ERIC LIDDELL

1. ERIC LIDDELL Composed by:- RITIKA GULATI……………………

2. Introduction Paris Olympics Service in China Memorial

3. INTRODUCTION • Eric Henry Liddell was born on the 16th January 1902 in Tientsin (Tianjin) in North China, second son of the Rev & Mrs James Dunlop Liddell who were missionaries with the London Mission Society.  He was educated from 1908 to 1920 at Eltham College, Blackheath, a school for the sons of missionaries. Eric, with his older brother Rob, were left at their boarding school while their parents and sister Jenny returned to China. • During the boys' time at Eltham College their parents, sister and new brother Ernest came home on furlough two or three times and were able to be together as a family - mainly living in Edinburgh. In 1920, Eric joined his brother Rob at Edinburgh University to read for a BSc in Pure Science. He graduated after the Paris Olympiad in 1924. Athletics and rugby played a large part in Eric's University life. He ran in the 100 yards and the 220 yards for Edinburgh University and later for Scotland. He played rugby for Edinburgh University and in 1922 played in seven Scottish Internationals with A. L. Gracie.

4. Paris Olympics The Olympics were hosted by the city of Paris. A devout Christian, Liddell refused to run in a heat held on Sunday (the Christian Sabbath) and was forced to withdraw from the 100-metres race, his best event. The schedule had been published several months earlier, and his decision was made well before the Games. Liddell spent the intervening months training for the 400 metres, though his best pre-Olympics time of 49.6 seconds, set in winning the 1924 AAA championship 440 yards,[1] was modest by international standards. When the day of the Olympic 400 metres race came, Liddell went to the starting blocks, where an American Olympic Team masseur slipped a piece of paper into his hand with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30: "Those who honor me I will honor.“ His performance in the 400 metres in Paris stood as a European record for 12 years, until beaten by another British athlete, Godfrey Brown, at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. After the Olympics and graduation from Edinburgh University, Liddell continued to compete. His refusal to compete on Sunday meant he had also missed the Olympic 4 x 400 relay, in which Britain finished third.[2] Shortly after the Games, his final leg in the 4 x 400 metres race in a British Empire vs. USA contest helped secure the victory over the gold-medal winning Americans.[5] A year later, in 1925, at the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association (SAAA) meeting in Hampden Park in Glasgow, he equalled his Scottish championship record of 10.0 seconds in the 100, won the 220 yard contest in 22.2 seconds, won the 440 yard contest in 47.7, and participated in a winning relay team. He was only the fourth athlete to have won all three sprints at the SAAA, achieving this feat in 1924 and 1925. These were his final races on British soil.[2]

5. Service in China Liddell returned to Northern China to serve as a missionary, like his parents, from 1925 to 1943 – first in Tianjin and later in the town of XiaozhangZaoqiang County, Hengshui, Hebei province, an extremely poor area that had suffered during the country's civil wars and had become a particularly treacherous battleground with the invading Japanese Liddell's first job as a missionary was as a teacher at an Anglo-Chinese College (grades 1–12) for wealthy Chinese students. It was believed that by teaching the children of the wealthy, they would become influential figures in China and promote Christian values. Liddell used his athletic experience to train boys in a number of different sports. One of his many responsibilities was that of superintendent of the Sunday school at Union Church where his father was pastor. Liddell lived at 38 Chongqing Dao (formerly known as Cambridge Road) in Tianjin, where a plaque commemorates his former residence. He also helped build the Minyuan Stadium in Tianjin. He suggested that it be copied exactly from Chelsea's football ground, where he had competed and was said to be his favourite running venue

6. During his first furlough from missionary work in 1932, he was ordained a minister of religion. On his return to China he married Florence Mackenzie of Canadian missionary parentage in Tianjin in 1934. Liddell courted his future wife by taking her for lunch to the famous Kiesling restaurant, which is still open in Tianjin. The couple had three daughters, Patricia, Heather and Maureen, the last of whom he would not live to see. The school where Liddell taught is still in use today. One of his daughters visited Tianjin in 1991 and presented the headmaster of the school with one of the medals that Eric had won for athletics.In 1941 life in China had become so dangerous because of Japanese aggressiveness that the British government advised British nationals to leave. Florence and the children left for Canada to stay with her family when Liddell accepted a position at a rural mission station in Shaochang, which served the poor. He joined his brother, Rob, who was a doctor there. The station was severely short of help and the missionaries there were exhausted. A constant stream of locals came at all hours for medical treatment. Liddell arrived at the station in time to relieve his brother, who was ill and needing to go on furlough. Liddell suffered many hardships himself at the mission.

7. Memorial Memorial plaque at Edinburgh University Liddell was buried in the garden behind the Japanese officers' quarters, his grave marked by a small wooden cross. The site was forgotten until it was rediscovered in 1989, in the grounds of what is now Weifeng Middle School[2] in Shandong Province, north-east China, about six hours' drive from Beijing. Its rediscovery was largely the result of the determination of Charles Walker, an engineer working in Hong Kong, who felt one of Scotland's great heroes was in danger of being forgotten, and decided to search for the grave. The task wasn't easy. Since Liddell's death, place names had changed, documents lost and witnesses were difficult to find.[citation needed] In 1991 a memorial headstone, made from Isle of Mull granite and carved by a mason in Tobermory, was unveiled at the former camp site in Weifang, erected by Edinburgh University. A few simple words taken from the Book of Isaiah 40:31 formed the inscription: "They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary." The city of Weifang, as part of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the internment camp in 2005, commemorated Liddell by laying a wreath at the headstone marking his grave. A living memorial, the Eric Liddell Centre, an Edinburgh, Scotland based charity, was set up in 1980 to honour Eric’s beliefs in community service whilst he lived and studied in Edinburgh. The charity was started by local residents dedicated to inspiring, empowering, and supporting people of all ages, cultures and abilities, as an expression of compassionate Christian values. It continues to flourish today, running two caring programmes along with office rental space for other, small charities and room/hall hire for various local groups. As of 2009, Liddell is honoured with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 22 February.[16]