Think Yourself British 5 October 2009
The Pub Landlord's Great British Pub Quiz Book 28 October 2010
Watching War Films with My Dad 24 October 2013
Let's Re-Great Britain 1 April 2015[63]

References

  1. ↑ "The A-Z of laughter". The Guardian. London: Guardian Unlimited. 7 December 2003. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  2. ↑ Cavendish, Dominic (3 March 2007). "Prime time gentlemen, please". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  3. ↑ "Al Murray's Biography". Chortle. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  4. ↑ "Mauricette Vladimira Marie Reichsgräfin Kuenburg". The Peerage.com. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Burke's Peerage.
  6. ↑ Burke's Peerage. 2003.
  7. ↑ "Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage". 2015. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Harpurs Trust". BedfordBID.
  9. ↑ "Comedy Writers". St Edmund Hall.
  10. 1 2 "Al Murray". BBC Comedy. BBC. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  11. ↑ Irvine, Chris (10 October 2008). "Al Murray breaks up with wife". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  12. ↑ "Middlesex". Lords Taverners.org.
  13. ↑ "Long Room goodbye for England's Ashes squad". Lords.org. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  14. ↑ "Robin Hood Airport tweet bomb joke man wins case". BBC News Online. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  15. ↑ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. London. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  16. ↑ "Honorand Al Murray praises University of Bedfordshire diversity". University of Bedfordshire. 21 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "Honour for comedian Al Murray". University of wolverhampton. 22 September 2017.
  18. ↑ "Perrier Comedy Awards". Archived from the original on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  19. 1 2 Evangelista were Pat Reid (vocals), Martin Ellis (guitar), Paul Ewart (bass) and Al Murray (drums). Reid and Ellis were at school together in Crosby, Liverpool. Reid was at Oxford with Murray. The line up included different bass players of which Paul Ewart was the longest lasting.
  20. ↑ Fall Apart: The Evangelista Story (2002), at 1.40. http://www.gmfilm.co.uk/fall_apart.html%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D This comment lead to great audience amusement when the film was screened at Pickles' 45th birthday in London in 2013. Half of the band can be seen in a video by Pickles: https://vimeo.com/77492045 Pickles also produced an Evangelista CD in 2003 featuring Murray. Contrary to the film the press release claimed the band was active 1992-1995.
  21. ↑ "Al Murray - The Pub Landlord's Summer Saloon". edinburghfestival.list.co.uk.
  22. ↑ Stewart Lee discusses whether all of Murray's audience realise the character is satirical in his book How I Escaped My Certain Fate. London: Faber & Faber. 2010. pp. 293–294. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013.
  23. ↑ "2001-2002 26th Laurence Olivier Awards". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  24. ↑ "Pints mean prizes". Chortle. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  25. ↑ Naughton, Philippe. "When Harry met Murray". Times Online. London. Retrieved 7 January 2007. (Subscription required (help)).
  26. ↑ "The British Comedy Awards Past Winners". The British Comedy Awards. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  27. ↑ "Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow". BBC One. 6 April 2010.
  28. ↑ "Al Murray: Time Gentlemen Please". Virgin Radio. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  29. ↑ Potter, Laura (28 October 2007). "What would you save if your house was burning down?". The Guardian.
  30. ↑ "County Youth Orchestra". Friends of Bedfordshire Youth Music.
  31. ↑ "Download Festival - T34". Archived from the original on 19 January 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  32. ↑ "60 Seconds: Al Murray". Metro. DMG Media. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  33. ↑ "Landlord pulls in stars". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 25 January 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  34. ↑ "Putting the Al in altitude". Chortle. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  35. ↑ "Al Murray: His Gaff, His Rules". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  36. ↑ "Al Murray's German Adventure". BBC Four. 10 April 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  37. ↑ "Al Murray Top Gear Episode". topgearspecials.com.
  38. ↑ "The Cambodian Children's Charity ('CamKids')". Camkids.org. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  39. ↑ "CamBuild - Background". Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  40. ↑ Thompson, Jody (7 February 2011). "Do they taste funny? Jimmy Carr and Al Murray in crisp flavour battle for Comic Relief - with help from Gary Lineker". The Daily Mail.
  41. ↑ "Stephen Fry Up wins Walkers Clash of the Comics for Red Nose Day". Talking Retail. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  42. ↑ "About Al Murray". MTV.com.
  43. ↑ "Bauer hires Al Murray for Planet Rock". Radio Today. 7 August 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  44. ↑ Radford, Ceri (4 October 2014). "Genesis: Together and Apart, review: 'an entertaining riff'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  45. ↑ "About British Drum Co". British Drum Co. 6 January 2017.
  46. ↑ "Dame Judi leads Shakespeare Day gala finale". BBC News Online. 24 April 2016.
  47. ↑ "Taskmaster Series 3 line-up revealed". British Comedy Guide. 16 April 2016.
  48. ↑ Rose, James (3 February 2015). "Pub Landlord Al Murray visits Thanet as FUKP leader". Kent Online.
  49. ↑ Singh, Rajnish (22 January 2015). "Al Murray's eurozone crisis solution: 'Europe goes on the pound'". The Parliament Magazine.
  50. 1 2 "Al Murray to stand against UKIP's Nigel Farage". BBC News Online. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  51. ↑ almurray (14 January 2015). "The Guv's common sense message to the UK". YouTube.
  52. ↑ McTague, Tom (14 January 2015). "Pints for a penny and some Poles to brick up the Chunnel: Pub Landlord Al Murray sets out his FUKP pitch for Parliament... standing AGAINST Nigel Farage in Thanet". MailOnline.
  53. 1 2 Perraudin, Frances (14 January 2015). "Last orders for Nigel Farage? Pub Landlord takes on Ukip". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  54. ↑ "Watch: Al Murray Pub Landlord to take on Nigel Farage". The Daily Telegraph. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  55. ↑ "Al Murray Pub Landlord To Run Against Farage". Sky News. 14 January 2015.
  56. ↑ Steerpike (15 January 2015). "Al Murray in Twitter spat with Ukip MEP". The Spectator.
  57. ↑ "Election of a Member of Parliament: South Thanet Constituency". Thanet District Council. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  58. ↑ Nianias, Helen (9 April 2015). "Pub Landlord Al Murray uses fire engine to launch FUKP election campaign for South Thanet". The Independent.
  59. ↑ Bailes, Kathy (9 April 2015). "An A to Z of the elections in Thanet". Isle of Thanet Gazette. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015.
  60. ↑ Nianias, Helen (8 May 2015). "It's not just Nigel Farage: Al Murray the Pub Landlord loses South Thanet bid despite patriotic pledges". The Independent. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  61. ↑ Connor, Laura (8 May 2015). "Watch Al Murray's priceless reaction as UKIP leader Nigel Farage is beaten by Tories in his target seat". Daily Record. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  62. ↑ "Nigel Farage can drown his sorrows in my pub should he lose, says Al Murray - video". The Guardian. ITN. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  63. ↑ "Al Murray to publish a political tract". Chortle. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
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