Murray was a talented linguist, he spoke many languages fluently including French, German, Italian, Spanish,
Greek, Hungarian and some Russian. Before the Second World War he worked for the
BBC as a journalist, having previously worked for a
Bristol newspaper. In 1935 he reported the
Saarland Plebiscite – and succeeded in broadcasting live during the 9 o'clock news holding a microphone out of the window to capture the chants of the mob – a major technical feat, and possibly the first time an international live outside broadcast had been undertaken. In common with many on the periphery of
Special Operations Executive (SOE), knowledge of his wartime service is hazy. He was most closely associated with propaganda, and from 1941 was a member of the Underground Propaganda Committee (UPC) which had been formed to fuel a whispering campaign to undermine any invasion. He was also associated with
Bletchley Park, and was involved in supporting resistance activity, notably, from 1943, of the Yugoslavian Partisans where he met
Josip Broz Tito. His wife Mauricette was involved in propaganda broadcasting to occupied Europe, notably to Sweden where she had spent several years as a child. In 1949 he became the director of the
Information Research Department (IRD), This organization, which had close links with SIS/
MI6, was formed by
Clement Attlee in 1947 to carry on the work of the wartime "Political Warfare Executive", itself closely affiliated with
SOE. At that time the intention was to promote a socialist Britain as an international third way, although in practice its resources were mainly devoted to attacking Communism and the Soviet Union. During this time Murray coined the phrase "Communo-fascism" to emphasize the similarity between Soviet communism and the Nazis. In a pattern that was later to be repeated, Murray was appointed
Minister at the British Embassy in
Cairo in Egypt during the tense run up to the
Suez Crisis in 1956. Personally fond of, and having some admiration for, President
Nasser, he found himself in the invidious situation of having considerable distaste for the policy he was required to implement. Murray was knighted in 1962 (, 1950), when he was appointed
British Ambassador to Greece. He held this post until 1967 and the right wing coup of the
Greek Army Colonels which led to the formation of the
Greek military junta of 1967-1974. He appears to have been frustrated with the passivity of the British government's actions both in the lead up to the coup of which there was some intelligence foreknowledge, and its ineffectual response. In particular he had little regard for
George Brown, the then
Foreign Secretary. He retired from HM diplomatic service in 1967, when he was appointed a
BBC governor. ==Family==