58 Facts About Roger Bannister

Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile.

At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and finished in fourth place.

Roger Bannister accomplished this feat on 6 May 1954 at Iffley Road track in Oxford, with Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher providing the pacing.

Roger Bannister had attained this record with minimal training, while practising as a junior doctor.

Roger Bannister went on to become a neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 1993.

Roger Bannister was born on 23 March 1929 in Harrow, London.

The family moved to Bath shortly after the outbreak of World War II when Ralph was relocated there, and Roger Bannister continued his education at City of Bath Boys' School.

In 1944, the family returned to London and Roger Bannister went to University College School.

Roger Bannister was accepted into St John's College, Cambridge but the Senior Tutor Robert Howland, a former Olympic shot putter, suggested that Roger Bannister wait a year.

Roger Bannister was inspired by miler Sydney Wooderson's comeback in 1945.

Roger Bannister started his running career at Oxford in the autumn of 1946 at the age of 17.

Roger Bannister had never worn running spikes previously or run on a track.

Roger Bannister's training was light, even compared to the standards of the day, but he showed promise in running a mile in 1947 in 4:24.6 on only three weekly half-hour training sessions.

Roger Bannister was selected as an Olympic "possible" in 1948 but declined as he felt he was not ready to compete at that level.

Roger Bannister set his training goals on the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

Chastened by this lack of success, Roger Bannister started to train harder and more seriously.

Otenhajmer won in 3:47.0, though Roger Bannister set a personal best finishing second in 3:48.4.

Roger Bannister's training was a very modern individualised mixture of interval training influenced by coach Franz Stampfl with elements of block periodisation, fell running and anaerobic elements of training which were later perfected by Arthur Lydiard.

From 1951 to 1954, Roger Bannister trained at the track at Paddington Recreation Ground in Maida Vale while he was a medical student at the nearby St Mary's Hospital.

Roger Bannister avoided racing after the 1951 season until late in the spring of 1952, saving his energy for Helsinki and the Olympics.

Roger Bannister ran an 880-yard run on 28 May 1952 in 1:53.00, followed by a 4:10.6-mile time-trial on 7 June, proclaiming himself satisfied with the results.

When he ran his semi-final, Roger Bannister finished fifth and thereby qualified for the final, but he felt "blown and unhappy".

Roger Bannister finished fourth, out of the medals, but set a British record of 3:46.30 in the process.

Roger Bannister set himself on a new goal: to be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes.

Roger Bannister gave up after two and a half laps, but Chris Brasher took up the pace.

British officials would not allow this performance to stand as a British record, which, Roger Bannister felt in retrospect, was a good decision.

Roger Bannister had been following Landy's attempts and was certain his Australian rival would succeed with each one.

Roger Bannister had begun his day at a hospital in London, where he sharpened his racing spikes and rubbed graphite on them so they would not pick up too much cinder ash.

Roger Bannister took a mid-morning train from Paddington Station to Oxford, nervous about the rainy, windy conditions that afternoon.

Roger Bannister teased the crowd by delaying his announcement of Bannister's race time for as long as possible:.

Knowledgeable track fans are still most impressed by the fact that Roger Bannister ran a four-minute mile on very low-mileage training by modern standards.

On 7 August, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, BC, Roger Bannister, running for England, competed against Landy for the first time in a race billed as "The Miracle Mile".

Landy led for most of the race, building a lead of 10 yards in the third lap, but was overtaken on the last bend, and Bannister won in 3 min 58.8 s, with Landy 0.8 s behind in 3 min 59.6 s Bannister and Landy have both pointed out that the crucial moment of the race was that at the moment when Bannister decided to try to pass Landy, Landy looked over his left shoulder to gauge Bannister's position and Bannister burst past him on the right, never relinquishing the lead.

Roger Bannister was awarded a CBE the following year for "services to amateur athletics".

Roger Bannister later became the first Chairman of the Sports Council and was knighted for this service in 1975.

Roger Bannister ultimately published more than eighty papers, mostly concerned with the autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular physiology, and multiple system atrophy.

Roger Bannister always said he was more proud of his contribution to medicine than his running career.

In 1955, Roger Bannister married the Swedish artist Moyra Elver Jacobsson in Basel, Switzerland.

Moyra Jacobsson-Roger Bannister was the daughter of the Swedish economist Per Jacobsson, who served as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

Roger Bannister died on 3 March 2018 at the age of 88 in Oxford, 20 days before his 89th birthday.

Roger Bannister replied that he instead saw his subsequent forty years of practising medicine and some of the new procedures he introduced as being more significant.

Roger Bannister said that, in terms of athletic achievement, he felt his performances at the 1952 Olympics and the 1954 Commonwealth Games were more significant than running the sub-4-minute mile.

Ironically, although Roger Bannister is arguably the most famous record-setter in the mile, he is the man who held the record for the shortest period of time, at least since the IAAF started to ratify records.

Roger Bannister is the subject of the ESPN film Four Minutes.

Bannister: Everest on the Track, The Roger Bannister Story is a 2016 TV documentary about his childhood and youth in WWII and postwar Britain and the breaking of the 4-minute mile barrier, with interviews of participants and witnesses to the 1954 race, and later runners inspired by Bannister and his achievement, including Phil Knight who says that Roger Bannister inspired him to start Nike.

The Roger Bannister Building, an 18th-century townhouse in Brewer Street, was converted to provide accommodation for graduate students.

Roger Bannister gave his name to the trophy presented to the winning team in the annual athletics varsity match between Imperial College School of Medicine and Imperial College London, as well as the award given to the graduating doctor of Imperial College School of Medicine who has achieved most in the sporting community.

Roger Bannister purchased the cup awarded to the winning team in the annual United Hospitals Cross-Country Championship, organised by London Universities and Colleges Athletics.

In 2012 Roger Bannister carried the Olympic flame at the site of his memorable feat, in the Oxford University track stadium now named after him.

On 28 September 2021 a memorial stone honouring Sir Roger Bannister, "pioneering neurologist, world champion runner", was unveiled in Westminster Abbey, in the area known as 'Scientists' corner'.

The 50th anniversary of Roger Bannister's achievement was marked by a commemorative British 50-pence coin.

Roger Bannister received many honours for his achievements in sports and medicine.

Roger Bannister was knighted in the 1975 New Year Honours, and appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to sport.

Roger Bannister was an Honorary Fellow of both Exeter College and Merton College, where he studied at the University of Oxford; he was Honorary Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford.

Roger Bannister received honorary degrees from the University of Sheffield in 1978, and from the University of Bath in 1984.

Roger Bannister received honorary degrees from the University of Pavia in 1986 and from Brunel University London in 2008, as well as an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University in 2014.

In 2000, Roger Bannister received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Roger Bannister was made an Honorary Freeman of the London Borough of Harrow on 4 May 2004, and was granted the Freedom of the City of Oxford in 2004.