Painter of portraits and landscapes who was advised by his teachers at school that he was not good enough to become an artist, so he studied history of art at University of St Andrews, “something I didn’t want to do.” After four years there he took a fine art degree at University of Ulster, Belfast. Portraiture was so unfashionable that with another student Hallifax had to persuade the fine art department to recruit a life model. Hallifax established himself in London as a portrait painter, among his subjects being the politician Chris Patten and Rabbi Julia Neuburger. He was notable also for a series of self-portraits. He became a well-known public face when one of these was used on the Underground as promotional poster for the BP Portrait Award, held at the National Gallery, in 1993.