Hampshire Formula One legend Murray Walker says he almost punched racing star James Hunt while they were commentating together.

The commentator, who lives near Fordingbridge, revealed that he became “incandescent with rage” when Hunt seized the microphone from him.

The 90-year-old told Desert Island discs that the incident happened as he was commentating during a televised Grand Prix with the former Formula One champion.

Daily Echo:

He said: “We were oil and water. I was standing up and James was sitting down and I was giving it plenty.

“James saw the old boy had been talking long enough and he gave the microphone wire a terrific tug.

“The microphone flew out of my hands and into his.

“I had my fists back to give him a fourpenny one because I was absolutely incandescent with rage.”

Daily Echo:

But as he prepared to hit out he saw his producer, Mark Wilkin “wagging his finger at me, saying ‘No Murray, don’t’, so I didn’t and what turned out to be a good friendship was retained.”

They continued to work together until Hunt’s death at 45 in 1993.

The star, a legendary hellraiser as well as a successful driver, was the subject of the film Rush, released last year.