Mike Holliday

George Stanley Charles Holliday, known affectionately as Mike, enjoyed a successful career in the RAF, was a very competent bobsleigher, and also achieved notoriety in the business world. Educated at Bedford House School, and then New College, Oxford, Holliday was the son of an Army officer. Mike joined the RAF in 1938 and served with them for 20 years, eventually achieving the rank of squadron leader. A fine all-round sportsman, he played rugby for Hull and the East Riding while serving with the RAF in Yorkshire. He also played for the RAF against the Navy and for the leading club side, Blackheath.

A member of the RAF bobsleigh team, Holliday captained the Great Britain team at the 1949 and 1951 World Championships, having previously competed at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics as brakeman to the Great Britain No.1 four-man team. Holliday served in Sudan after World War II and, in 1959, a year after leaving the RAF, went to live and work in South Africa for the Rolls Royce company. In 1973 he was awarded the OBE for service to British commercial interests in Africa. Holliday’s brother-in-law, John Harrison-Broadley, was a former British two-man bob champion.