{"id":8964,"date":"2026-02-19T09:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T09:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8964"},"modified":"2026-02-19T09:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T09:44:38","slug":"from-stoke-to-the-arctic-circle-john-murray-on-three-decades-behind-the-mic-with-the-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8964","title":{"rendered":"From Stoke to the Arctic Circle: John Murray on three decades behind the mic with the BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Even after covering matches across Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Europe, each season still manages to spring something new on Murray.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In January, he found himself surrounded by &#8220;snow-capped mountains&#8221; on a historic night inside the Arctic Circle as Norwegian minnows Bodo\/Glimt stunned Manchester City in the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Murray regards it as one of the most surreal nights of his career, likening the landscape to the 1983 Bill Forsyth film Local Hero, which was set in Scotland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I could see rooftops with snow on them from just outside the ground. It was such an unusual place,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;As I said at the time on the radio, it just had the feel of the film &#8216;Local Hero&#8217;. I was thinking, how are we here for a Champions League match?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;And not only that, but it helps when you get a match that is a real event. For them to beat Manchester City, Champions League winners only a few years ago, in the way that they did, that is part of package. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;When you get the match, as well as the setting, to describe as well. There weren&#8217;t many better examples than that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But it was much closer to home that Murray encountered what he described as the most &#8220;challenging&#8221; 90 minutes of his broadcasting career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In January 2021, eighth-tier Marine hosted Tottenham in the FA Cup third round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Ongoing Covid-19 restrictions meant matches were played behind closed doors, with broadcasters, journalists and a small number of other media personnel spread around the ground to adhere to social distancing guidelines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">For the first time, Murray was forced to commentate from behind the goal rather than his usual position along the touchline. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I was really uncomfortable about that because it just didn&#8217;t feel right,&#8221; he admits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Normally I&#8217;m side on, the teams are playing left to right, right to left. There I was commentating with one team coming at you and the other team going away from you. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It&#8217;s not an experience I&#8217;d particularity want to repeat again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even after covering matches across Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Europe, each season still manages to spring something new on Murray. In January, he found himself surrounded by &#8220;snow-capped mountains&#8221; on a historic night inside the Arctic Circle as Norwegian minnows Bodo\/Glimt stunned Manchester City in the Champions League. Murray regards it as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}