Holliday was born on 22 September 1935 on a council estate in Rubery, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England.
[1][4] His interest in science was developed as a child: he would "prick the fingers of his sister, Myrtle, and examine her blood under his microscope kit", and his mother once found a "decomposing snake under his bed".
[3] This act created the Scottish Natural Heritage but also allowed land-owners to appeal against the creation of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
[2] He was President of the Freshwater Biological Association from 1995 to 2002 when they were renegotiating their relationship with the Natural Environment Research Council.
[3] He spent the rest of his life in retirement; growing vegetables, reading a large number of books (including Gibbon's lengthy The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), and rediscovering his interest in histology (including analysing samples of his own blood).
[7] Holliday died on 5 September 2016, a few weeks short of his 81st birthday, at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
[8][9] Holliday met his wife Philippa when they both worked at the Marine Research Laboratory in Scotland.
[2] In the 1975 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his service as Acting Principal of the University of Stirling.
[12] In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor, and therefore granted the title sir, in recognition of his service as Vice-Chancellor and Warden of the University of Durham.