RichDrama - Blog #ScotlandRichDrama - Blog #Scotlandhttps://www.richdrama.com/blog/tag/ScotlandTue, 12 May 2026 19:03:59 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[New Biography on Eric Liddell]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/new-biography-on-eric-liddellOn this day 101 years ago Eric Liddell broke the world record in the 400m. Liddell said: It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Ga ]]>

And it's the 101st anniversary of his world record    

On this day 101 years ago Eric Liddell broke the world record in the 400m.

Liddell said:

It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal. But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals.
The stained glass window in Morningside United Church commemorates Eric Liddell breaking the world record in the 400m.

On this day one year ago I performed my one-man play about him at Morningside United Church in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Liddell taught Sunday school and preached. 

I performed the full play before and after lunch, and during lunch I performed an excerpt at the Eric Liddell Community, across the street. 

After my performance I told them I’d interrupt their meal again at the top of the hour. A few seconds before that, I announced: “One hundred years ago, Eric Liddell started the 400m at the Paris Olympics… NOW!”

Then, 47.6 seconds later (more or less) I hollered, “He broke the world record!!!”

I recently posted a short film about Liddell leaving Scotland — and all that his world record could have brought him — to serve the people of China. After the film I mentioned a program by the C.S. Lewis Institute that I had recently seen: From Gold Medalist to God's Missionary. It has interviews with Bob Rendall, the first CEO of the Eric Liddell Centre (now the Eric Liddell Community), Patricia Liddell Russell, Liddell's eldest daughter and only living relative who remembers him, John MacMillan, the current CEO of the Eric Liddell Community, and John Hoyt, who was in the internment camp with Liddell. 

I had seen those interviews when I posted the film, but at that point I hadn’t seen the interview with Duncan Hamilton, which is separate from the other interviews. You'll need to scroll down the page to see it. He's written the newest biography about Eric Liddell, and he pointed out it's likely the final biography about him that will be based on interviews with people who remember him. One of the things Hamilton mentioned that I hadn't remembered is that Liddell turned down a coaching job at Cambridge University to serve the people of China. 

In case you haven't seen my short film about Liddell, you can watch it here: 
]]>Fri, 11 Jul 2025 17:06:57 -0400<![CDATA[Our Report from Paris and Beyond]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/ParisAndBeyondHere's our final report from this summer's trip to Holland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Germany, France, Scotland, and Luxembourg:  ><> ]]>

So grateful for all the Lord did!

Here's our final report from this summer's trip to Holland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Germany, France, Scotland, and Luxembourg: 

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We're planning our next international trip, to bring Songs of Revival: Hungry After God Himself to Wales and Northern Ireland in June 2025. Stay tuned.

]]>Thu, 10 Oct 2024 13:22:07 -0400<![CDATA[Another 100th Anniversary]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/another-100th-anniversary... you know Eric Liddell refused to run the 100m because one of the heats would be run on a Sunday. Instead he preached in the Scots Kirk Paris, wher ]]>

If you watched Chariots of Fire...

... you know Eric Liddell refused to run the 100m because one of the heats would be run on a Sunday. Instead he preached in the Scots Kirk Paris, where I performed my one-man play about him 100 years later. 


What you may not know is that there were other races he wouldn't run because a heat would be run on a Sunday...

For July 9 neither Joyce nor I had articles ready for www.HeadlinePrayer.org, but we were on Headline Prayer Live: 

]]>Sat, 13 Jul 2024 18:10:25 -0400<![CDATA[My Sources]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/my-sources

for Beyond the Chariots

Last night over dinner I was talking about sources I used in writing Beyond the Chariots, which we're about to take to Paris and beyond for the centennial of Eric Liddell's victory there. Then a few hours later I posted more details on social media, so I thought I’d share some more here:

I read all the biographies I knew about at the time and finished the first draft in 2004. I relied most heavily on: Eric Liddell: Pure Gold by David McCasland, who saw the play and helped me get it to the next level. My favorite book covering life in the internment camp was A Boy’s War by David Michell, who also saw the play and inspired some brush strokes. You’ll hear his name in the play if you’re listening closely. The first biography I read — now out of print — was by the man who first asked Eric Liddell to speak publicly, D.P. Thomas. 


I also did interviews with Liddell’s three daughters, one of his students, and others who remember him, including two great grandchildren of Hudson Taylor. After James Hudson Taylor III saw it, he walked up to me, and his first words reflected life in the internment camp with "Uncle Eric": "We played softball. There wasn't enough room for baseball." Then "Jamie" invited us to his home in Hong Kong where he shared for hours. 


The research began in 2000, when Liddell’s niece, Peggy Judge, gave us a tour of the Eric Liddell Centre in Edinburgh. We’ll be performing across the street twice on July 11, the 100th anniversary of Liddell’s world record in the 400m at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

Tomorrow we leave for Northern Ireland, where I’ll perform Beyond the Chariots, Joyce will advance Spanish translation slides and on the closing night portray Jeanine Brabon in an excerpt from Song’s of Revival: Hungry After God Himself, and we’ll co-lead a workshop introducing bibliodrama and enacted prayer.

Follow our adventures!

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On Saturday, my character had another big episode on What's a Girl to Do?

]]>Tue, 25 Jun 2024 04:00:42 -0400<![CDATA[Charles Walker]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/charles-walker
I was grieved to read of the death of Charles Walker. He saw a performance of Beyond the Chariots at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, after which he told us how he found Eric Liddell's grave in Weifang, China, which started the ball rolling on the establishment of a massive monument there in Liddell's honor. That conversation led us to interview him in our documentary, Olympic Hero in China: The Story of Eric Liddell.

Here's Walker's obituary in The Scotsman: A Liddell claim to fame.
]]>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:28:00 -0500<![CDATA[The Edinburgh Castle]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/edinburgh-castle
The journalist who put us in The Daily Telegraph swung comp tickets into The Castle.
]]>Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:08:00 -0400<![CDATA[Scotland's most famous athlete]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/scotlands-most-famous-athlete
This statue of Eric Liddell is on The University of Edinburgh campus, not far from a display that names him Scotland's most famous athlete.
]]>Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:05:00 -0400<![CDATA[Eric Liddell's Olympic medals]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/eric-liddells-olympic-medals
Theses are Eric Liddell's three Olympic medals: gold for the 400m, bronze for the 200m in which he was within a second of both Jackson Scholz and Charles Paddock, and a medal for participation. His daughter, Patricia, donated them to The University of Edinburgh.
]]>Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:17:00 -0400<![CDATA[Housing in a crowded city]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/housing-in-crowded-city
One of the huge obstacles in bringing Beyond the Chariots to the Fringe was housing. The city of Edinburgh swells to up to six times its normal population as the Fringe, International Festival, Book Festival and Film Festival all take place simultaneously. Our friend Chuck put us in touch with Brian and Fiona, who had just moved to the city. In the fortnight we stayed with them we became great friends.
]]>Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:14:00 -0400<![CDATA[The Anderson family]]>https://www.richdrama.com/blog/post/anderson-family
I was shocked to see the Andersons at yesterday's show. Jim was a conductor at the Salvation Army's Territorial Music Institute in Oklahoma, where I taught drama last month. I knew he and his wife had grown up in Edinburgh, but they told me they wouldn't be here during the Fringe. Their plans changed, and they treated us to lunch. Thanks guys!
My connection to them gave us credibility when I asked the corps officer at Jim, Sr.'s Edinburgh corps to borrow a trumpet for the length of the run.

Thanks again!
]]>Sat, 25 Aug 2007 06:50:00 -0400