Chariots of Fire: 40 Years on

Chariots of Fire:

40 Years on

Eric Liddell, the most famous Old Elthamian, was inducted into Scottish Rugby’s Hall of Fame in January. March will see the 40th anniversary of the success at the Oscars of the film Chariots of Fire, which tells the story of his gold medal win at the Paris Olympics in 1924. Andrew Beattie, School Archivist, looks back at the film – and at Liddell’s enduring legacy.

March 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the film Chariots of Fire being honoured at the 54th Academy Awards. In the ceremony that took place on March 29, 1982, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, presided over by the legendary American talk show host Johnny Carson, the film won Oscar awards for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Costume Design. It was also nominated in several other categories, including Best Director. →

Despite not ‘sweeping the board’ it was a remarkable achievement for its producer, David Puttnam, who collected the Best Picture award. The screenplay award went to Colin Welland, who had previously written a number of television scripts as well as the 1979 film Yanks. The Greek composer, Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou (better known as ‘Vangelis’), picked up the music award for his iconic, synthesiser-based score. Milena Canonero – whose credits stretch over half a century from Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1971) to last year’s The French Dispatch (directed by the American director Wes Anderson) – picked up the award for costume design.

The connection to Eltham College is that the film tells the story of Eric Liddell and his rivalry with fellow British athlete, Harold Abrahams. Both men were runners in the British team at the 1924 Paris Olympics, though both competed for different reasons: Eric Liddell, the son of missionary parents, was a devout Christian who ran for the glory of God, while Harold Abrahams ran to overcome the anti-Semitic prejudice he had faced at Cambridge University and elsewhere. One of the most famous episodes recounted by the film is when Eric pulled out of the heats for the 100 metres, his favoured race, as they were scheduled on Sunday (the Sabbath), and instead entered for the 400 metres, where he duly won gold.

Chariots of Fire is not, however, a biopic about Eric Liddell: it is Harold Abrahams’ story as much as it is Liddell’s. The film concentrates entirely on the 1924 Olympics and the lead-up to it; there is nothing about Liddell’s schooldays or his mission work in China. However, when the film was released in May 1981, it understandably caused something of a stir at Liddell’s old school. The Elthamian of that year noted that there was a private showing for pupils and staff at the Empire, Leicester Square on a school day, with a half-holiday arranged for pupils. Lower Sixth pupil Christopher Vaughan wrote that he was ‘one of six boys privileged to attend the film’s Royal Premier’, adding: ‘what seemed at first likely to be “just another film about a great athlete” became one of the most interesting and exciting evenings of my life, not only because of the presence of the actors, the director, Her Majesty the Queen Mother and countless other celebrities, but also because of the whole atmosphere surrounding the occasion, an air of expectancy, of emotion and of solemn respect. Underlying the glamour was the feeling that we were paying our last tributes to two of Britain’s finest athletes.’

In July 1982, Christopher Porteous, then Headmaster, invited David Puttnam and Colin Welland to attend the Summer Reunion for OEs at the school as VIP guests, a few months after the Oscar ceremony. Colin Welland – who gave Eric Liddell the memorable line ‘I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel

Eric Liddell during his 1932 visit to the school when he distributed prizes on Sports Day (80 years later at the 2012 Sports Day his daughter was to perform the same role). Beside him is Mrs Turberville, the wife of Geoffrey Turberville (Headmaster 1930-59)

Emma Pover’s sculpture of Eric Liddell in the foyer of the Sports Centre, showing Eric in his characteristic running pose, with his head thrown back.

WHEN THE FILM WAS RELEASED IN MAY 1981...THE ELTHAMIAN OF THAT YEAR NOTED THAT THERE WAS A PRIVATE SHOWING FOR PUPILS AND STAFF AT THE EMPIRE, LEICESTER SQUARE ON A SCHOOL DAY.

Guests of Honour at the OE Summer Reunion, 1982. Left to right: Mrs Jenny Somerville (sister of Eric Liddell), Arthur Green (President, Old Elthamians Association), Colin Welland (Chariots of Fire screenwriter, holding a brochure for the school’s 1982 rugby tour to Canada), Mrs Porteous, Mr Porteous (Headmaster 1959-83) and David Puttnam (Chariots of Fire producer)

Colin Welland (left) and David Puttnam photographed on the steps at the front of the school during their visit in 1982 His pleasure’ – was a well-known figure at the time: he was reputable writer and had acted in a number of TV dramas in the 1970s, as well as appearing in a major role in the 1969 film Kes. David Puttnam would go on to be a true British film mogul, producing films into the mid 1990s and even running a major Hollywood studio, Columbia Pictures, in the late 1980s. In 1997 he was created a life peer, becoming Baron Puttnam of Queensgate, with a special interest in education. He retired from the House of Lords in October last year. He has maintained his association with the school throughout this time, having been a Guest of Honour at the 1999 Speech Day and speaking at a dinner marking the 100th anniversary of the school’s move to Mottingham in January 2012.

The film has as much of an enduring legacy as Eric Liddell’s Olympic triumph. In 1999 it ranked 19th in the British Film Institute’s (BFI) list of the best British films of the 20th century. In July 2012 the BFI part-funded a re-release of the film in UK cinemas, just two weeks before the opening of the London Olympics. In the same year one of the actors in the film, Nigel Havers, whose character Lord Andrew Lindsay challenges Harold Abrahams to a running race around the Great Court of Trinity College, Cambridge, presented a documentary for ITV entitled The Real Chariots of Fire. Havers filmed at the school for a day, in the Chapel (where he talked with Peter Swaffield, then Chaplain) and in the corridor with the sports team photos. The programme is easy to find on YouTube. Also in that year Patricia Liddell Russell, Eric’s daughter, visited the school, presenting awards at Sports Day and opening the new College Meadow Pavilion. In response to the induction of her father into Scottish Rugby’s Hall of Fame in January 2022 (the centenary of him gaining his first cap for Scotland) she remarked that, ‘When my father’s sporting achievements are remembered, often no mention is made that he played seven times for Scotland and scored a number of tries. Once he got the ball, he would be very difficult to catch. He was clearly a very much appreciated member of the team… I say a profound thank you to all who have been involved in arranging this honouring of my father.’

Chariots of Fire lives on – and with it the story of Eric Liddell, ‘the man who would not run on Sunday’. It is apparently President Biden’s favourite film: he alluded to it in his inauguration speech. This brought a tweeted response from David Puttnam in January of last year, which read: ‘It’s not at all surprising that Chariots of Fire is Joe Biden’s favourite film; the movie is a total repudiation of the Trumpian belief that “good guys come last”!’ 2024 will mark the centenary of Eric Liddell’s Olympic triumph. It is fitting that the Olympics will once again be staged in Paris in that year. We can, therefore, expect to hear much more about Eric Liddell, and Chariots of Fire, over the next two years. ⬤