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. 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 Happy Birthday, Roger Bannister, First Runner to Break the Four-Minute Mile Bannister breaking the four-minute mile. Happy Birthday, Roger Bannister, First Runner to Break the Four-Minute Mile March 23, 2011 by findingDulcinea Staff In 1954, British medical student Roger Bannister became the first man to break the four-minute mile barrier, earning him international admiration and Sports Illustrated's first Sportsman of the Year award.

When asked how he achieved his record-breaking feat, he replied, “It’s the ability to take more out of yourself than you've got.” Roger Bannister’s Early Days Roger Bannister was born March 23, 1929 , in Harrow, England, to working-class parents. Bannister excelled in the classroom and aspired to attend college and study medicine. He earned an academic scholarship to Oxford University, where he became a nationally recognized runner in the mile and 1500 meters. Though he likely could have qualified for the 1948 London Olympics, he chose instead to focus on his medical training and studies. Sports Illustrated: 1954 & Its Sportsman: Roger Bannister Bannister had hoped to win a gold medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. However, he tired toward the end of the 1500 meters and finished fourth to great disappointment and denigration from the British press. The BBC called it a “watershed moment”; Bannister, who planned to retire from running before the next Olympics, became determined to break the four-minute barrier and attain the fame that eluded him in Helsinki.

“I thought: Well, I can't leave on this sour note , feeling failure, disappointment, letting people down—letting the country down,” Bannister recalled in a 2004 interview. Bannister was a self-taught runner who used his medical knowledge to closely monitor his pulse rate, oxygen intake and diet. In November 1951, with his personal best at 4:02, he hired Austrian trainer Franz Stampf, who introduced Bannister to new training methods and taught him to better pace himself. On May 6, 1954, at the Oxford v. British A.A.A. race, Bannister was prepared to break the four-minute barrier . He nearly postponed the barrier-breaking attempt on that rainy, windy day, but decided to go ahead. According to Bannister’s plan, one teammate set a fast early pace, while a second teammate raced to the lead in the second half of the race. “Some 300 yards from the finish. Bannister began pouring it on,” wrote Time, “lengthening his stride for his famed finishing kick, his head rolled back, his neck painfully arched.

He tore the tape and collapsed unconscious into the arms of Trainer Stampfl.” Watch the BBC’s coverage of Bannister’s four-minute mile . The track announcer, Norris McWhirter, announced the time, which began with “three minutes.” Time wrote, “At that point, the 1,500 track fans in the stands broke into such an uproar that the rest of the announcement was lost: ‘Three minutes, fifty-nine and four-tenths seconds.’” Bannister’s record stood for less than a month, beaten by Australian runner John Landy. Bannister beat Landy in that summer’s British Empire Games, running a 3:58.8 mile. He would go on to win the European championships in the 1500 meters and be named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year in 1954 , the first year the honor was given. “ Bannister was about the last of his breed —the athlete on the side,” wrote Sports Illustrated’s Frank Deford in 2004. “Just as inventions are no longer made in garages, so human beings don't break records in their spare time anymore.

… But somehow … it seemed right that the final, great challenge fell to one young man, who did it all by himself, the same as his forefathers. In a way, Roger Bannister was the last hero in sport.” Roger Bannister Breaks the 4-minute Mile Barrier Roger Bannister Breaks the 4-minute Mile Barrier On May 6, 1954, a British medical student named Roger Bannister ran a mile around a track in less than 4 minutes. It was one of the 20th Century's defining athletic achievements. Runners had been running consistently faster as generations went by and athletes got more serious and focused and disciplined. The one-mile race was considered one of the marquee distances. The four-minute time was considered an untouchable barrier. It also became a target. Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile in less than 4 minutes, was a talented runner who brought to his athletic pursuit a scientific approach honed in his medical student training. Bannister had enjoyed running since he was a boy. He was also very fast.

At school, he enjoyed success in cross country, winning the school meet three straight years, when he was 12–14. He kept running, even when attending Oxford University to study medicine. The first hint that he had special talent came when in 1947, when he was running as the pacer for the Oxford team in a one-mile race against arch-rival Cambridge. He didn't stop running, though, as pacers are meant to do but kept running and won the race, by 20 yards. His time was 4:18.7. He soon was entering other races, in the U.K. and in other countries. In 1949, he won a couple of races in the U.S., finishing in 4:11. The following year, he ran a final-lap time of 57.5, suggesting that he could go under 4 minutes if he could hold that pace for four laps around a track. (The fact that the 57.5 came in the last lap, after he had already run three, was amazing to those who saw it and read about it afterward.) In 1951, in the U.S.

for the Penn Relays, Bannister won going away with a time 4:08.3. Again, his last lap was his fastest, a 56.7. After a fourth-place finish in the 1500 meters at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister renewed his drive to break 4 minutes. He did this, of course, in between his studies. He was still in medical school, and each year was more demanding than the last. In late 1953 and early 1954, he was so busy at school that he found little time for running. Hearing that the Australian runner John Landy had announced his intention to break 4 minutes, Bannister redoubled his efforts. Bannister broke the 4-minute barrier on May 6, 1954, on the Iffley Road track in Oxford. Bannister at the time was running for the Amateur Athletic Association, and it was a carefully choreographed assault, with pacemakers Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway leading the way. The weather wasn't ideal: A 15mph crosswind made things a bit difficult in the early going.

But Bannister followed his two pacers around the track for all four laps, at a very high speed, and then took the lead himself with 200 yards to go. When he broke the tape, the clock read 3:59.4. Bannister was instantly famous and will forever be known as the first man to break the 4-minute barrier. His race was called the "Miracle Mile." It was the lead story in Sports Illustrated. Landy and others soon broke 4 minutes as well, and the tile for the one-mile race has continued to be lowered in the years since. Meanwhile, Bannister completed his medical training and became a neurologist, a profession he still holds. He wrote a book about his running, called The Four Minute Mile. He was knighted in 1975. Custom Search Impossible Case Study: Sir Roger Bannister and The Four-Minute Mile / IMPOSSIBLE ® By Joel Runyon 6 Comments Sir Roger Bannister was the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Up until he did it in 1954, most people thought the four-minute mark was impossible to break.

They thought the human body couldn’t physically go that fast – that it would collapse under the pressure. No-one could run a mile in less than four minutes. It was impossible. You were crazy to even try. That was, until Bannister proved everyone wrong, training in his own way, often for not very long at all compared to his competitors, and believing that he could do it. Bannister wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Bannister came from an ordinary working class family. He wanted to study medicine, but he knew his parents would never be able to afford to send him to university. By the time he was ten, he thought life was so boring that he was actually pleased about the second World War. He thought it would ‘liven things up a bit’. Needless to say – if war is the only thing you’re looking forward to – things aren’t looking to great for your story. Bannister Decided To Change Things He discovered he had a talent for running and knuckled down to train. He decided to win a university scholarship – which he did. His hard work paid off – he won a track scholarship to Oxford University. While he was at university, the press got wind of his talent.

While he declined to compete in the 1948 Olympics, watching it inspired him to push forward & compete in the 1952 Olympics. At this point, expectations were high – Bannister expected to win the 1500 meters. Britain expected him to win. Everyone expected him to win. But, at the last minute, the schedule was changed, disrupting Bannister’s resting routine and he came in fourth. He Failed To Medal At The Olympics And he was gutted – so much so that he spent the next two months deciding whether or not to quit running. In the end, he decided to prove to himself, and to everyone else, that he could do better. He decided to use his pain and humiliation to drive himself forward and push his limits. In the 1940s, the record for running a mile had reached 4:01. But it hadn’t budged since. Some doctors and scientists said it was physically impossible to run a mile in less than four minutes. Not just hard, or dangerous, but impossible. Bannister decided to do it – to run a mile in less than four minutes. A literally impossible feat – something that had never been done.

He stepped up his training. He trained for half an hour a day, doing intense speed workouts. He used a pacer and his time went down. He was seconds off of breaking the four minute barrier. The four-minute mile was within reach. He started to see it as possible. But Bannister wasn’t the only one going for it. Lots of runners were hot on his heels, including his main rival, Australian John Landy. It was a race to the bottom and Bannister wanted to win. Bannister’s chance came on May 6th, 1954. The experts believed that the record would only be broken on a day with no wind, at 20 degrees Celsius, on a hard dry clay track, probably in Scandinavia, and in front of a huge cheering crowd of tens of thousands of people. Ideal condiitons. May 6th, 1954 was no such day. It was cold, the track was wet, and there were only 3000 people in the the Iffley Road crowd. Bannister had rested for five days before because he’d reached his peak, both physically and psychologically. It wasn’t looking good. Again.

But Landy was already on his way to Finland for his next shot – in the supposed “ideal” conditions. Bannister knew that if he didn’t break the record that day, Landy might beat him. There were no other options. Bannister spent the morning at the hospital where he was working towards his medical degree. He was worried about the weather – the wind was strong that day. By the evening, it was raining. By the time the race began, the wind was up to fifteen miles an hour. He decided to run anyways. Six men entered the race. Straight away, Bannister and Brasher took the lead. Brasher led the first half-mile. Chataway was right behind Bannister. Then he overtook him. Bannister began his last lap with a time of 3.07. He needed to do the last one in 59 seconds. He flew past Chataway onto the last straight. He knew this was it. The world stood still. It was just him and the track. He was exhausted but, driven by the years of training and his determination, he crossed the finish line and collapsed – exhausted.

The announcement came… “Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result of event nine, the one mile: first, number forty one, R. G. Bannister, Amateur Athletic Association and formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford, with a time which is a new meeting and track record, and which—subject to ratification—will be a new English Native, British National, All-Comers, European, British Empire and World Record. The time was three…” The announcement was drowned out by the crowd. Bannister had finished in 3:59.4 He’d done it. He’d broken the world record He’d done what so many believed was impossible. He’d made history. Bannister Opened The Door For Others To Do The Impossible As Well Bannister later said that he believed Landy had lost heart – the four-minute mark had become a barrier for him. And yet, just 46 days after Bannister broke the record, Landy beat his time. Over the next few years, more and more people broke through the four-minute mark once they realized that yes, it was possible.

Once Bannister proved that it was possible to run a mile in under four minutes, suddenly everyone was able to do it – proving an important lesson: once you stop believing something is impossible, it becomes possible. Roger Bannister changed his story. He was just an ordinary boy. There was no reason why he should have gone on to do anything great. He was just a working class boy who wanted to study medicine. But Roger decided to change things. But he refused to settle. When no-one believed his goals were possible – he did. When he failed publicly, he picked himself up, and carried on. When his competitors were hot on his heels, he picked up his pace. He took things into his own hands, and decided to tell a better story . And in doing so – he did the impossible. — Photo credit: Getty Images/ Daily Mail | Worldinsport | Norman Potter/Central Press/Getty Images Grow Stronger, Do The Impossible Get weekly emails on how to build a stronger mind, a stronger body and stronger life and do the impossible. Thanks! Now check your email. There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again. First Name Email Address We use this field to detect spam bots.

If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer. Let's do this 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...

'I gave it everything': Sir Roger Bannister marks 60 years since his record - Telegraph Athletics 'I gave it everything': Sir Roger Bannister marks 60 years since his record Six decades since he became the first man ever to run a mile in less than four minutes, Sir Roger Bannister remembers how he redefined what the human body can achieve By Harry Wallop 8:00AM BST 03 May 2014 As with so many moments in British history, it came down to the weather. On the morning of May 6, 1954, it was raining steadily across the south of England and the wind was blowing hard. Roger Bannister’s mood matched the skies above. Then a medical student, he was also Britain’s best middle-distance runner, whom many people were tipping to become the first man in the world to run a mile in less than four minutes. But he was also the man everyone had predicted to win gold at the Olympic Games in Helsinki two years previously. He came fourth. The headlines screamed he was a failure. The memory of Helsinki exacerbated his state of mind.

He knew that the wind would slow him down by about a second a lap -- and the mile was four laps long. He says: “I was feeling I would be wasting my effort to run in those circumstances with the time having to be the equivalent of 3:56; I wasn’t sure I could do 3:56.” Related Articles Salazar: Farah needs to forget about marathons 24 Apr 2014 After doing his morning house rounds at Paddington Hospital, he caught the train to Oxford, where he was due to race against his former University team. By chance, on the same train, was his coach, Frank Stampfl. Sir Roger (as he is now) recalls: “He said, 'I think you can do 3:56 and if you had this potential chance and you didn’t take it you’d never forgive yourself, maybe for the rest of your life.’ And I think that idea stuck in my mind.” *** Four laps in four minutes. There is a symmetry and a simplicity to what Bannister achieved 60 years ago.

So simple indeed that it is hard to understand the feeling of euphoria Bannister’s feat engendered - not just in Britain, but across much of the world. The Daily Telegraph, at the time, described it as “sport’s greatest goal”, something “as elusive and seemingly unattainable as Everest”. As the anniversary approaches, it is an event which still resonates, forcing us to question what the human body is capable of achieving. Steve Cram, the last British man to have held the mile record (in a time of 3:46) explains why this feat, among sporting endeavours, has such appeal. “The mile is part of our daily lives. It is woven into our society. It is the same as a minute or an hour, it is a measurement that surrounds us every day. People understand it - even a five-year old. That’s part of it. “The other part I’ve learnt - especially since working in television - is that human beings have an attention span of three or four minutes. It’s perfect attention length to draw people in”. Sir Roger describes the laps unfolding "almost like the evolving of a Greek tragedy, or a triumph, in which everything is encapsulated in that short period of time”.

Bannister about to cross the tape at the end of his record-breaking mile run I interviewed him the week he turned 85, in his elegant flat in north Oxford - not far from the Iffley Road track where broke the record. It is crammed with mementoes of a full life; the walls are covered with watercolours painted by his wife, Moyra. But, save for a photograph of him in his tracksuit shaking hands with Sir Winston Churchill and an Olympic torch from the London 2012 Games mounted on the wall, there are few signs of his athletic success. And his body is starting to fail him. Though his brain is pin-sharp, he has Parkinson's and needs a pair of crutches to walk from the armchair to the door of his sitting room. “I’ve had a good innings,” he says, pointing to his stiff legs without resentment and with the awareness that of the major players on May 6, 1954, he is the last great survivor. He used to dismiss those four minutes as no more than an “interlude” that delayed his high-powered career as a neurologist.

But, in old age, he appears to have finally come to terms with his legacy, whose roots stretch far back. The mile had been raced since at least the 1770s – a period when aristocratic gentlemen would place huge bets on anything that moved, especially horses. Gentlemen started to challenge each other’s footmen to race between mile markers and against the clock. Some footmen became highly-trained professional “pedestrians”, as they were called. Even back then, there was talk of a four-minute mile and whether a man could achieve it, and races attracted vast crowds. By the time Bannister went up to Oxford as an undergraduate, however, the amateur era had come to dominate many sports, particularly athletics. It was not the done thing to be seen to train too hard. Chris Chataway, a fellow undergraduate of Bannister, who would go onto to be a pacemaker on the day of the four-minute mile, said: “I was enormously impressed by the effortless superiority thing at Oxford….Whenever I saw Roger he gave the impression that he did very little training, if any. He said he did none at all in the vacations.” The impression was not entirely accurate.

Bannister, it was true, only trained for two or three days a week as an undergraduate. And when he was a trainee doctor he only was able to squeeze in half-hour sessions during his lunchbreak. But he had studied the methods of Arne Anderson and Gunder Hagg, both from neutral Sweden who had benefited from spending the War eating well, training, and progressively lowering the record from 4:06 to 4:01. They trained exceptionally hard – but in short bursts, using the method they called "fartlek", which translates as “speed play”, the forerunner of interval training. There is no doubt, however, that one of the reasons why the four-minute mile resonates is because Bannister and his two pacemakers - Chataway and Chris Brasher - were amateurs.

Bannister meets Winston Churchill in Downing Street, as Brasher (left) and Chataway look on Also, 1954 was the start of a new Elizabethan era, a time of hope and optimism after the grimness of the post-war years – it was just one year after the coronation of a young queen, and the conquering of Everest; food rationing was only just coming to an end. As Bannister says: “Could Britain still make it in the post-War world? “It seemed to be an emergence of some new kind of desire to excel and try to tackle physical barriers. We did have something which is not so fashionable now, a kind of patriotism.” This came to a head in the months leading up to the attempt in May. Bannister, after his failure in Helsinki vowed to concentrate on breaking four minutes. But he had serious rivals: Wes Santee, in America, and John Landy in Australia, considered the supreme runner of his era. Landy had attempted to break the barrier on many occasions, before declaring despondently that four minutes was “a brick wall”.

One of Bannister’s best friends was Norris McWhirter, who would go on to start the Guinness World Record publishing phenomenon. It is no exaggeration that this was the Space Race of its era, and McWhirter was obsessed that Bannister and Britain would get their first. He would constantly feed Bannister information from around the world – what times Santee and Landy were recording, when they were next running. The record had been stuck at 4:01 for nearly a decade. But Bannister, after training in secret during the early winter months of 1954, was confident he could do it, if he had help from Brasher and Chataway as pacemakers. The first possible race of the season was at the Iffley Road track in May. But only if the weather held. “I was watching the church steeple of St George’s and the flag was still sticking out straight," says Bannister. "That meant the wind was very strong - it was like a wind sock at an airport.” Brasher and Chataway were becoming impatient with Sir Roger’s crippling indecision.

They came into the changing room half an hour before the 6pm start and said, “you’ve got to make up your mind”. At that moment the flag’s slackened a little and Bannister said: “Let’s do it.” And he did - just. The first two laps, set by Brasher were on pace, but then as Chataway took over, the pace slowed “dangerously”. After the third lap, when the time was shouted out, Bannister knew he could be in trouble. He kicked for home with 300 yards to go. “I felt the tape was receding over the last few yards. I knew I could not run any faster and I gave it everything.” Bannister gasps for breath at the end of his record-breaking mile run A fear of failure - as much as a quest for glory - drove him on. He says he knew if he did not hit that tape in under four minutes, “the world would be a cold and forbidding place”. What was the magic ingredient that allowed him to conquer this fear? “The final bit is mental. I am sure of that.

The successful runner is the one who can take more out of himself than he has.” *** The record - 3:59.4 - held for all of 46 days. In June, John Landy smashed it in Finland, taking it down to 3:58. At the time Bannister predicted it would fall to 3:30, and the floodgates would open. That never happened. Though the record steadily edged downwards, especially during the golden era of Ovett, Coe and Cram in the 1980s, the current world record is 3:43, held by the Moroccan, Hicham El Guerrouj. He has now held this for 15 years. Running less than four minutes remains a remarkably difficult act. Bannister’s achievement was yoked together with Everest, which had been conquered the year before. Since then, 4,100 people have climbed the world’s highest mountain. A far lower number have run sub-four minutes: 1,305. Money, sadly, plays a part.

Most middle distance runners concentrate on the “metric mile”, the 1,500m, an Olympic event, where the major prize money is. They tend to only run the classic mile once or twice a season - for glory, not gold. But also, for all the public cash poured into sport, standards have fallen, especially in Britain. Running, as a mass participation sport, is more popular than ever - witness the thousands who enter the London Marathon. But there are very few people prepared to sacrifice their careers to to become an elite athlete. Ten years ago, when Iffley Road staged a 50th anniversary celebration, a handful of the world’s best were invited to run the mile. Not a single one of the British runners - including a young Mo Farah - broke four minutes. Cram says the dominance of east Africans has not helped. They have a genetic disposition towards slow-twitch fibre muscles, which most sports doctors agree gives them an advantage over long distance. Cram says: “European men, including Brits - there are just fewer of them running. The intake into athletics has fallen.

There is a feeling of 'What’s the point?'” The statistics show that average speeds, even at the top end, are improving at a far slower rate. But records are not set by average people. All it needs to get to 3:30, as Bannister says, is “a Usain Bolt of middle distance” - someone with exceptional genes. “I think it foolhardy to predict the absolute limits of human endeavour,” he adds. Records remain important. David Fletcher, a sports psychologist at Loughborough University, says: “Intrinsically we have a desire to progress and advance. These records - be it Everest, the four-minute mile, putting a man on the moon - give us an indication of that advancement. It is something very fundamental to us as human beings.” That is perhaps even more so, when a record is set by one of us. Not a professional, but a trainee doctor, on a ration-book diet. Bannister is cheered by his fellow medical students the day after he ran his sub-four minute mile Nigel Miller was part of the Oxford University team that took on Bannister that rainy day in 1954, and one of the few eyewitnesses alive.

“We have lost some of the romance of record breaking," he says. "And part of the romance of the four-minute mile was the amateur ethos of time - you could do it, while training alongside a job, a career. Running wasn’t your livelihood.” And what was it like watching? “It was terribly exciting. We knew that at this moment that we were seeing something that had never been done before, it was a territory that was being entered for the first time.” First four-minute mile - May 06, 1954 - HISTORY.com Publisher A+E Networks In Oxford, England, 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister cracks track and field’s most notorious barrier: the four-minute mile. Bannister, who was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his alma mater, Oxford University, won the mile race with a time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. For years, so many athletes had tried and failed to run a mile in less than four minutes that people made it out to be a physical impossibility. The world record for a mile was 4 minutes and 1.3 seconds, set by Gunder Hagg of Sweden in 1945.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the psychological mystique surrounding the four-minute barrier, several runners in the early 1950s dedicated themselves to being the first to cross into the three-minute zone. Roger Bannister, born in Harrow, England, in 1929, was a top mile-runner while a student at the University of Oxford and at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London. In 1951 and 1953, he won British championships in the mile run. As he prepared himself for his first competitive race of the 1954 season, Bannister researched the mechanics of running and trained using new scientific methods he developed. On May 6, 1954, he came to the Iffley Road track in Oxford for the annual match between the Amateur Athletic Association and Oxford University. Conditions were far from ideal; it had been windy and raining. A considerable crosswind was blowing across the track as the mile race was set to begin. At 6 p.m., the starting gun was fired. In a carefully planned race, Bannister was aided by Chris Brasher, a former Cambridge runner who acted as a pacemaker.

For the first half-mile, Brasher led the field, with Bannister close behind, and then another runner took up the lead and reached the three-quarter-mile mark in 3 minutes 0.4 seconds, with Bannister at 3 minutes 0.7 seconds. Bannister took the lead with about 350 yards to go and passed an unofficial timekeeper at the 1,500-meter mark in 3 minutes 43 seconds, thus equaling the world’s record for that distance. Thereafter, Bannister threw in all his reserves and broke the tape in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. As soon as the first part of his score was announced–“three minutes…”–the crowd erupted in pandemonium. Bannister went on to win British and Empire championships in the mile run, and the European title in the 1,500-meter event in 1954. At the end of the year, Bannister retired from athletic competition to pursue his medical career full time and in 1955 recounted his experiences in the book The Four Minute Mile. He later earned a medical degree from Oxford and became a neurologist.

In 1975, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. His world record in the mile did not stand long, and the record continued to be lowered with increasingly controlled climatic and surface conditions, more accurate timing devices, and improvements in training and running techniques. A “sub-four” is still a notable time, but top international runners now routinely accomplish the feat. Because a mile is not a metric measurement, it is not a regular track event nor featured in the Olympics. It continues, however, to be run by many top runners as a glamour event. Related Videos Roger Bannister: 'The day I broke the four-minute mile' - Telegraph Roger Bannister: 'The day I broke the four-minute mile' In an extract from his new book, Roger Bannister describes how he prepared for his unforgettable race Roger Bannister hits the tape after running the first four-minute mile Photo: PA By Roger Bannister Comments 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 four minutes.

Bannister, who had read medicine at Oxford, went on to become a distinguished doctor and neurologist once his amateur athletic career had ended. Now 85, he still receives letters telling him how he inspired a generation. Here, he remembers that remarkable day... My failure to win the 1,500m gold medal at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, when I had been the favourite, was a huge knock to my pride, shattering to my friends and family and to the Great British public. I felt it was necessary to restore the faith that had been so shaken by my defeat. Whether we athletes liked it or not, the four-minute mile had become rather like an Everest – a challenge to the human spirit. It was a barrier that seemed to defy all attempts to break it, an irksome reminder that man’s striving might be in vain. The Scandinavians, with their reverence for the magic of sport, called it the “Dream Mile”. For me, I felt I was now defending a cause. Throughout the winter of 1952–53, I stepped up the severity of my training programme.

In December 1952, John Landy of Australia, who had been knocked out in my heat at the Olympic Games, had startled the world by running a mile in 4 minutes 2.1 seconds. I could hardly believe the improvement from the runner I had known at Helsinki. Landy made no secret of the fact that the four-minute mile was his goal. If I was going to attack the four-minute mile, the problem was to decide how and where the race should be run. There were four essential requirements: a good track, absence of wind, warm weather and even-paced running. Related Articles Sir Christopher Chataway dies, aged 82 19 Jan 2014 I had decided that the Oxford track that I had helped to build should be the scene of any attempt. The biggest gamble was the weather and I was taking a great chance in hoping for a suitable day in April or May. I trained regularly with my fellow Oxbridge runners, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, and came to realise that the two Chrises were the only pacemakers who could be relied on to help me.

Between the four of us, with Franz Stampfl, my Viennese coach, carefully co-ordinating our trainings, a strategy emerged as to how this ultimate athletic challenge could be overcome. To use a mountaineering analogy, our plan was for Chris B to take Chris C and me to “base camp” at the half-mile, so that Chris C could then launch me into the attack itself on the last lap. This made both Chris B’s pace judgment and Chris C’s strength and speed over the three-quarter mile equally crucial for success. The chosen day was Thursday May 6 1954. The real problem that faced me was to decide if the weather conditions justified an attempt: the wind was fierce. I decided to travel up to Oxford alone because I wanted time to think. However, when I boarded a carriage at Paddington, there was Franz. This was the first of two great moments of chance that day. I could not have wished for a better companion. Franz is not the kind of coach who wishes to turn the athlete into a machine. We shared a view of athletics as a means of “re-creation” of each individual, as a result of the liberation of the latent power within him.

We talked about the problem I faced. A wind of gale force was blowing that would slow me by a second a lap, so in order to succeed I must run not merely a four-minute mile but the equivalent of a 3.56-minute mile in calm weather. I had reached my peak physically and psychologically. There might never be another opportunity like it. If I tried and failed I should be dejected and my chances would be less on any later attempt. Yet it seemed that the high wind was going to make it impossible. I had almost decided when I entered the carriage at Paddington that, unless the wind dropped soon, I would postpone the attempt. Franz understood my dilemma. He said, “If you pass it up today, you may never forgive yourself for the rest of your life”. He stiffened my resolve as the train arrived in Oxford. I had been wrong to think that the athlete could be self-sufficient. I arrived at the Iffley Road track and tested two pairs of running shoes. Watching the St George’s flag stand horizontal to the flagpole of a nearby church, however, the chances of success seemed increasingly dismal.

After lunch – a ham salad – at a friend’s house, I sought out Chris C at Magdalen College. The sun shone briefly and he was upbeat. “The day could be a lot worse, couldn’t it? The forecast says the wind may drop towards evening. Let’s not decide until five o’clock.” We arrived at the track at around 4.30pm. At 5.15pm there was a shower of rain. Afterwards, the wind blew equally strongly, but now came in gusts. As Brasher, Chataway and I warmed up, we knew the eyes of the spectators were on us. I could sense that the two Chrises were becoming increasingly irritated with me when, just half an hour before the race, I still had not decided whether to make the world-record attempt. They came into the changing room and with one voice pleaded, “Come on, Roger, do make up your mind”. Their impatience was palpable and, looking back, I understand how difficult it was for them to get in the mood for the race if I went on shilly-shallying.

I could see I was being unreasonable and so I said, “Right, we’ll go for it, we all know what we have to do”. As we lined up for the start, I glanced at the church flag again. It fluttered more gently now and the scene from Shaw’s Saint Joan flashed through my mind, how she, at her desperate moment, waited for the wind to change, so that her army could cross the river. This was the second moment of chance, a moment of calm, which I took as a sign that the wind was dropping. There was complete silence on the ground… then a false start by Chris B … I felt angry that precious moments during the lull in the wind might be slipping by. The gun fired a second time … Brasher went into the lead and I slipped in effortlessly behind him. My legs seemed to meet no resistance, as if propelled by some unknown force. We seemed to be going so slowly! I shouted: “Faster!” But Brasher kept his head and did not change the pace. At one-and-a-half laps I was still worrying about the pace. A voice shouting “relax” penetrated to me above the noise of the crowd. I learnt afterwards it was Stampfl’s.

Unconsciously, I obeyed. If the speed was wrong it was too late to do anything about it, so why worry? I was relaxing so much that my mind seemed almost detached from my body. There was no feeling of strain. I barely noticed the half-mile, passed in 1.58 minutes. At three-quarters of a mile my effort was still barely perceptible; the time was 3.07 minutes and by now the crowd was roaring. Then I pounced past Chataway, 300 yards from the finish. There was a moment of mixed excitement and anguish when my mind took over. It raced well ahead of my body and drew me compellingly forward. There was no pain, only a great unity of movement and aim. Time seemed to stand still. The only reality was the next 200 yards of track under my feet. I felt at that moment that it was my chance to do one thing supremely well. The noise in my ears was that of the faithful Oxford crowd. Their hope and encouragement gave me strength: I had now turned the last bend and there were only 50 yards more. My body must have exhausted its energy, but it still went on running just the same.

The physical overdraft came only from greater willpower. This was the crucial moment when my legs were strong enough to carry me over the last few yards, as they could not have done in previous years. With five yards to go, the finishing line seemed almost to recede. Those last few seconds seemed an eternity. The faint line of the finishing tape stood ahead as a haven of peace after the struggle. The arms of the world were waiting to receive me only if I reached the tape without slackening my speed. If I faltered now, there would be no arms to hold me and the world would seem a cold, forbidding place. I leapt at the tape like a man taking his last desperate spring to save himself from a chasm that threatens to engulf him. Then my effort was over and I collapsed almost unconscious, with an arm on either side of me. It was only then that real pain overtook me. It was as if all my limbs were caught in an ever-tightening vice. Blood surged from my muscles to my brain and seemed to fell me. I felt like an exploded flashbulb. Vision became black and white. I existed in the most passive physical state without being quite unconscious. The stopwatches held the answer.

The announcement came from Norris McWhirter, delivered with a slow, clear diction: “Result of Event Eight: One mile. First, R. G. Bannister of Exeter and Merton Colleges, in a time which, subject to ratification, is a new Track Record, British Native Record, British All-Comers Record, European Record, Commonwealth Record and World Record… Three minutes…” The rest was lost in the roar of excitement. I grabbed Brasher and Chataway and together we scampered round the track in a burst of happiness. We had done it, the three of us! 'Twin Tracks’ by Roger Bannister is published on April 8 and is available from Telegraph Books for £15 plus £1.35p&p. Call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

Question: In which city did Roger Bannister become the first man to break the four minute barrier for the mile?
Answer: Oxford