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Colin Murray
Colin Murray at Live 8, July 2005
Born	10 March 1977 (1977-03-10) (age 33) Castlereagh, Northern Ireland
Occupation	Radio and Television Presenter
Known for	His night-time BBC Radio 1 show, Presenting Fighting Talk on BBC Radio Five Live, Sports presenting on Five
Website Radio 1 profile

Colin Murray (born 10 March 1977) is a BBC radio presenter and Channel Five television presenter from the Ballybeen estate in Dundonald, Castlereagh, Northern Ireland.^[1]

Early life

He was born in Dundonald Hospital (Ulster Hospital). He was educated at the Regent House Grammar School in Newtownards and later at Dundonald High School^[2]. He studied Journalism. He started his working life as a news reporter for the Northern Ireland newspaper, The News Letter. He also spent six months working for a newspaper in Toronto, Canada. He set up a music magazine called Blank, which merged with Bassline to form BBM.

Radio

Radio 1

Colin Murray joined BBC Radio 1 with Donna Legge in 1999 as one of the original hosts of The Session in Northern Ireland. Their show was broadcast every Thursday night between 8.00 and 10.00 in Northern Ireland only, focusing on the best new music from the province. They quickly built a good rapport and went on to deputise for John Peel, Steve Lamacq and Mary Ann Hobbs. By 2001 Murray was also branching out into deputising for daytime radio hosts, and in October 2001 he spent two weeks filling in on Late Drive for Dave Pearce.

In December 2002 Murray was unveiled as the replacement to Steve Lamacq on the Evening Session. However, this move was only a temporary measure by Radio 1 since in July 2003 XFM signing Zane Lowe took over the 8-10 pm slot on a full time basis.

Partnership with Edith Bowman on Radio 1

By late 2003, Murray had teamed up with Edith Bowman (his former co-host from RI:SE) to host the Colin and Edith show. From September 2003, the show went out between 10am and 1pm every Saturday and Sunday in the slot shared between Vernon Kay (Saturdays) and Sara Cox (Sundays). During his partnership with Bowman they also deputised for Sara Cox on the Breakfast Show. Murray also presented a late night music show on Channel 4, under the 4music strand. The show, Ear Candy, was a mix of music, interviews and comedy skits.

By March 2004, Colin and Edith moved to weekday daytimes taking over the Lunchtime Show from Mark and Lard. On their 2 years on the Lunchtime Show, they grew their audiences to 5 million - a 10 year high. In June 2006, Radio 1 announced that Colin and Edith would part company, with the latter continuing on the lunchtime show solo and Murray taking over a new weeknight 10pm - Midnight show, once held by John Peel.

Late night show

The late night show began on 25 September 2006 and includes a mix of new music and alternative classics. Features include 'In The Company Of' on Mondays, the 'Audio Bully' on Tuesdays, the 'Midweek Mobile Disco' on Wednesdays and 'Wax On Wax Off' on Thursdays. His newest feature is called 'Audio Bully', which replaced the Black Hole. The show was usually live, unless Murray did a football match on Five, in which case Nihal would cover. The Colin Murray show came to an end on the 28 May 2009, after Murray announced his resignation, with Nick Grimshaw taking over the Radio One 10-12 timeslot and Murray moving onto BBC Radio 5 Live to do a boxing show. His last show came to a close with Colin, by special permission, playing The Man Don't Give A Fuck by Super Furry Animals^[3]. This meant that Murray's last ever word as a Radio 1 DJ was 'fuck'; although not listed on Radio One online.

Radio Five Live

Murray currently presides over BBC Radio Five Live's Fighting Talk, a sports-related, comedy panel game. He is known as the 'Fifth and the best Contestant' due to his desire to be a guest rather than a host. He has deputised for both Simon Mayo and Julian Worricker on Five Live

It was announced on 18 March 2009 that Murray would leave Radio 1 to expand his work at Five Live in August 2009, hosting 5 Live Sport on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons. He will continue his role as Fighting Talk host.^[4]

Radio Ulster

Colin also has presented a show on Radio Ulster from 2 February 2008^[5] which is broadcast on Friday evenings 10pm til midnight as part of the "Late with..." strand on the station.

Recognition

On 30 April 2007, he won a gold award at the 25th Sony Radio Academy Awards for Music Broadcaster Of The Year. He is one of the various people thanked on the Final Straw and Eyes Open albums by Snow Patrol, being one of the first DJs to give the band national airplay.

Television

RI:SE

By 2002 he had caught the eye of Channel 4 and in February 2002 ceased deputising at Radio 1 to host Channel 4's Morning Show - RI:SE. However, RI:SE was a ratings failure.

Sport on TV

In 2003, he became the new co-presenter of late-night American Football on five, with expert pundit Mike Carlson. However he had to leave in the fourth week of the 2007 season due to his new work commitments at Radio 1 with a show that finishes at midnight (an hour before the NFL on five starts).

He also commentates broadcasts of the European Poker Tour, alongside John Duthie. He appeared alongside Edith Bowman on Sky Sports 1's hit show Soccer AM.

He is also the curiously-attired anchorman for Five's UEFA Cup coverage, often alongside Pat Nevin, who resides in the production truck, and John Barnes who has moved to the roving reporter role.^[6] He is as well known for his coat as he is for his anchorwork.

As of 2010, Colin also presents coverage of the BDO World Darts Championship on BBC.

Other TV Work

He has presented reports for Jo Whiley's The Cut and presented EastEnders Revealed on BBC Three. He has recently begun presenting Street-Cred Sudoku on UKTV G2. When the Red Bull Flugtag was held in Belfast, Colin Murray was the presenter.

Other TV work has included presenting shows on BBC Three — including Glastonbury coverage — and Channel 4, and presented Born Sloppy with Sara Cox.

He performed in Comic Relief does Fame Academy in March 2007 where he finished 5th. Johnny Vaughan took over the Fighting Talk hotseat for one day only in place of Colin Murray on 10 March 2007 and DJ Nihal stood in for him on Radio 1 from 7 March to 15 March. In May 2007 Colin filmed a series of twenty new quiz shows with production company Twofour for Channel Five, called Payday, in which eight contestants battle to win a year's salary.

In March 2009, he was the Dictionary Corner guest on the Channel 4 game show Countdown. He made a second appearance in September 2009.

He competed in the Celebrity Masterchef competition on Wednesday 17 June 2008 on BBC2, but failed to reach the next round, much to the amusement of Scott Mills, a fellow Radio 1 DJ.

Other activities

In October 2009, Colin became a published author, releasing his first book, A Random History of Football on Orion Publishing.

Colin supports his boyhood team Linfield FC and the Northern Ireland national football team. He also serves as Football for All ambassador for the Irish Football Association.^[7]

Whilst living in Canada, he became a fan of the baseball team Toronto Blue Jays. On a 2007 visit he endorsed the CCRFC, the rugby team of Christ's College, Cambridge, who were on tour there.^[8]

His passions involve the NFL (specifically, the Chicago Bears), poker, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestling, boxing and his love of Liverpool FC.^[9] Murray had five stars tattooed on his arm when Liverpool won the European Cup for the fifth time. He showed his love for WWE by presenting an edition of the Colin & Edith show, with a cardboard cut-out of Trish Stratus, in place of his absent co-presenter. He co-directed Chris Cox 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival Show, Everything Happens for a Reason.^[10]

He also DJs at students' union events around the country. He was the first ever act to perform (DJ) at the University of Central Lancashire's new Students' Union building, 53 Degrees, at its opening in 2005.^[11]

Colin featured on a documentary film, Lord Don't Slow Me Down, of British rock 'n' roll giants Oasis. He doesn't appear in the actual film, but he presents the band commentary that is an extra on the film's DVD. He also presented an interview with Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher on a DVD called 'Lock The Box' which was made in conjunction with the 2006 'best of' Oasis album entitled Stop The Clocks.

Colin has also compèred at the Leeds Festival since 2004.

Colin has been the main driving force behind the campaign to get the song We're All Going To Die by Malcolm Middleton to Christmas Number One single. He appeared on BBC news programmes to promote the single.

On his last Radio 1 show, he spoke about his dislike for pan pipe music. He also spoke of his annoyance at talking at gigs, as well as his acute fear of daddy long legs. He revealed on the "Vinyl Special" edition of his Radio 1 show on 1 May 2008, that the first single he bought was Agadoo by Black Lace.^[12]

Throughout Scotland, Murray is probably most famous for his stand-out performance as Shane MacGowan on Scotland’s regional version of Stars in Their Eyes, presented by Fergie Donaldson.

References

External links

• BBC Press Office: Colin Murray biography
• Colin Murray's Radio 1 Webpage
• Colin Murray at the Internet Movie Database
• Fighting Talk
• Street Cred Suduko
• Colin Murray interview with channelbee