halliwell was a classics scholar at wirral grammar school, where he gained his higher school certificate in 1943. eligible for military service in 1944, he registered as a conscientious objector, and was exempted conditional upon becoming a coal miner. after discharge in 1946, he acted for a time in scotland and then returned home to act in birkenhead. his father committed suicide in 1949 by putting his head in a gas oven; halliwell was the first to find the body the following morning. afterward, halliwell moved to london to study drama at the royal academy of dramatic art (rada), having inherited the family fortune.