{{Short description|Australian radio and television personality}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2015}} '''Jim Iliffe''' (23 April 1922{{spaced ndash}}25 June 2005) was an Australian radio and television personality.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://deaths.debritz.net/deaths/deaths2005.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=11 January 2013 |archive-date=7 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130507161855/http://deaths.debritz.net/deaths/deaths2005.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Early life==
James "Jim" Iliffe was born at Croydon, New South Wales on 23 April 1922.
==Service in World War II==
Although only 17 years of age at the outbreak of World War II, he claimed he was 18 and joined the 33rd Fortress Company, Royal Australian Engineers. He transferred to the AIF as a Corporal, later becoming a Sergeant. He was sent to Singapore in May 1941 and was at Kluang on the Malay Peninsula when Japan entered the war. The Australian troops, aided by British and Indian, were to hold the line against the Japanese advance. The Japanese strategy was to land south of the allied positions, causing a continual retreat for the allies. Iliffe was wounded in the leg by shrapnel shortly before the unit made it back to Singapore.
He was being treated at an unofficial hospital in the Singapore Town Hall when he heard that the British were due to surrender the following day. He and several others made it to the docks and managed to steal some food supplies and a 16-foot boat. They sailed for three nights across open sea, and soon after landing on an island were found by a group of Dutch soldiers. One of the last to board a Dutch evacuation ship, he was transported to Perth and later Melbourne. He convalesced in a Sydney hospital, and arrived home a month after Singapore had fallen.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jimiliffe.blogspot.com.au/ |title=Home |website=jimiliffe.blogspot.com.au}}</ref>
Jim Iliffe was interviewed by Suzanne Mulligan in May 2002 about his service during the fall of Singapore during the Second World War.<ref>{{Cite web |title=31267 Suzanne Mulligan Oral Histories Archive ca. 1939-2017 |url=http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/f/1oppkg1/slq_alma21214754250002061 |access-date=8 June 2022 |website=State Library of Queensland OneSearch Catalogue}}</ref> The oral history is now held by the State Library of Queensland. Iliffe died in 2005.<ref>{{SLQ-CC-BY|url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/jim-iliffes-escape-fall-singapore-80th-anniversary|title=Jim Iliffe's escape from the Fall of Singapore - 80th Anniversary|date=15 February 2022|author(s)=Suzanne Mulligan|accessdate=8 June 2022}}</ref>
==Media career==
Jim Iliffe opened Brisbane's first radio and TV school, AIR-TV, in 1952 while working as a radio announcer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/4124|title = News}}</ref>
He played a significant role in early Australian television, starting on the second day of broadcasts in August 1959. Billed as "Captain" Jim Iliffe, he presented The Channel Niners children's program for fifteen years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kuttsywoodscouch.blogspot.com.au/2009/09/50-years-of-brisbane-tv-part-9-kids-tv.html|title = Kuttsywood's Couch: 50 years of Brisbane TV: Part 9-Kids TV and how it changed the Brisbane industry|date = 16 September 2009}}</ref>
He married Melody Welsh<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/radio-veteran-jim-iliffe-dies|title=Radio Veteran, Jim Iliffe, Dies|date=27 June 2005}}</ref>(who went on to become a well known personality in her own right)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/profiles/content/s1855726.htm|title=David Iliffe|website=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=16 January 2010}}</ref> on 16 November 1963 and they had three children, Christopher, Ingrid and David. <ref>Brisbane Courier Mail Funeral Notices 27 September 2017</ref> Melody died on 21 September 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ILIFFE, Melody Joy (nee Welsh) {{!}} Funeral Notices {{!}} Brisbane |url=https://www.mytributes.com.au/notice/funeral-notices/iliffe-melody-joy-nee-welsh/4012875/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=My Tributes |language=en}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/jim-iliffes-escape-fall-singapore-80th-anniversary Jim Iliffe's escape from the Fall of Singapore - 80th Anniversary], John Oxley Library blog, State Library of Queensland. * Suzanne Mulligan Oral Histories Archive ca. 1939-2017: Jim Iliffe Oral History, State Library of Queensland {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iliffe, Jim}} Category:1922 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Australian television presenters Category:Australian Army personnel of World War II
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