There was a fascinating discussion between
@DPuttnam, the British ambassador to Ireland
@PaulJohnsonMN and former Irish Olympian
@DavidGillick about the film Chariots of Fire.
It was held in the beautiful @StellaCinemas and hosted by the
@BritEmbDublin
The discussion was held 100 years to the day after Eric Liddell won one of the most famous races in Olympic history in Paris.
The 1981 film swept the boards at the Oscars winning seven Oscars including best picture, best original screenplay and best original score.
The film tells the story of two British athletes, Eric Liddell, the devout son of a Scottish missionary, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew.
Liddell famously refused to compete in the heats of his favourite event, the 100 metres, at the 1924 Olympic Games because they were held on a Sunday, but managed to win the 400 metres.
Abrahams, who was regularly the recipient of antisemitic jibes while student at Cambridge, won the 100 metre race at the games.
Puttnam, who produced the film, says he is only one of two prominent people involved in the film who are still alive the other being the actor Nigel Havers. Ian Charleson, who played Eric Liddell, died when he was only 40 from Aids; Ben Cross, who played Abrahams, died in 2020
His co-producer was Dodi Fayed who died along with Princess Diana, in Paris in 1997.
Puttnam is a Labour peer and believes the Labour government will make a “massive” difference to relations between Ireland and the UK which were severely strained for years because of Brexit.
“Keir Starmer had his honeymoon here in Ireland. He told me how much Ireland meant to him. He had no reason to say it to me. We could have talked about football or anything else. His commitment to Ireland is very real.”