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3859246
Private
James (Jim) Halliday
18th Recce Corps
History
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Born:-
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1918/01/19
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Home Address:-
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1940/01/18
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Pilkington Road, Kearsley, Bolton
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Enlisted:-
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1940/01/18
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Captured :-
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1942/02/15
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Singapore by Japanese
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River Valley
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1942/04
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Major Spencer
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Kinsioke, Thailand
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1943/06
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Captain Hedley
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Khan Khi, Thailand
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1943/08
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Captain Harris
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Tamaun, Thailand
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1944/04
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Captain Harris
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Nakum Nio, Thailand
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1945/06
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St. Maj. Marrion
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London Opympics
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1948
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Bonze Medal in Weightlifting
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Empire Games
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1950
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Gold Medal in Weightlifting
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Book
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1950
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‘Olympic Weightlifting with Body Building for All’
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Empire Games
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1954
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Gold Medal in Weightlifting
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Died
Age 89
2007
The Bolton News -9:23am Monday 30th July 2012
From a PoW to an Olympic champion
 The Olympics is where dreams come true for many athletes.
But for one Harwich family, the Games come as a reminder of the hurdles Bolton’s Jim Halliday overcame to become an inspirational Olympian.
Mr Halliday won a bronze medal in weightlifting in the 1948 London Olympic Games at the age of 30 despite just a couple of years earlier weighing just six stones when he was a Prisoner of War.
Mr Halliday, who was born in Bolton in 1918, showed a talent for weightlifting as a teenager but a week before the British Championships the Second World War broke out and he joined the Army to serve his country.
He defended the evacuation at Dunkirk and was later sent to Singapore, where he was taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942.
He worked on the infamous Burmese Railway and spent three years working in harsh conditions which killed thousands of other prisoners.
His days of weightlifting may have been far away, but determined to survive, Mr Halliday did everything he could to increase his natural strength.
Julie Clitheroe, his granddaughter, aged 38, from Horwich, said:
‘My grandfather would keep himself fit by lifting tree trunks and wrestling with the Japanese soldiers.’
‘He did everything he could to survive the camps and this increased his natural strength, determination and self-preservation ” traits that would ultimately become essential in his future career.’
When the war ended, Mr Halliday returned to his family, a shadow of his former self, weighing just six stone.
With support from his family and friends, he gradually returned to weightlifting and regained his health and strength.
His prowess in the sport took him all over the world to compete. In addition to his Olympic medal, he won his first world championship in Paris and gold medals at the Empire Games, now known as the Commonwealth Games, in 1950 and 1954.
He went on to write ‘Olympic Weightlifting with Body Building for All’ in 1950 to teach others the skills.
Mrs Clitheroe said his book revealed the sacrifice and personal philosophy he had in order to become a champion.
She added: ‘Jim Halliday was a normal, working class man; a husband, a father and a grandfather, but he proved you can achieve and survive anything with determination and hard work.’
Mr Halliday married, and he and his wife, Ethel and had three children. He died aged 89 in 2007.
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