Eric Liddell: A Champion's Life

Races are run and races are won. Records set and broken. Olympic

stars rise to eclipse those who have shone in the past. There are

also examples of athletic endeavour that endure. Eric Liddell's Olympic

achievements have stood the test of time. Yes, others have run faster,

but no-one embodies the spirit of Eric Liddell inspired the movie

charities of fire, with its iconic opening scenes on the seafront at

St Andrews. The film tells the story of a man who put God before

the chance of Olympic glory and still won a Gold Medal. His

character is captured brilliantly Eric Liddell was one of the fastest

men in the world in the early 1920s. As the Usain Bolt of his day he was

Britain's best hope for the 100 metres final at the Paris Olympics.

But there was a problem, the qualifying heats were to be run on

a Sunday. As the son of a Christian missionary, Eric Liddell would not

compete on the Sabbath. For him, it was non- negotiable. He pulled out

of what should have been the race of his life. Eric Liddell is as

famous for the race he refused to run as for the race that won him

Olympic gold. But it wasn't just in Paris in 1924 that he put principle

before personal ambition. That's how Eric Liddell lived his life.

He lived a few years of that life in Scotland's capital city. These

days, Edinburgh is home to a Christian charity founded in his

honour. The care for the elderly and look after an archive

illuminates the life of the man. These are toys Eric Liddell played

with as a child, more than a century ago. They are of oriental

origin and so was Eric. This great son of Scotland started life 5,000

miles from his homeland. He was born to Scottish missionary parents

in conflict ridden China in 1902. To find out more about that

childhood, I spoke to his biographer, who is also a colleague.

At the time that Eric was born, China was just recovering from the

boxer rebellion, which was an uprising basically against

foreigners and foreign intervention during which hundreds of Western

missionaries were quite casually slaughtered. In the face of that,

these missionaries, like Eric's father James Liddell, continued to

go right into the centre of it and work with the Chinese people.

was to this dangerous work that Eric would dedicate his own life,

bringing education, health care and the Bible to the Chinese people.

First he had to acquire an education of his own. For that,

six-year-old Eric and older brother Rob were sent to boarding school in

England. It was at Eltham college that the Liddell boys learned to

love sport. Take your marks, set... GUN FIRES

There's a look of determination on their face. That's right. I don't

know whether they've all learned that from Eric's finishing strides.

I'm not sure the heads are back. Nofrpblgts, not enough.

Do you look up to him? It's fair to say. Charities of fire and things,

he's quite a well known figure round the world. So it's nice that

you're part of school where he's been. I think we do. Our school

maintains strong cultural links with China because Eric Liddell

grew up in what is now Tianjin in China. We have a link with a school

there and so we maintain contact with them as part of our heritage

from Eric Liddell. You were really fast and determined. Could you have

taken Liddell? No, I don't think. So I've got a bit more training for

that. He played all sorts of sport. He was keen on his rugby and went

on to play for Scotland. Sportsday as well was a big day for him. We

know in 1918 he and his brother more or less carried off the first

and second prizes in most of the running races. Eric's rugby career

continued to flourish at Edinburgh University. As a science

undergraduate, he was repeatedly capped for the Scottish

international side. He gave it all up to concentrate on his running,

even if he looked a most unlikely sprint champion. He had this

tremendously ungainly style and sort of ran like this. You would

think, how is that going to propel this man? But he used that style to

get him to the finishing line faster than everybody else. They

used to sit in the stands and think, goodness, that wasn't a very good

start. He's never going to make it. Then they would say, but his heads

not back yet. Sure enough, when the head went back, people used to say

how can he see. His wife said, "Eric, when you run like that, how

can you see where you're going?" He said, "Ah, I could see. I could

see." Liddell's legend lit a flame of Olympic ambition in another

great Scottish sprinter. So who better to assess his running style.

I had a chance to see it today and it really is inadequate to be

honest. It's inefficient. In some ways I see some similarities with

arm action with the east Germans when they used to run, certainly

one or two of the women. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but his legs,

technically he wasn't driving off the back. Because he wasn't driving

off the back, his hips were low. It tells you that there was quite a

bit more there, I think. But he wasn't the most athletic person to

look at either. This sculpture at Edinburgh University captures Eric

in full flight. He may not have been the most streamlined runner,

but having arms like windmills never held him back. The only thing

that stopped him competing was his own clear cut religious conviction.

Eric would not run on a Sunday, amen. We decided to invite you in

for a chat to see if there's any way we can resolve the situation.

There's only one way to resolve the situation, that's for this man to

change his mind and run. Don't state the obvious. We have to

explore ways where we can help this young man reach that decision

afraid there are no ways, Sir. I won't run on the Sabbath and that's

final. It's hard to imagine another athlete taking the same stand today.

Eric's eldest daughter is convince today was the only decision her

father could have made. He used to say, I'm not setting up rules for

other people. These are my rules. I'm not going to do it. And he

certainly wasn't going to give up his principles for a Gold Medal. I

really firmly believe that if under some big circumstances he had been

convinced to run on the Sunday, I don't think he would have got the

gold. I think it would have been ashes in his mouth. His passion for

the race would have gone. He would not have stayed up to his

principles and so, the medal would have just not materialised. News of

Eric's decision caused a sensation. Walking away from his best chance

of an Olympic medal may not have been a difficult decision for Eric

Liddell, but it shocked his peers, the public and the press. And a

critical crowd of reporters came to his door here at Edinburgh

University to confront him. Eric's flat mate at that time recalled the

backlash in an earlier BBC interview. I remember very well how

they came to George Square, the hostel where we were together there.

They hammered on the door, demanding to see him. On one

occasion it was my job to go down and try to clear them off. At that

time, they were quite menacing almost and there were cries of

"he's a traitor to his country". Eric's firm stand for his faith was

widely misunderstood. His sacrifice mistaken for selfishness. Despite

the criticism, he continued to train, pounding the path opposite

his university flat. He wouldn't compromise his principles to please

the crowd. Instead he switched distance. He put all he had into

proving himself as a 400 metre man. Eric's performance in Paris was

world beating. Here in the university's display cabinets is

the evidence. The gold plating might have worn off, but this is an

Olympic gold for the 400 metres and it says along the side "won by EH

Liddell". Not only that he also picked up a bronze for the 200

metres. These weren't his best distances and neither of these

medals was he expected to win. was able to convert from 100 metres

sprinter to a 400 metre man. You can't do that in a year. You can't

do that in a couple of years maybe, but maybe three years you could

probably do justice to it, but for him to do it in such a short period

of time was exceptional. It would be exceptional, I'm talking about

nowadays. It would be exceptional nowadays.

I believe God made me for a purpose. But he also made me fast. I'm going

Eric was about heart. Steel is tickly, Eric was a terrible runner,

but -- stylistically Eric was a terrible runner, but it was, it was

about heart. Every now and then you watch a race, and every now and

then there's an athlete who goes beyond just being stylistically or

well trained, who you know is running purely on guts. Eric, I

think was a guts runner. Whatever drove him to victory, he came home

an Olympic hero. Within a week, he was carried shoulder high through

Edinburgh on his graduation day. His new-found celebrity attracted

large crowds to hear him speak at religious meetings. Eric Liddell,

Eric was not interested in pursuing fame and fortune at home. He was

determined to promote his faith abroad - in the country and city of

his birth. When Eric arrived here in Tianjin, it was a bustling

international port. For 12 years he taught sciences at a Christian

school and threw himself into the life of the sti. Almost a century

on, it is still possible possible to trace his influence. Eric

Liddell helped design this athletic stadium and won one of his last

gold medals on this track. But they are taking this place apart piece

by piece to make way for a commercial development in fast-

changing China. There are those here who remember China in the days

before shopping malls and skyscrapers. Those who were

educated at the TACC, the Anglo- Chinese college where Eric worked.

One former student is Mr Yu, known to his Western friends as "William".

He was given the name by Eric. Mr Yu. Hello. Very good to meet you.

Welcome. Now, 86, he remembers how Eric helped him win the chance of a

full education. I said, "How can you help me?" "I will give you two

books. One books is English reader named step by step English reader

that Mr Eric Liddell gave to me. The other book is conversation. He

told me, "You study this couple of books, these two books, you maybe

can enter the TACC." Then I get the entrance examination to TACC.

you have got in without his help? Maybe - I think it's very, very

difficult, because I was English very poor. In tribute to his former

teacher, William wrote the first biography of Eric in Chinese.

was a very, very good teacher for me. He was very, very - there is

nobody can compare to my former teacher. William worked on his book

with another local man who researched Eric's time in Tianjin

and who has uncovered some interesting new information. This

is the old European quarter of Tianjin, and for years it was

thought that Eric Liddell and his family made this their home. In

fact, until last year, there was a plaque up here saying that this was

Liddell's former house. But according to the latest research,

it could be we've got it wrong. Mr Yeo is a local historian here. He's

been telling me that in fact the Liddell family probably lived up

the street. It took a short walk to discover the new address. I think

this is the one. We can't be 100% sure because street names and even

the numbers of the houses here have changed. But a missionary life

would have been pretty comfortable here. Certainly far more

comfortable than Eric Liddell's life in China would become. There

were happy times. In 1934, Eric married a Canadian, Florence

MacKenzie. They soon had two daughters. Family life would be

severely disrupted by war. In 1937, Eric accepted a much more dangerous

job. He left the city to serve as a minister in the village of

Siaochang. It was a battleground in the violent struggle between

Chinese Communists and Nationalists, a frontline in their shared

campaign to repel the invading army of Japan. China was no longer safe,

so Florence and the children sailed for Canada. Eric stayed put. In

1984, Florence described their parting. Eric put Patricia on his

knee, I guess Heather was only three years old. And he took both

the girls and he said, "Tricia, I want you to look after Mummy with

Heller and with the new baby and you just take care of Mummy." She

was five years old, she wasn't quite six. And she was very a very

solemn little thing, she said, "Yes, Daddy, I'll look after Mum until

you come back." And that's what she has done ever since. All three

daughters have been a real blessing to me. He took me on his knee and

he said, "Tricia, I want you to be a good girl. I want you to be

responsible. I want you to look after my mother, your Mother, until

I come back." I said, "I will, I will do exactly that." And it

wasn't until years later when I heard my mother repeat that story

that I realised what a huge impact that had made on me. At four, it

never crossed my mind that this was a separation that was going to last

forever. No. It's another example of self-sacrifice. Eric sense his

family to safety, and stayed behind to help the Chinese people. It was

a fateful decision. It brought him here, to the stay of Weifang, and

the most challenging circumstances of his life. What is now a school

for 2,000 Chinese teenagers was in World War Two, a Japanese prison

camp for up to 2,000 Westerners. Eric was one of them. While

visiting the site, I met 93-year- old Xiao Yulan. She remembers how

local people tried to help the internees.

TRANSLATION: At that time, those believers in Jesus donated money

for buying food and supplements for the people in the camp. They

secretly delivered them into the camp. But that was a hard time, so

the help was limited. Eric spent the last two years of his life as a

prisoner of the Japanese. He taught children, organised sports and help

those who needed it. By now, his Olympic triumph was almost 20 years

past. His heroism was never further to the fore. His tireless service

to others touched fellow internees deeply. Stephen Metcalf was a

teenager, with nothing to wear on his feet when he met Eric. He was

somebody who really cared. He said to me, "Steve, it's now January,

and your shoes are completely worn out." He said, "I would like to

give you these. You may be able to get three or four weeks out of

them." And he had them wrapped up, his running shoes, in a cloth, I

think it was. Towards the end of 1944, people started to notice a

difference in Eric. He seemed slower, more tired. He said, "I

don't know what's going on in my head." He said, "Something it's

something frightening." It was about two weeks would it be before

he died, that he went into hospital. And people were talking, clearly,

about he had a brain tumour. 21st February, 1945, Eric sent this

telegram to his wife. In it he says he suffered a slight nervous

breakdown and needs rest. That night, in this building, Eric died.

His friend and fellow internee, Annie Buchan, was with him at the

end. He just suddenly said, "Annie, it's complete surrender" and that

was his last breath. And he just went into a coma. And he never

recovered. He had been a man that was surrendering to God all his

life through and I don't believe it cost him much to say complete

surrender, you see, because he knew I used to wonder, you know, why?

Why didn't he just come home with us? It would have certainly made

our lives better, and I didn't really understand it until I

started meeting people who had been children in the camp, and there

were something like 500 children in that camp without their parents. So

the teachers and people like my Dad were very, very important to them,

and I could see the big picture. It mattered that he was in that camp.

It made life a lot better for a lot of people and a lot of children.

The children in the camp called him "Uncle Eric" and today they learn

about him at the school here. TRANSLATION: This part of history

is a great treasure for all our school. We can see the great value

of humanity, especially in Eric Liddell's stories. When a stunt

enrols, they have half a week to learn about the school, including

half a day to learn about the history of the Weinsehen camp. We

kept the course from when the school was founded and the students

learn much from the course. Eric is buried in the camp grounds. No-one

knows exactly where. But in front of the building in which he died, a

memorial stone tells his story in English and Chinese. Weifang has

adopted Eric Liddell as one of its own. Most of his life was lived in

China. That's very special. So we just regard Mr Eric Liddell as a

good friend. Is it true that in China people think of Eric Liddell

as the first Chinese Olympic gold medallist? LAUGHTER It's not a joke,

but we partly think he was the number one, the first golden medal

winner, that was born in China. We are very proud of Mr Eric Liddell.

And Weifang is doing Eric proud. The city's planning a new museum

with his room in the internment camp re-created inside. A rare

tribute from Communist China to a Christian missionary. There's

nothing comparable in the UK. Outside China, the biggest memorial

to Eric Liddell is the movie he inspired. The story of Eric and his

great rival, Harold Abrahams, has been re-released in cinemas to

coincide with the London Olympics. It will bring Eric's example to a

new generation and it's clearly about more than what it takes to

win gold. He was an ambassador, an ambassador for all that is - all

that is good and modest and sweet and strong in the human character,

and perhaps we can say too in the Scottish personality. I would love

to see the Scottish Government sponsor some Eric Liddell

scholarships. They needn't again just be about sport. They could be

about the values, the sheer humanity that Eric displayed.

influence Eric's had on Olympians has certainly been profound. After

winning the 100, we had the press conference. We are in the press

conference and I have to say it was an Englishman that stood up and he