Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I reviewed Making It So, the autobiography of Sir Patrick Stewart.

The 1924 Olympics were 100 years ago this month. Chariots of Fire, the film that won Best Picture at the Oscars and Best Film at the British Academy Awards, tells the story of the British track team in 1924. Like this year’s Olympics, the 1924 Olympics were held in Paris.

Chariots of Fire focuses on two runners. Eric Liddell was a Scottish Christian with a mission in China. He struggled with how running fit with his religious calling, and he refused to run on Sunday. Harold Abrahams ran as a way to overcome prejudice against Jews in the UK.

By DVD Town, Fair use, Link

With the 100th anniversary and the return of the Olympics to Paris, this is a great time to rewatch Chariots of Fire. I saw it in the theater when it was released in 1981. The film was a phenomenon.

I remember the opening music playing on the radio, even though instrumental tracks were rare on pop stations. “Chariots of Fire” was released as a single in December 1981 and steadily climbed the Billboard chart, reaching #1 in May 1982.

This is probably only the second time I’ve seen Chariots of Fire, although I might have watched it once in the Blockbuster era (Be Kind, Rewind). It stands up reasonably well to modern viewing, but I counsel having a bit of patience to let things play out more slowly than current screenplays.

For the Anglophiles among us:

• The Caius (pronounced ‘keys’) College at Cambridge scenes were filmed at Eton.
• The famous running on the beach scene is set in Kent but was filmed near the St. Andrews golf course in Scotland.
• Watch for lots of fun material from Gilbert & Sullivan.

Also, here’s an odd connection with a previous post. When I explored the filming locations for Pride and Prejudice (2005, with Keira Knightley), I visited Burghley House in Lincolnshire, the residence of William Cecil (adviser to Queen Elizabeth I) and descendants. David Cecil, the 6th Marquess of Exeter, was the inspiration for the character played by Nigel Havers — the one who practiced hurdles with a full champagne glass perched on each one. In real life, Cecil won the gold medal in 400m hurdles in the 1928 Amsterdam games.

For the Francophiles among us, I’m sorry but all of the film locations were in the UK, even for the scenes in Paris. I enjoyed this look back at the 1924 Paris Olympics, though, as I’m ramping my excitement up for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Are you excited to see Paris as the center of attention?

I’ll share this post with Paris in July 2024, the bloggers’ annual appreciation of all things Paris.