Al Murray
Murray as "The Pub Landlord" in 2011
Born (1968-05-10) 10 May 1968
Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, England
MediumStand-up, television, radio
Alma materSt Edmund Hall, Oxford
Years active1991–present
GenresCharacter comedy, political satire, insult comedy
Subject(s)British culture, British politics, World history, current events
Spouse
  • Katherine Perry
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1995; div. 2000)​
  • Amber Hargreaves
    ​
    ​
    (m. 2002; sep. 2008)​
Children3
Notable works and rolesAl Murray's Happy Hour
Time Gentlemen Please
Multiple Personality Disorder
Fact Hunt
Websitewww.thepublandlord.com

Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968), more commonly known as Al Murray, is an English comedian, actor, musician and writer.

Murray was born in Buckinghamshire, where his father worked for British Rail. His paternal grandfather was the diplomat Ralph Murray, while his maternal grandfather was killed at the Battle of Dunkirk.[1]

After graduating from the University of Oxford, his comedy career began by working with Harry Hill for BBC Radio 4. He regularly performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, before launching his "Pub Landlord" persona (which he describes as a "know-all know-nothing blowhard who knows the answer to every question even though he hasn't been asked any of them").[2] This led to the Sky One sitcom Time Gentlemen Please and the chat show Al Murray's Happy Hour for ITV.

In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2007 he was voted the 16th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. He continues to perform as a stand-up and is a regular on British TV and radio.

Early life and family background

Murray was born in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, the only son of a lieutenant colonel in 131 (Parachute) Regiment, Royal Engineers.[3] A descendant of the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray,[4][5] his grandfather was the former British ambassador Sir Ralph Murray,[6] from the Scottish aristocracy and married into the Kuenberg family, Imperial Counts of the Holy Roman Empire.

His patrilineal great-great-grandfather, George Murray, was Bishop of Rochester,[7] while Sir Edward Leigh MP is his third cousin.[8].

Murray was educated at Bedford School,[9]

He was in the Bedfordshire County Youth Orchestra, playing the percussion, which was based in Bedford; the orchestra played concerts with the Bedfordshire county choirs. This was under director Michael Rose. He also performed in the Bedfordshire second youth orchestra, in Dunstable. With the orchestra he performed in Spain, France and Scotland.[10]

At St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he read Modern History.[11] He later said of his time at school: "When I was nine I was sent to boarding school, which I despised. The first five years were hideous because I wanted to be at home. I guess I resented my parents a little and it put tons of distance between us. One of the things I took from boarding school is that it made me emotionally self-sufficient."[12]

At Oxford, Murray performed in the comedy group the Oxford Revue, in a show directed by Stewart Lee.[13]

Career

Having started out by touring with comedians such as Harry Hill and Frank Skinner, Murray won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1999, after being nominated in 1996, 1997 and 1998.[14] He started out with an act that involved sound-effect impressions, including guns, animals and a car boot. He made his first TV appearance on Channel 4's The Word in November 1991. With this act, he supported Jim Tavaré in Leeds in winter 1992.

In 1994–95, he was the drummer in the band Evangelista,[15] the house band at Stewart Lee and Simon Munnery's experimental Cluub Zarathustra in London.[15] Film maker Martin Pickles made a short film about the band in 2002. At this time the lead singer Reid said of Murray: "He's still not a household name, but anyone who's into comedy knows who Al Murray is".[16]

The Pub Landlord

Murray's principal character in performance is an English publican with conservative values and an animosity towards Germans and the French; he challenges audience members to name any country before producing some plausible instance of Britain bettering it. The character has a great love of 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 Fringe Festival, in the show "Pub Internationale", with Harry Hill[13] 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,[17] Murray came up with "The Pub Landlord".[18]

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.[19]

The Pub Landlord is the central character in the television series Time Gentlemen Please. He has made many other television appearances, including the An Audience with... strand. He hosted three series of Al Murray's Happy Hour in a peak Saturday evening time slot for ITV in 2007–08.

Theatre tours have included ...And a Glass of White Wine for the Lady (another catchphrase) and Giving it Both Barrels.

The Pub Landlord has hosted television programmes including Fact Hunt, named after the fictional quiz machine of the same name from Time Gentlemen Please.[20] In addition, the character has ghost 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

Murray has an interest in music and is a semi-professional drummer. As a teenager, he played in the big band at Bedford School,[21] and also played percussion in the Bedfordshire County Youth Orchestra.[22] He plays drums for the rock covers band T-34 and appeared at the Download Festival in 2010, returning once again in 2011.[23] Murray is a fan of the progressive rock bands Genesis, King Crimson and Yes.[24] He appeared in the documentary Genesis: Together and Apart,[25] and was announced as the host of the 2019 Progressive Music Awards for Prog magazine.[24]

Murray played in the Hampshire located Folk Rock band: Bemis[26] "Folk Rock That Breathes New life into The Spirit of Woodstock"

In 2013, Murray guest-starred in series 5 of children's show Horrible Histories.[27]

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. 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.[28][29]

Murray starred in Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder, a sketch show, which aired in early 2009.[30] 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.[31]

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. 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.[32]

In April 2016, Murray played Nick Bottom in Shakespeare Live, a celebration of 400 years of Shakespeare, opposite Judi Dench as Titania.[33] In 2018 he starred in pantomime at the New Wimbledon Theatre, as Jack's brother Al, in Jack and the Beanstalk, winning 'Best Newcomer' for this role, at the Great British Pantomime Awards in April 2018.[34] In 2016, Murray appeared in Taskmaster series 3.[35] He finished third overall.[36]

In October 2018, Murray fronted the History channel TV series Al Murray: Why Does Everyone Hate The English, appearing both as Al Murray and his alter-ego The Pub Landlord.[37] The series looks at the historical rivalries between England and its closest neighbours and features comedians Antoine de Caunes, Elis James, Andrew Maxwell, Fred MacAulay and Henning Wehn representing their respective nations.

In 2019, Murray starred as his own ancestor William Makepeace Thackeray in a three-part BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Vanity Fair by Jim Poyser, with additional material by himself.[38]

In April 2019, Murray started a podcast with historian James Holland called 'We Have Ways of Making You Talk', where they discuss battles and campaigns of World War II. Over 700 episodes have been released, including interviews with veterans and other historians, as well as Murray's narration of the book, 'The Cauldron' by Zeno.

In October 2021, Murray presented the Sky History programme Why Do the Brits Win Every War?[39] In each episode, Murray was joined by a different guest in examining conflicts against the Romans, Vikings, Scottish, French, Americans, and Germans. The programme features Bruno Tonioli, John Thomson, Sanjeev Kohli, Reginald D. Hunter, and Henning Wehn.

In 2023, Murray co-wrote with Matt Forde and Sean Foley and is a voiceover artist Idiots Assemble: Spitting Image The Musical based on the TV series Spitting Image, which premiered at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in February, before transferring to London's West End at the Phoenix Theatre in May for 13 weeks.

Murray played the part of King Charles II in The Crown Jewels, a humorous play written by screenwriter Simon Nye and performed at the Garrick Theatre in London in 2023, about Colonel Blood's theft of the Crown Jewels in 1671. The part of Blood was played by Aidan McArdle, and the cast also included Neil Morrissey and Mel Giedroyc.

Parliamentary candidacy

On 14 January 2015, Murray announced his formation of the "Free United Kingdom Party" (FUKP)[40] and declared his candidacy, deploying his Pub Landlord persona, for the seat of South Thanet[41] running against UKIP leader Nigel Farage, as parliamentary candidate in the 2015 general election.[42][43] Murray's agent, Dan Lloyd, told the BBC: "it's definitely happening".[42] The party's logo is an upside-down pound sign, not dissimilar to UKIP's purple and gold pound sign.[44] 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!”[45]

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".[46] 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.[47] 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".[44] 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.[48][49][50]

The results of the election were announced on 8 May, revealing that Murray received 318 votes.[51] 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.[52] Speaking to the media during the vote count, Murray invited Farage to a drink in his pub to drown his sorrow at losing.[53]

Political views and activism

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

Murray, together with Stephen Fry, supported Paul Chambers's 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's conviction was successful.[54]

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.[55]

Personal life

Murray married Amber Hargreaves in 2002. The couple, who have two daughters, separated in 2008.[56] He now resides in Chiswick.[57]

Murray is a keen cricket fan,[58] and was invited to attend a farewell lunch for the England cricket team before their departure for the 2013–14 Ashes series.[59]

Murray was awarded an honorary degree (Hon MA) by the University of Bedfordshire in 2014,[60] and an honorary Doctor of Social Science (PhD) by the University of Wolverhampton in 2017.[61]

Stand-up shows

Tours

YearTitleNotes
1999Late Lock-in '99
2000...And A Glass of White Wine for the Lady!
2001My Gaff, My Rules
2002–03Who Dares Wins
2003–05Giving it Both Barrels
2006...And Another Thing
2009Beautiful British Tour
2010–11Barrel of Fun
2012–13The Only Way Is Epic
2014–15One Man, One Guvnor
2016–17Let’s Go Backwards Together
2019–21Landlord of Hope & Glory
2022–23Gig for Victory
2023–24Guv Island

Comedy specials

Show 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[62]
The Last 100 Years (Give or Take) and All That 29 October 2020
Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War 13 October 2022

References

  1. ↑ "Ep 143: Dunkirk - Day Three". 28 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "Why politics is no joke | Al Murray | TEDxLondon" – via www.youtube.com.
  3. ↑ Watching War Films with My Dad by Al Murray
  4. ↑ Cavendish, Dominic (3 March 2007). "Prime time gentlemen, please". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 28 December 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  5. ↑ 143. Dunkirk - Day Three, retrieved 21 July 2021
  6. ↑ "Al Murray's Biography". Chortle. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  7. ↑ Burke's Peerage.
  8. ↑ Burke's Peerage. 2003.
  9. ↑ "Harpurs Trust". BedfordBID.
  10. ↑ Radio 3 interview
  11. ↑ "Comedy Writers". St Edmund Hall. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  12. ↑ Wintle, Angela (23 May 2014). "Al Murray: My family values". The Guardian (Interview). Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  13. 1 2 "Al Murray". BBC Comedy. BBC. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  14. ↑ "Perrier Comedy Awards". Archived from the original on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  15. 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.
  16. ↑ Fall Apart: The Evangelista Story (2002), at 1.40. 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.
  17. ↑ "Al Murray - The Pub Landlord's Summer Saloon". edinburghfestival.list.co.uk.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ "2001-2002 26th Laurence Olivier Awards". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 17 October 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
  20. ↑ "Pints mean prizes". Chortle. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  21. ↑ Potter, Laura (28 October 2007). "What would you save if your house was burning down?". The Guardian.
  22. ↑ "County Youth Orchestra". Friends of Bedfordshire Youth Music.
  23. ↑ "Download Festival - T34". Archived from the original on 19 January 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2011.
  24. 1 2 "Al Murray To Host This Year's Prog Awards!". Louder. 12 July 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  25. ↑ Radford, Ceri (4 October 2014). "Genesis: Together and Apart, review: 'an entertaining riff'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
  26. ↑ "Up The Bemis". YouTube. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021.
  27. ↑ "BBC - Horrible Histories - Media Centre". Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  28. ↑ "Landlord pulls in stars". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 25 January 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  29. ↑ "Putting the Al in altitude". Chortle. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  30. ↑ "Al Murray: His Gaff, His Rules". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  31. ↑ "Al Murray's German Adventure". BBC Four. 10 April 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  32. ↑ "Stephen Fry Up wins Walkers Clash of the Comics for Red Nose Day". Talking Retail. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  33. ↑ "Dame Judi leads Shakespeare Day gala finale". BBC News Online. 24 April 2016.
  34. ↑ "Pantomime Awards website". 18 October 2018.
  35. ↑ "Taskmaster series 3 episode overview". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  36. ↑ "Taskmaster Leaderboards". Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  37. ↑ "A+E Networks' History Asks 'Why Does Everyone Hate The English?' With Comedian Al Murray – Edinburgh". Deadline Hollywood. 22 August 2018.
  38. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Vanity Fair". BBC. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  39. ↑ "Al Murray: Why Do the Brits Win Every War?". Sky HISTORY TV channel. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  40. ↑ Rose, James (3 February 2015). "Pub Landlord Al Murray visits Thanet as FUKP leader". Kent Online.
  41. ↑ Singh, Rajnish (22 January 2015). "Al Murray's eurozone crisis solution: 'Europe goes on the pound'". The Parliament Magazine.
  42. 1 2 "Al Murray to stand against UKIP's Nigel Farage". BBC News Online. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  43. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: almurray (14 January 2015). "The Guv's common sense message to the UK". YouTube.
  44. 1 2 Perraudin, Frances (14 January 2015). "Last orders for Nigel Farage? Pub Landlord takes on Ukip". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  45. ↑ "Watch: Al Murray Pub Landlord to take on Nigel Farage". The Daily Telegraph. 14 January 2015. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  46. ↑ "Al Murray Pub Landlord To Run Against Farage". Sky News. 14 January 2015.
  47. ↑ Steerpike (15 January 2015). "Al Murray in Twitter spat with Ukip MEP". The Spectator.
  48. ↑ "Election of a Member of Parliament: South Thanet Constituency". Thanet District Council. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  49. ↑ Nianias, Helen (9 April 2015). "Pub Landlord Al Murray uses fire engine to launch FUKP election campaign for South Thanet". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 April 2015.
  50. ↑ 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.
  51. ↑ 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. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  52. ↑ 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.
  53. ↑ "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.
  54. ↑ "Robin Hood Airport tweet bomb joke man wins case". BBC News Online. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  55. ↑ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. London. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  56. ↑ Irvine, Chris (10 October 2008). "Al Murray breaks up with wife". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  57. ↑ "Al Murray: Why it doesn't matter that I am posh". 10 January 2017.
  58. ↑ "Middlesex". Lords Taverners.org. 20 April 2023.
  59. ↑ "Long Room goodbye for England's Ashes squad". Lords.org. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  60. ↑ "Honorand Al Murray praises University of Bedfordshire diversity". University of Bedfordshire. 21 November 2014.
  61. ↑ "Honour for comedian Al Murray". University of wolverhampton. 22 September 2017.
  62. ↑ "Al Murray to publish a political tract". Chortle. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
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