Running the Race: Eric Liddell -- Olympic Champion and Missionary - Softcover

John W. Keddie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0852346654 ISBN 13: 9780852346655

Publisher: EP BOOKS, 2007

Synopsis

There is a continuing fascination in the life of Eric Liddell (1902-1945). He remains one of the best-known and best-loved of all British sportsmen. As the subject of an award-winning movie, Chariots of Fire (1981), his success in the 400m at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was powerfully portrayed.  He was known as the 'man who would not run on a Sunday' and captured the imagination of a generation by his Christian character and by sacrificing fame and fortune to become a missionary in China, before his passing in a Japanese Internment Camp in 1945.
This book is not a full biography of Eric Liddell. It is largely a sporting biography which weaves in to it Liddell's background, Christian position and subsequent missionary work. The author, who is the leading authority on Scottish track and field history and is presently a Presbyterian minister in Scotland, had a keen interest in Liddell from before Chariots of Fire. He was acquainted with Liddell's first biographer, D P Thomson, to whom he gave some assistance in the production of the earliest full biography of Liddell (1970). He was subsequently involved with the writer of the screen play in developing the representation of Liddell for the award-winning movie Chariots of Fire (1981).
Whilst the book is in the nature of a 'personal tribute,' it is from one who can speak with some authority on both the sporting side and Christian aspects of Eric Liddell's life, as a Scotsman, a former athlete and rugby player, an athletics historian and an evangelical Christian. The biography produced by John Keddie is a readable, attractive, informative and accurate piece of work which will appeal to a wide readership.

About this title

About the Author

John Keddie was born in Edinburgh in 1946. An athlete in his youth, he was a Scottish Junior triple jump champion in 1965 and represented Scotland once, besides playing first class rugby for Boroughmuir Former Pupils RFC (1966-1970). He also competed for Mitcham A.C. (1973-1975).
John has long had a close interest in the history of Scottish athletics. In 1982 his work on Scottish Athletics (the official Centenary History of the Scottish Amarteur Athletic Association) was published, covering 100 years of amateur athletics north of the border. One member of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians wrote of this book: "I can already tell you that it one of the best historical works on sports that I have ever seen. A milestone, a landmark...no exaggeration, indeed."
An Accountant by profession (for a time he was Commercial Manager of Dunlop Sports Company in London), he later entered the ministry of the Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland and served in Burghead (Morayshire) 1987-1996, and Bracadale on the Island of Skye (1997-2012). He retired from that work in April, 2012.
Among his other contributions to athletics literature is a popular fully illustrated biography of the athlete-missionary Eric Liddell entitled Running the Race (first published by EPBooks in 2007, with a 2nd revised and enlarged edition, 2012). His young person's biography of Eric, entitled Finish the Race, was published by Christian Focus Publications (Tain, Ross-shire) in 2011.
John is also the author of a biography of a 19th Century Scottish Theologian, George Smeaton (EPBooks, 2007) and has contributed articles to the Free Church Witness, Evangelical Times, Athletics Weekly and Track Stats (Journal of the National Union of Track Statisticians).

From the Back Cover

"This is an impressive and informative account of the sporting side of Eric Liddell, which also blends his religious commitment, family and missionary work in China, the other great passions that shaped Liddell's life...In an era where more heroes and role models are needed to inspire our young people, Keddie's book on Liddell is well timed, taking us to the heart of life as well as the heart of sport..." - From the Foreword by Sebastian Coe

Edition details

• Publisher: EP BOOKS
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0852346654
• ISBN 13: 9780852346655
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 254