Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile - May 06, 1954 - HISTORY.com Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile Share this: Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile Author Roger Bannister breaks four-minutes mile URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1954, at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, England, medical student Roger Bannister becomes the first person in recorded history to run the mile in under four minutes. Roger Bannister was born in Middlesex on March 23, 1929. His parents couldn’t afford to send him to school, so he ran his way in: Bannister won a track scholarship to Oxford, where he studied medicine and was a running sensation. He caused a furor in England when he declined to run the 1500 meters in the 1948 London Olympics so he could concentrate on his medical studies. He did run in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, but finished fourth. Again, the British press scorned him. He then resolved to break track and field’s most famous barrier, the four-minute mile, a feat many believed to be impossible.

Bannister had limited time to train, as he was enrolled at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School. He would run 30 minutes most days, focusing the rest of his time on his study of neurology. On May 6, 1954, Bannister was running for the Amateur Athletic Association in Oxford against runners from the university in their annual match. He ran with two friends, who paced him, and then sprinted the last 200 yards, for a record time of 3:59.4. Later that month, Australian John Landy broke Bannister’s record by less than a second. The two were then made out to be rivals. In August, Bannister and Landy met face-to-face at the British Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, where 35,000 spectators watched what was billed as the “mile of the century.” Landy led Bannister the entire race, but Bannister out-sprinted Landy down the straightaway to win by five yards and less than a second, 3:58.8 to 3:59.6. Their two times were the third and fourth recorded miles run in under four minutes in history.

Bannister finished his medical degree and became a practicing neurologist and neuroscience researcher. Knighted in 1975, Sir Roger Bannister served as director of the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London. Long after his career as a runner had ended, in an interview with Bill Heine of BBC’s Radio Oxford, Bannister called running a “powerful source of self expression” and said of his talent on the track, “I believe that as I grew up through adolescence, this capacity to run without pain or discomfort became part of me, and it found its expression in running in cross country races, running with friends, for the sheer enjoyment running across the countryside.

Running, not walking, and, eventually this became a track event with more and more people watching and people concerned with stopwatches.” Related Videos Roger Bannister : Athletes : Bring Back the Mile Birthday: 03/23/29 Mile PR: 3:58.8 - 1954 Metric Mile (1500m) PR: 3:42.2 - 1954 High School: City of Bath Boys' School Hometown: Harrow, England College: Exeter College, Merton College, Oxford & St. Mary's Hospital Medical School Current Residence: Oxford, GBR Roger Bannister of Great Britain etched his name into the history books by becoming the first man to break the "once thought impossible if not fatal", but magical 4 minute barrier in the Mile. On Thursday, May 6, 1954 at Oxford’s Iffley Road track, the 1952 Olympian ran 3:59.4. His world record only lasted 46 days, but its historic and iconic importance resonates today in the sport and beyond.

At the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada, Bannister beat the only other man at the time to run sub-4 minutes, John Landy of Australia. This thrillng race has been called The Mile of the Century or Miracle Mile. For the first time in the same Mile race, two men broke 4 minutes with Bannister clocking a PR 3:58.8 followed by the Aussie in 3:59.6. In his career, Bannister only bested 4 minutes twice, and also in 1954, he won the 1500m gold medal at the European Championships in Bern, Switzerland - this was his last competitive race. Sir Roger Bannister made Companion of Honor in New Year’s Honors List December 31, 2016 "I would hope that my colleagues with whom I worked in hospitals for 25 years will appreciate the honor, as well as those who were in the world of running.” By Luke Sproule, The Oxford Times Sir Roger Bannister , celebrated neurologist and the first man to run a Mile in less than 4 minutes,...

Sporting legend Roger Bannister calls for “optimism” ahead of Olympic Games August 06, 2016 "There will always be failures, wrongdoing and cheating in every human endeavour. Britain should be bursting with pride over our Froomes, Murrays, Ennis-Hills and Mo Farahs. They inspire amateur athletes all over the world." By Hannah Somerville, Oxford Mail Special “Bannister” Screening Set for New Balance Falmouth Road Race Expo August 05, 2016 Q&A to feature athlete who ran in historic first sub-4 minute Mile race and American record holder Alan Webb FALMOUTH, Mass. — To mark the return of the elite Mile to Falmouth after a one-year hiatus, “Bannister: Everest on the Track", will be screened at the New Balance Falmouth Road Race’s... (Sir) Roger and Me July 30, 2016 “As I have said, winning Olympic races is more important than the 4 minute Mile. It so happens that the rest of the world thinks otherwise.” - Sir Roger Bannister By Pat Butcher, GlobeRunner.com Oh dear!

I watched Everest on the Track, the documentary of Roger Bannister and the 4 minute Mile... Book details 1954 Empire Games glory and ‘Miracle Mile’ April 20, 2016 We have in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection one of the 25 Omega stopwatches that was used to time the Miracle Mile and unbelievably it’s still stopped at Roger Bannister ’s winning time of 3 minutes, 58.8 seconds! By Megan Stewart, The Vancouver Courier The stand-alone image of the 1954... Bannister’s Sub-4 Minute Mile Named Greatest Athletic Achievement November 18, 2005 For Forbes' panel of experts, editors and readers, one feat did emerge as a clear winner: the first sub-4 by Roger Bannister in 1954 By David M. Ewalt with Lacey Rose, Forbes.com At their best, sports are about more than just winning games and diverting crowds. They test the limits of what...

Q&A with Tom Ratcliffe, director of Bannister: Everest on the Track April 13, 2016 Despite all of the acclaim, he’s definitely a humble guy who understands the achievement but doesn’t let himself get too carried away with it. By Christopher Chavez, Sports Illustrated When Roger Bannister crossed the finish line at Oxford’s Iffley Road track in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds on... Sir Roger Bannister donates diaries to Oxford’s library March 25, 2016 Mile legend's collection filled more than 50 boxes, includes letters, diaries, speeches, articles, photographs and film from his career over the years. By Sports Illustrated Wire Sir Roger Bannister celebrated his 87th birthday by making his diaries public for the first time at Oxford's... December 11, 2015 First sub-4 minute Mile one such memorable moment: “So the Everest of athletics has been scaled, the sound barrier of running has been penetrated. Roger Gilbert Bannister, 25-year-old medical student, may never find the panacea for all ills the human flesh is heir to, but he has found the...

Phil Knight: I would have tried to sign Roger Bannister October 01, 2015 “A lot of people said it was impossible. I was a junior in high school [when Bannister broke the 4 minute barrier] and my history teacher says, ‘The stopwatches were wrong, a human being can’t run that fast.'” By Nick Zaccardi, NBC Sports It’s no surprise that Nike co-founder Phil Knight,... The day Sir Roger Bannister reclaimed the four-minute Mile June 08, 2015 46 days after Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute Mile, his world record fell to John Landy. Here the athlete reflects on the day he won back his title By Roger Bannister , The Telegraph This photograph captures the moment I overtook the Australian runner John Landy on the final bend at...

Laced with sporting history: The last tangible link to Bannister’s sub-4 Mile May 23, 2015 Christie’s to auction the shoes worn by Sir Roger Bannister when he became the first man to run a sub-4 minute Mile, described as the ‘greatest athletic achievement of the 20th century’ From Christie's The Art People The running shoes worn by Sir Roger Bannister CBE when he became the first... Roger Bannister’s shoes from 4 minute Mile set for auction May 20, 2015 Bannister said part of the proceeds from the shoes auction will go to a charity that encourages neurological research, according to the auction company. By Nick Zacardi, NBC Olympic Talk The shoes Sir Roger Bannister wore when he ran the first sub-4 minute Mile will be auctioned September 10... Sir Roger record watch sold for £20,000 May 19, 2015 “I’m not surprised that the watch went for so much money as there has been a great interest in it.

It is one of the most special watches.” From Oxford Mail The stopwatch used to record Sir Roger Bannister ’s first sub-4 minute Mile record in Oxford sold for £20,000 ($31,000) yesterday. The... Sir Roger reminisces about breaking Mile record May 09, 2015 “We would always have a reunion with our wives and meet up on the anniversary. That’s what it used to be. Unfortunately I’m alone now.” By Oxford Mail Sir Roger Bannister celebrated the 61st anniversary of the day he broke the 4 minute Mile barrier in Oxford. He made sporting history on... Sir Roger Bannister’s new “record” from Guinness December 12, 2014 “To be a record breaker I think you have to have determination and you have to be prepared for upsets and reverses which I certainly had in my career. The other factor is luck." From Oxford Mail Sub-4 minute Mile hero Sir Roger Bannister has been honored by Guinness World Records to mark 60... One of the greatest feats ever achieved by a British athlete almost never took place...

By Dominic Midgley, Daily Express It was the behavior of a Cross of St. George flag flying on the steeple of St. John's Church near the Iffley Road track in Oxford on Thursday, May 6, 1954 that persuaded... Bannister vs. Landy 1954 showdown, Coe’s 1984 gold medal defense still resonate August 10, 2014 "Yes, Landy has a lead of three yards. It's 220 yards to go and I don't believe Bannister is going to be able to catch him..." By Mike Rowbottom, InsideTheGames.biz Significant anniversaries of two great foot races fall either side of this weekend - races won by two Britons who, through their... How the sports landscape looked when SI printed first issue in 1954 August 09, 2014 But in 1954 all sports stories were overshadowed by what happened on a track in England on May 6. By Richard Rothschild, Sports Illustrated Imagine a sports landscape ruled by baseball, where college football is more popular than the National Football League, horse racing and boxing draw...

HOKA ONE ONE presents the Mile Moment of the Month By Bring Back the Mile Sixty years ago, on August 7, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada, the world’s two best Milers, England’s Roger Bannister , the first man to run a sub-4 minute Mile, and Australia’s... ‘Race of the century’ between Landy & Bannister still a miracle 60 years later July 27, 2014 “I was going to run from the front, I was going to break the 4 minute Mile, and I was going to break my world record." - John Landy By Kym Morgan, The Advertiser The 1954 British Empire Games Mile race between Australia’s John Landy and England’s Roger Bannister in Vancouver, Canada, was so... My favorite photograph: Runner and neurosurgeon Sir Roger Bannister July 15, 2014 Sir Roger Bannister , 85, amazed the world when he broke the four-minute Mile. But could he stand the pace at his son’s sports day?

By Roz Lewis, The Daily and Sunday Express "This is a picture of me running in the fathers’ race at my sons’ school sports day in 1965. I hadn’t known about this... To go fast, you must plan ahead By Michael Overall, Tulsa World With the starter pistol still echoing through the Oxford stadium, Cambridge runner Chris Brasher jumped to an early lead, but he had no intention of winning the race. A 25-year-old medical student, Roger Bannister , followed... Beating John Landy stands above record: Roger Bannister May 06, 2014 “Vancouver was the pinnacle of my athletics career. It is very difficult to break records during Olympic competition, but winning races was better than holding world records.” By AFP for The Australian Sixty years since becoming the first man to run a Mile in under four minutes, Roger...

The Four-Minute Man, Forever May 06, 2014 Franz Stampfl, his coach, implored him to run in a meet between Oxford and the Amateur Athletic Association: “He said to me, ‘Although the conditions are not ideal, if you don’t take this opportunity, you might not forgive yourself for the rest of your life.’ He was right.” By Jesse Will, The... Roger Bannister showed us how to combine sport and everyday living May 05, 2014 What's astonishing about Bannister's 4 minute Mile in 1954 is that he was an amateur. He even worked on the day of the race By John Bryant, The Guardian Things were very different 60 years ago when Roger Bannister became an icon to Britain and the empire by becoming the first to break the 4...

Bannister Marks 60th Anniversary of 4 Minute Mile May 04, 2014 "Bannister's 3:59.4 remains part of track and field lore, a symbol of boundary-busting endurance that stands the test of time." By Stephen Wilson, Associated Press OXFORD, England (AP) — Sixty years later, Roger Bannister is busy reliving the four minutes that still endure as a transcendent... Roger Bannister made an indelible mark on the sport and the world on May 6, 1954 By Pat Murphy, TroyMedia.com TORONTO, Canada – If you were around in 1954, you couldn’t escape the 4 minute Mile. The newspapers were full of it, and the coverage wasn’t confined to the sports pages. Running a... How running has changed since the 4-minute Mile April 25, 2014 When I was a child in the late 1950s, my parents taught me about Bannister's Mile just as they taught me about the first climbing of Mount Everest.

By Mary Beard, BBC.com As we approach the 60th anniversary of the 4-minute Mile, historian Mary Beard reflects on what has changed in the sport... “He is a legend. He shattered the record and inspired generations of all nations.” By Oxford Mail Sports fans waited up to four hours to meet their hero. Sir Roger Bannister , the man who ran the first ever Mile under 4 minutes at Iffley Road sports track in 1954, signed copies of his... The 4 minute Mile, exact to the nearest inch April 06, 2014 Our task was to measure the track’s inside lane, six inches in from the edge, to check that Sir Roger had run one Mile, no more and no less. John Barrell letter to The Telegraph SIR – I read Sir Roger Bannister ’s article on his epic race with great interest as it brought back memories for me....

Roger Bannister: ‘The day I broke the 4 minute Mile’ March 30, 2014 In an extract from his new book, "Twin Tracks", Bannister recounts how he prepared for his unforgettable, legendary race Sixty years ago, on May 6, 1954, at Iffley Road track in Oxford, Roger Bannister became the first man in recorded history to run a Mile in under 4 minutes. Bannister, who had... A BBC serial about the athlete and scholar's incredible, historic 1954 record run By Ben Dowell, RadioTimes.com Scriptwriter Andrew Davies is working on a BBC drama about Roger Bannister ’s 4 minute Mile record run, RadioTimes.com can reveal. The writer says that the drama is likely to be in...

Sub-4 Fever March 05, 2014 AW’s editor looks ahead excitedly to the 60th anniversary of Roger Bannister’s first sub-4 minute Mile: the Everest of athletics By Jason Henderson, Athletics Weekly When Roger Bannister ran 3:59.4 in Oxford on May 6, 1954, to become the first man to break the 4-minute barrier for one Mile,... Retirement investing: your sub-4 minute Mile January 09, 2014 For serious retirement investors, the far better sports metaphor lies in the story of Roger Bannister, the first man sub-4 minutes in the Mile By Mitchell Tuchman, MarketWatch Read enough about investing and eventually you run into this entertaining hockey metaphor: "Skate to where the puck... Shaun White's versatility, Bo Jackson's phenomenal speed, Geronimo's nimbleness, Bannister's Mile moment and more From The Atlantic Gay Talese, writer Boxing is the most physically demanding of athletic disciplines. No other athletes are so confronted with the physical demands, the heart,...

Get Off the Sofa: Time is Running Out to Locate the Roger Bannister Lurking Inside Every One of Us May 08, 2013 On a cinder track, 59 years ago on Monday, Roger Bannister became the first person to run the sub-four-minute Mile. By Tanya Aldred, The Telegraph It was a squally day, not good for records, and Roger Bannister nearly did not run at the Iffley Road track. But he knew his rivals were closing... May 06, 2013 By Daily Press On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to run a Mile in under four minutes. For several years, men had been getting closer and closer to that barrier. It is not true, as some claim today, that experts in the 1950s believed it was impossible - but the idea of...

The Thriller That Invites You to Run a Mile in Roger Bannister’s Shoes May 01, 2013 Paul Collicut's graphic novel The Murder Mile was inspired by the split second in 1954 when John Landy looked over his left shoulder and Roger Bannister passed him on the right By Sam Humphrey, The Guardian Ever since our ancestors began painting on the walls of caves, running has been a... September 24, 2012 By Ian Pinnell, Radio Cherwell On Friday 21st September 2012, Emily's Big Walk took place at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I was sent to cover the walk, as part of my role as Programme Controller with hospital radio station - Radio Cherwell. I interviewed various people, from... Gold Medalist Farah Backs Restoration of Track Roger Bannister Trained on to Break Four-Minute Mile September 14, 2012 Double Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah has given his backing to the restoration of a historic running track.

By Rob Whitson, West End Extra WESTMINSTER, England - Paddington Recreation Ground, where legendary runner Sir Roger Bannister trained to break the 4-minute Mile, is undergoing a... August 06, 2012 By John Baldoni, Forbes Of the many wonderful outcomes of the London 2012 Olympics is the attention that Roger Bannister , the first man to run the sub-four minute Mile, now in his eighties is receiving. When I was growing up, Bannister was a hero of mine. I ran track in high school and the... Bannister praises ‘enormous advances’ in anti-doping August 01, 2012 It was described as the "Everest of athletics". Almost 60 years after Sir Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute Mile he talks to Channel 4 News about sporting barriers, the Olympics and doping.

By Channel 4 News William Hill stop taking bets on 83-year-old's appointment Bannister became first man to ran sub-four-minute mile By Sam Jones, The Guardian William Hill has stopped taking bets on Sir Roger Bannister lighting the Olympic cauldron after receiving a flurry of big bets backing the man who ran... Sir Roger Bannister missed out in Helsinki July 18, 2012 Bikash Mohapatra digs out some of the biggest names in sport who failed to leave a mark on the Olympics. By rediff.com The Olympics is a great leveler. While on the one hand we witness athletes rising from relative anonymity to create history, on the other there are eminent athletes who... June 12, 2012 As he prepares to carry the Olympic Torch, an enchanting interview with 4-minute Mile legend Roger Bannister By Jane Fryer, Daily Mail OXFORD - Sir Roger Bannister is sitting straight-backed and immaculate in his favourite 'very hard' chair. He’s chatting about Olympic gold medals, the...

Roger Bannister to carry the Olympic torch at the Oxford track where he made history June 04, 2012 Sir Roger Bannister will carry the Olympic torch on the track where he became the first man to run the Mile in less than four minutes By Tim Walker, The Telegraph OXFORD - Although Sir Roger Bannister would have been a popular choice to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony, the... London 2012 - Should Bannister light Olympic flame? June 01, 2012 Five-times Olympic gold medallist Steve Redgrave remains the bookies' hot favourite to light the Olympic flame in the stadium at the London 2012 opening ceremony, but Sir Roger Bannister is closing on him. By Eurosport By Stephen Wilson, Irish Examiner OXFORD - Roger Bannister remembers those fabled four minutes as if they were yesterday. Like a proud patriarch regaling wide-eyed children, the 83-year-old avidly recounts that magical four-lap race on a cinder track in Oxford on May 6, 1954 — an event that...

Sir Chris Chataway Interview and the Magic Mile May 07, 2012 The UK's MarathonTalk podcast featured a two-part interview earlier this year with Sir Chris Chataway who paced Sir Roger Bannister to the first sub-4 minute Mile in 1954. Chataway went on to have a decorated career himself breaking the World 5000m record, winning Commonwealth gold over three... February 14, 2012 Dear Mile: You were our First Love from the time we set eyes on you; it's been a wonderful 100-plus years together. From the time Edward Merritt (USA) ran 4:43.8 in 1877 to Great Britian's Sir Roger Bannister 's ground breaking first sub-4 minute Mile in 1954, we've been through it all. The...

The Time a Land Forgot May 01, 2004 Was Roger Bannister the first man to run a Mile in under 4 minutes or was he just the first amateur?, asks one of Britain's top sports historians By Peter Radford, The Observer There were no celebrations on May 9, 1970 to mark the 200th anniversary of the first 4 minute Mile, and no tours... 4 Minutes and 20 Years July 15, 1974 In 1954, gasping with effort on Oxford's Iffley Road track, Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute Mile. Now a prominent neurologist and chairman of the British Sports Council, his celebrity is undimmed, although critics say his idealist's view of athletics is anachronistic By Kenny Moore,... The Joy of Running June 20, 1955 The warm and personal story of a runner's boyhood, his first experiences in running, his youthful ambitions and frustrations, and how he developed the power he felt within him to become the greatest Miler of all-time By Roger Bannister , Sports Illustrated I remember a moment when I stood...

1954 & Its Sportsman: Roger Bannister January 03, 1955 The year brought shining performances in a host of sports, but the electrifying running of history's first 4-minute Miler—a man of no fanfare—made him year's pre-eminent man of sport By Gerald Holland, Sports Illustrated If ever a good speech ruined a dinner it was that delivered by Dr. Roger... Duel of the Four-Minute Men August 16, 1954 Bannister surges to victory in the heart-stirring Commonwealth Games Mile; first time two men sub-4 minutes in the same Mile race By Paul O'Neil, Sports Illustrated VANCOUVER, B.C. - The art of running the Mile consists, in essence, of reaching the threshold of unconsciousness at the instant... Roger Bannister: The first athlete to break the one mile barrier under four minutes Running Roger Bannister: The first athlete to break the one mile barrier under four minutes As part of our profiles on iconic runners, one of Britain's (and the world's) fastest men - the first to run a mile in under four minutes!

Tribute 19 Sep 2015, 21:30 IST An exhausted Roger Bannister at the end of his under four minute run Sir Roger Bannister was born in 1929. He studied medicine at Oxford University. In 1952, he represented Great Britain in the Olympics in Helsinki however, Sir Bannister could only finish 4th in the 1500 metres. Bannister was inspired by the intensive training and the three gold medals of Emile Zatopek, so he decided to make a great effort to beat the magical four minute barrier for the mile. Bannister was at the time working as a doctor and only had limited time for training in the evening. He focused on short intervals, anaerobic training and the use of block training (building up for certain weeks). In 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes. A noted British runner, he won the British mile championships in 1951, 1953, and 1954, and also won the Empire championship in 1954.

In addition, he won the European 1,500 meter championship in 1954. Bannister was born in 1929 in Harrow, England. As a child, he loved to run. He once said that it was easier for him to run than walk, "I just ran anywhere and everywhere—never because it was an end in itself, but because it was easier for me to run than to walk" He won his school's cross-country meet for three years in a row when he was 12, 13, and 14. At the age of 16, he decided to become a runner, but when he started studying medicine at Oxford University in 1946, he had never run on a track or worn running shoes with spikes. In 1946, Bannister began medical school in Oxford, where he had secured a scholarship. Every day, during lunch, he would pay three pence to enter Paddington Park, which was near the hospital, so that he could practice running. Bannister was not obviously talented as a runner, and barely made Oxford University's third track team.

On March 22, 1947, however, he was running as a pacer for members of Oxford's first team in a mile race against Cambridge. Instead of stopping, as a pacer was supposed to, he kept on running, not only completing the course but winning by 20 yards with a time of 4:30.8. Frank Deford of the Sports Illustrated said this about Bannister after the race, "I knew from this day that I could develop this newfound ability. He still did not think of athletics as a career, but simply as something one did in order to be well-rounded.” In 1949, Bannister won races in the United States with some incredible times of 4:11.1 and 4:11.9. After taking six weeks off, he came in third in another race with a time of 4:14.2. In 1950, he ran a mile in 4:13, although not as impressive as compared to his earlier efforts.

However, his last lap was an amazing 57.5, which indicated that he was capable of greater speeds, and that he had the ability to push for a burst of speed at the end of a race. In 1951, he ran in the Penn Relays, he started out slow but then took the lead after two and a half laps. He won with a time of 4:08.3, and he took just 56.7 for the last lap. He knew from this performance that he could probably run a mile in 4 minutes, 5 seconds. At the time, no one had ever run a mile in less than four minutes, and most people following track and field believed it could never be done. Helenski Olympics 1952 Bannister won the British mile championships in 1951 and 1953. He competed in the 1500 meters in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. In the semifinal, he came in fifth, but the next day, in the final, his legs were tired and heavy. A Fourth place finish was the best he could do.

Though he was disgusted with his performance, he was later proud that he had made it to the Olympics. After the Olympics, Bannister spent some time deciding whether or not he wanted to continue running. He decided to devote himself to breaking the four-minute barrier for the mile. He trained for half an hour each day; which didn’t seem like much time, but Bannister spent it doing arduous speed workouts. To help him track his timing and set the pace, he got a friend to help him, Chris Chataway. On June 27, 1953, he ran 4:02 with the help of two other friends, Chris Brasher and Don Macmillan, as pacers. Although the time was a British record, the authorities would not allow it to be placed in the record books because Bannister had used pacers. At the time, runners were supposed to run on their own, and pace themselves. In the winter and spring of 1954, Bannister was so busy with his studies that he did not have time to run. He would soon start his medical residency, which would leave him with even less free time.

He was further frustrated by the knowledge that Australian miler John Landy was aiming to break the four-minute barrier, and that Landy might do it by spring. Bannister decided that he would try to break the record on May 6, in his first race of 1954, at a small meet. And, in order to relax, he went rock-climbing in Scotland. Breaking the four minute barrier Bannister knew that he would have the best chance at breaking the record if the weather was perfect. When May 6 dawned with rain and win, he went to his job at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, knowing as he made his rounds that he might lose his chance at the meet later that day. After work, Bannister took the train from London to Oxford. On the train he met Franz Stampfl, who coached Bannister's teammate Chris Brasher. Stampfl told Bannister that despite the weather, he should give it his best try, saying, "If you don't take this opportunity, you may never forgive yourself." Bannister remained undecided through lunch and teatime later that day.

As the race began at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, only about 1,100 spectators had showed up. Among them were Bannister's parents, who had been told by a friend that something special might happen that day. As Bannister warmed up on the track, he kept looking toward the church of St. John the Evangelist, where a flag flying straight out above the steeple showed the strength of the wind. A few minutes before the race started at 6:10 p.m., the flag began to drop, and Bannister told himself that if everyone in characteristically rainy and windy England waited for good weather before doing anything, nothing would ever be done. He told Chataway and Brasher he was going to make the attempt on the record. As the gun sounded, the runners took off. Brasher was in the lead until the end of the third lap, when Chataway took over the pace. On the backstretch Bannister passed him, moving ahead of all the other runners, into a new pace, never run before.

On the stretch, a gust of wind pushed him sideways, stealing valuable fractions of seconds, but Bannister kept going, hitting the tape at 3:59.4. Bannister later said of those last few seconds of the race, "I felt that the moment of a lifetime had come. There was no pain, only a great utility of movement and aim. The world seemed to stand still or did not exist; the only reality was the next two hundred yards of track under my feet." As he crossed over the finish line, he was so exhausted that he collapsed, almost passing out. The crowd went wild, rushing onto the track and surrounding Bannister. A report in the London Times on the following day noted, "There was a scene of the wildest excitement—and what miserable spectators they would have been if they had not waved their programmes, shouted, even jumped in the air a little." He went on to be a distinguished neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 1993. When interviewed 50 years after the famous four minute mile, Bannister was asked whether he thought the sub four minute mile was his life’s greatest achievements. He said no.

He felt his work in neurology was of greater importance. Bannister made discoveries in the field of autonomic failure. The current mile record is held by Hicham El Guerrouj’s with a time of 3:43.13. Sir Roger Bannister is 86 years old and suffers from Parkinson’s disease and needs a pair of crutches to walk from the armchair to the door of his sitting room. Roger Bannister was the first person to ever run the mile under 4:00 minutes. His time was 3:59.4 on May 6th, 1954 Sir Roger Bannister reveals his battle with Parkinson's as first man to run a sub-four minute mile reflects on an incredible life | Daily Mail Online Sir Roger Bannister reveals his battle with Parkinson's as first man to run a sub-four minute mile reflects on an incredible life comments The carriage clock in Sir Roger Bannister’s living room in Oxford ticks loudly. The world’s first sub-four-minute miler is 85 now, a grandfather of 14 with a pair of crutches propped by his side.

It is 60 years since Bannister’s record-breaking run on May 6, 1954, but the relentless rhythm of the second hand has now taken on another significance. Bannister has revealed he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years ago, half a century after he qualified as a consultant neurologist. Track legend: Sir Roger Bannister, seen here at his home in Oxford, was the first athlete to run a mile in under four minutes British sprinting is back on the map, says performance director Black after Kilty gold He has looked after many patients with the same progressive condition and the ‘gentle irony’ is not lost on him. Walking is difficult now, let alone running, ‘one of the great pleasures’ of Bannister’s life, but he does not display the slightest hint of self-pity. He has simply changed the monthly walking club he founded in Oxford in 2000 into a lunch club instead. His mind is pin-sharp. He telephones at 8am on the dot to confirm arrangements and spends the first 10 minutes interviewing me! ‘What is walking anyway?’ he says.

‘We had our 100th stroll not long ago but I’m now not able to go, so it’s lunch instead. ‘I have seen and looked after patients with so many neurological and other disorders that I am not surprised I have acquired an illness. It’s in the nature of things.’ For Bannister the athlete, time was also a challenge. He gave himself until the autumn of 1954 to run 1,760 yards in less than four minutes before he walked away from athletics to pursue a career in medicine aged 25. Landmark moment: Bannister ran the world's first four-minute mile in 1954 when he was a 25-year-old medical student at an athletics meeting at Oxford His push to be the first became something of an obsession. It was Bannister against John Landy, the Australian who was to break his world record just 46 days later, and the only way Bannister felt he could compensate for the ‘bitter’ disappointment of finishing fourth in the 1500m at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki.

Three races in three days had proved too much for a student who did not consider himself a ‘hard runner’ but, had he won gold in Finland, Bannister insists he would have ‘retreated into obscurity’. The first sub-four minute mile would have belonged to someone else. Instead, he adopted a doctor’s calculated approach to his task, rationalising that if a man can run a mile in four minutes and two seconds ‘there’s no logic in them saying they can’t run it in under four minutes’. Yet the athlete’s doubts niggled away, up to 20 minutes before his record-breaking race. Bannister sharpened his spikes on the laboratory grindstone in London that morning and caught a train from Paddington to Oxford. But the misgivings lingered. ‘I knew that to fail would be damaging to me, psychologically, and the next time I tried I would have this little question mark in my mind,’ he says. Tools of the trade: Bannister shows off his old running shoes in 2004 ‘It was a gamble. I had another date in my mind, two weeks later in White City, but I could pull a muscle, have a minor accident, the weather could be even worse.

Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, my pacemakers, might not be available. All these thoughts enabled me, about 20 minutes before, to say, “Let’s do it”.’ Bannister closes his eyes and uses the rhythm of the clock to remember those snippets of time. ‘Fifty-eight seconds,’ he says, describing the first lap. ‘1:58. Then three minutes and one second.’ Bannister looks up. He has told the story of that day at Oxford’s Iffley Road cinder track countless times, yet his voice softens as he builds the suspense. The clock keeps ticking. ‘We were slowing,’ he continues, ‘and that was the very critical time when I had to be sure I could do the last lap in under 59 seconds. ‘I wasn’t sure over the last 20 yards. I felt the tape almost receding. I knew I couldn’t run any faster and I would just have to get to the line. I collapsed over the line and, when I came to, I heard Norris McWhirter’s announcement. He said he had practised it in the bath that morning. “The result of event No 8, one mile.

First: RG Bannister of Exeter and Merton Colleges in a time which, subject to ratification, will be a track record, English national record, British all-comers’ record, European record, Commonwealth Games record, world record in THREE...”. Then everything exploded.’ Three minutes and 59.4 seconds that changed history. Few other sporting moments have been crystallised in a nation’s memory in the same way as the first sub-four-minute mile, even if Bannister was only runner-up behind Chataway in the BBC’s 1954 Sports Review of the Year. Clock watcher: Bannister holds the stop-watch that recorded his sporting feat in 2004 Bannister chuckles as he says all the people who claim they were there that day ‘wouldn’t have got into Wembley Stadium, let alone the track’, but he understands the shared ownership of watching a momentous sporting event. That 3min 59.4sec meant something to the British public, coming just a year after the Queen’s Coronation and Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Everest in an era when breaking boundaries suddenly seemed possible. And they still do today, 60 years on.

‘People develop memories of places or acts because they meant something to them,’ says Bannister. Worldwide icon: Bannister holds the Olympic Torch after it was lit on Wimbledon's Centre Court prior to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens ‘It was such a long time in coming and it’s a kind of magic event. There was a psychological barrier with it. I predicted that, once I had broken the four-minute mile, everybody would find it much easier. Apres moi, le deluge. And there was.’ He leans back in his chair and smiles. ‘Although more people have climbed Everest than run a sub-four-minute mile,’ he adds, chuckling again. Yet this is Bannister’s only concession to the enduring ‘magic’ of his achievement. ‘I don’t think about it except when I’m asked about it,’ he says. ‘I deliberately played it down for 15 years, particularly as my neurology career was being better recognised.’ Bannister’s wife of 59 years, Moyra, an artist, breaks from sketching the latest visitor to her Oxford home to interject.

‘I don’t say when I pass the cornflakes, “Oh, I’m passing them to a sub-four-minute miler!”,’ she says, laughing. ‘Life has to be lived.’ Bannister went on to win Commonwealth and European gold in the summer of 1954, beating Landy in an epic race in Vancouver, then retired from athletics to concentrate on his medical studies. He wrote his first autobiography ‘as a way of getting athletics out of my system’, but he insists he had no problem embracing retirement at such a young age. He did not stop running; he would take his four children for morning jogs in London’s Kensington Gardens and started an orienteering club at the family’s cottage near Arundel in West Sussex. He also enjoyed sailing and says, proudly, that he achieved a certificate of competence as an offshore skipper. ‘Ending an athletics career is very difficult,’ adds Bannister, ‘but for me there was no problem.

I had loved running from the time I was a young boy, but it wasn’t difficult to give up competition.’ He talks about running for fun with far more enthusiasm than what his wife jokingly terms his ‘glory days’, which only adds to the unfairness of the 1975 car crash that largely ended these weekend jaunts. Bannister shattered an ankle in a head-on collision that was not his fault. Recalling the good times: Bannister is one of Britain's most recognised athletes due to his feats on the track But then Bannister retells his life story in a remarkably straightforward manner. He will only admit he had a ‘measure of success’ as a miler. The same understatement imbues his recollections of his neurological career and time as chairman of the Sports Council. Bannister is definite about one thing: his legacy should be his medical research and not the sub-four-minute mile. ‘Oh, it’s medical, definitely,’ he says. ‘I have made some small contributions in a field called autonomic nervous system.’ Thankfully, Lady Bannister is on hand to interrupt again.

‘Don’t you believe that!’ she says, pointing out his 2005 lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Neurology. ‘But I haven’t changed anything,’ responds her husband. ‘I have just made some observations. ‘There isn’t the same simplicity about my research that there is about my athletics career. The subtleties of brain function are so complex, but could I run a sub-four-minute mile?

Yes, I did.’ 60 YEARS ON...HOW THE RECORD HAS EVOLVED 3:59.4 Roger Bannister (Eng) May 6, 1954, Oxford 3:58.0 John Landy (Aus) Jun 21, 1954, Turku 3:57.2 Derek Ibbotson (Eng) Jul 19, 1957, London 3:54.5 Herb Elliott (Aus) Aug 6, 1958, Dublin 3:54.4 Peter Snell (NZ) Jan 27, 1962, Wanganui 3:54.1 Snell Nov 17, 1964, Auckland 3:53.6 Michel Jazy (Fra) Jun 9, 1965, Rennes 3:51.3 Jim Ryun (USA) Jul 17, 1966, Berkeley 3:51.1 Ryun Jun 23, 1967, Bakersfield 3:51.0 Filbert Bayi (Tan) May 

17, 1975, Kingston 3:49.4 John Walker (NZ) Aug 12, 1975, Gothenburg 3:49.0 Sebastian Coe (Eng) Jul 17, 1979, Oslo 3:48.8 Steve Ovett (Eng) Jul 1, 1980, Oslo 3:48.53 Coe Aug 19, 1981, Zurich 3:48.40 Ovett Aug 26, 1981, Koblenz, Ger 3:47.33 Coe Aug 28, 1981, Brussels 3:46.32 Steve Cram (Eng) Jul 27, 1985, Oslo 3:44.39 Noureddine Morceli (Alg) Sep 5, 1993, Rieti 3:43.13 Hicham El Guerrouj (Mor) Jul 7, 1999, Rome BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1954

: Bannister breaks four-minute mile About This Site | Text Only 1954: Bannister breaks four-minute mile Roger Bannister, a 25-year-old British medical student, has become the first man to run a mile in less than four minutes.

His time was 3mins 59.4 seconds, achieved at the Iffley Road track in Oxford and watched by about 3,000 spectators. Bannister, once president of the Oxford club, was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his old university during their annual match. The race was carefully planned and he was aided by two pacemakers, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. Brasher took the lead as the first pacemaker, Bannister slotted in behind, with Chataway in third place. When Brasher began to feel the strain, Bannister signalled for Chataway to take over. Just over 200 yards from the finish, Bannister took the lead with a final burst of energy. He sprinted to the line in record time and fell exhausted into the arms of a friend, the Rev Nicholas Stacey. Pandemonium broke out when spectators heard news that Bannister had officially beaten the four-minute mile. He had prepared for the race the previous week at Paddington Green in London in high winds.

The weather at Iffley Road was not ideal for record-breaking - a 15mph crosswind with gusts of up to 25mph meant that Bannister nearly called off the attempt. Bannister has beaten his main rival to the record - Australian athlete John Landy. Both had run quite close to the time but the magic number four had proved elusive until now. Sports: Bannister stuns world with 4-minute mile Bannister stuns world with 4-minute mile By BRUCE LOWITT © St. Petersburg Times, published December 17, 1999 For years, the 4-minute mile was considered not merely unreachable but, according to physiologists of the time, dangerous to the health of any athlete who attempted to reach it. For Roger Bannister, it was vindication. When he crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds, he broke through a psychological barrier as well. John Landy, considered one of the great milers of that era, never had gotten closer than within 1.5 seconds of the 4-minute barrier before.

Within 46 days of Bannister's breakthrough, Landy surpassed the record with a 3:57.9 in Finland. Bannister and Landy raced later in the year in the "Mile of the Century" at Vancouver, a runoff to decide who was the faster miler. Bannister won in 3:58.8 to Landy's 3:59.6, the first time two men in one race had broken 4 minutes. By the end of 1957, 16 runners had logged sub-4-minute miles. He is Sir Roger Bannister now, a neurosurgeon. On May 6, 1954, he was a 6-foot-1, 25-year-old medical student at Oxford, running on the university's track at Iffley Road before a meager crowd of 1,000, most of them students. And he was running with the 2-year-old memory of disappointment still burning within him. He had expected -- and had been expected -- to win the 1,500 meters, the metric mile, at the 1952 Olympics.

Even the Duke of Edinburgh had timed his visit to Helsinki in order to be there when the final was run. But Bannister was jostled during the race, never got into contention and finished fourth. Only a remarkable performance down the road could erase the disappointment. He achieved it at Iffley. In the weeks leading up to that attempt, Bannister approached the task scientifically, setting a fierce training schedule for himself with workouts conducted each day for one-half hour during his lunch break. Among the goals achieved: seven straight half miles at an average 2:03; 10 straight quarter miles at an average 58.9; three-quarters of a mile in 2:59.8, and a half mile in 1:54. The world record of 4:01.4, set in 1945 by Sweden's Gunder Haegg, didn't fall in an actual race. Bannister wasn't running against anyone, only against the clock, although he was chasing someone. He was paced by a pair of "rabbits," fellow Oxonian Chris Chataway and former Cambridge University steeplechaser Chris Brasher.

The run was all the more remarkable considering he was running, the New York Times said, in a 15 mph crosswind that gusted to 25 mph. Bannister stayed close to Brasher for the first two laps around the quarter-mile track, clocking 1:58.2. When Chataway rushed to the lead for the third lap, Bannister was on his heels. His three-quarter mile time was 3:00.5. Bannister "bided his time until about 300 yards from the tape," the AP reported, "when he urged himself to a supreme effort. With a machine-like, seemingly effortless stride he drew away steadily from Chataway and, head thrown back slightly, he breasted the cool, stiff wind on the last turn to come driving down the homestretch to climax his spectacular performance." He crossed the finish line and began sagging to the ground, drained of all his energy. "It was only then that real pain overtook me," he said. "I felt like an exploded flashlight with no will to live; I just went on existing in the most passive physical state without being unconscious." The crowd that had urged him on fell silent.

Two track officials held him up while spectators converged on him. The time was announced. "Three ... " The rest was drowned out by the cheers. Bannister, his energy restored, ran to Brasher and Chataway and embraced them, then the trio trotted in a victory lap. -- Information from Times wires was used in this report. © St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved. Headlines

Question: On 6 May 1954 Roger Bannister was the first person to run a mile in under four minutes.  Who took the record from him 46 days later?
Answer: John Landy