Roger Bannister

Bannister was born on 23 March 1929 in Harrow, London. His parents Ralph and Alice were both from working-class families in Lancashire. Ralph had moved to London at the age of 15 to work in the Civil Service, and met Alice on a trip home.{{harvnb|Bascomb|2004|pp=13–14}} They married in 1925, and had a daughter, Joyce, before Roger was born.{{harvnb|Bannister|2015|p=24}}

The family moved to Bath shortly after the outbreak of World War II when Ralph was relocated there, and Roger continued his education at City of Bath Boys' School.{{harvnb|Bannister|2015|p=35}} Here he discovered a talent for cross country running, winning the junior cross-country cup three consecutive times, which led to him being presented with a miniature replica trophy.{{harvnb|Bannister|2015|p=30}}

During a bombing raid on Bath, the family house was severely damaged as the Bannisters sheltered in the basement.{{harvnb|Bannister|2015|p=34}}

In 1944, the family returned to London and Roger went to University College School.{{harvnb|Bannister|2015|p=37}} Bannister was accepted into St John's College, Cambridge but the Senior Tutor Robert Howland, a former Olympic shot putter, suggested that Bannister wait a year. After the year he proceeded to apply to Exeter College, Oxford and was accepted for a three-year degree in Medicine.{{harvnb|Bannister|2015|p=40}}

Bannister was inspired by miler Sydney Wooderson's comeback in 1945. Eight years after setting the mile record and seeing it surpassed during the war years by the Swedish runners Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg, Wooderson regained his old form and challenged Andersson over the distance in several races. Wooderson lost to Andersson but set a British record of 4:04.2 in Gothenburg on 9 September.

Like Wooderson, Bannister would ultimately set a mile record, see it broken, and then set a new personal best slower than the new record.

Bannister started his running career at Oxford in the autumn of 1946 at the age of 17. He had never worn running spikes previously or run on a track.{{Cite news|url=http://www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=91|title=Racing Past – Roger Bannister|work=Racing Past|access-date=6 March 2018}} His 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.

He was selected as an Olympic "possible" in 1948 but declined as he felt he was not ready to compete at that level. However, he was further inspired to become a great miler by watching the 1948 Olympics. He set his training goals on the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

In 1949, he improved in the {{convert|880|yd|m|2|adj=on}} run to 1:52.7 and won several mile races in 4:11. Then, after a period of six weeks with no training, he came in third at White City in 4:14.2.

The year 1950 saw more improvements as he finished a relatively slow 4:13-mile on 1 July with an impressive 57.5 last quarter. Then, he ran the AAA 880 in 1:52.1, losing to Arthur Wint, and then ran 1:50.7 for the 800 m at the European Championships on 26 August,{{Cite book |last=Bannister |first=Roger |url= |title=Twin Tracks: The Autobiography |date=2014 |publisher=Biteback Publishing |isbn=978-1-84954-738-3 |pages=v |language=en |chapter=6. International running career: Oxford to Helsinki |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7hOuAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT60}} placing third.{{Cite web|url=http://www.european-athletics.org/mm/Document/EventsMeetings/General/01/27/31/44/StatisticsHandbookZ%C3%BCrich2014_Neutral.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808114554/http://www.european-athletics.org/mm/Document/EventsMeetings/General/01/27/31/44/StatisticsHandbookZ%C3%BCrich2014_Neutral.pdf |archive-date=2014-08-08 |url-status=live|title=European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 – STATISTICS HANDBOOK|publisher=European Athletics Association|pages=372|access-date=6 March 2018}} Chastened by this lack of success, Bannister started to train harder and more seriously.

His increased attention to training paid quick dividends, as he won a mile race in 4:09.9 on 30 December. Then in 1951 at the Penn Relays, Bannister broke away from the pack with a 56.7 final lap, finishing in 4:08.3. Then, in his biggest test to date, he won a mile race on 14 July in 4:07.8 at the AAA Championships at White City before 47,000 people. The time set a meet record and he defeated defending champion Bill Nankeville in the process.

Bannister suffered defeat, however, when Yugoslavia's Andrija Otenhajmer, aware of Bannister's final-lap kick, took a 1500 m race in Belgrade 25 August out at near-record pace, forcing Bannister to close the gap by the bell lap. Otenhajmer won in 3:47.0, though Bannister set a personal best finishing second in 3:48.4. Bannister was no longer seen as invincible.

His 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.{{cite journal|title=Training Theory and Why Roger Bannister was the First Four Minute Miler |first=Arnd |last=Krüger |author-link=Arnd Krüger |journal=Sport in History |year=2006 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=305–324 |issn=1746-0271|doi=10.1080/17460260600786955 |s2cid=143673381 }}

File:Sir Roger Bannister plaque in Paddington Recreation Ground.jpg

From 1951 to 1954, 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. There are two Bannister plaques at the pavilion, both unveiled by him on 10 September 2000; a circular blue plaque and a rectangular historic plaque containing additional information.{{cite web|url=https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/sir-roger-bannister|title=Plaque: Sir Roger Bannister|website=londonremembers.com|access-date=23 July 2018}} According to the latter, Bannister was able to train for just an hour each day due to his medical studies.

Bannister avoided racing after the 1951 season until late in the spring of 1952, saving his energy for Helsinki and the Olympics. He ran an {{convert|880|yd|m|adj=on}} run on 28 May 1952 in 1:53.00, followed by a 4:10.6-mile time-trial on 7 June,{{Cite web|url=http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=348&Gender=M|title=Track and Field Statistics – Roger Bannister|website=trackfield.brinkster.net|publisher=Track and Field Statistics|access-date=6 March 2018}} proclaiming himself satisfied with the results. At the AAA championships, he skipped the mile and won the 880 in 1:51.5. Then, 10 days before the Olympic final, he ran a {{frac|3|4}} mile time trial in 2:52.9, which gave him confidence that he was ready for the Olympics as he considered the time to be the equivalent of a four-minute mile.

His confidence soon dissipated, however, as it was announced there would be semi-finals for the 1500 m at the Olympics, which he felt favoured runners who had much deeper training regimens than he did. When he ran his semi-final, Bannister finished fifth and thereby qualified for the final, but he felt "blown and unhappy".

The 1500 m final on 26 July 1952 would prove to be one of the more dramatic in Olympic history.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1952/ATH/mens-1500-metres.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171542/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1952/ATH/mens-1500-metres.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 2020|title=Athletics at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's 1,500 metres|website=sports-reference.com|access-date=6 March 2018}} The race was not decided until the final metres, Josy Barthel of Luxembourg prevailing in an Olympic-record 3:45.28 (3:45.1 by official hand-timing) with the next seven runners all under the old record. Bannister finished fourth, out of the medals, but set a British record of 3:46.30 (3:46.0) in the process.

File:Roger Bannister 1953.jpg

File:Roger Bannister and John Landy at Iffley Road on the 50th anniversary of the four minute mile 6 May 2004.jpg

After his relative failure at the 1952 Olympics, Bannister spent two months deciding whether to give up running. He set himself on a new goal: to be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Accordingly, he intensified his training and did hard intervals.

On 2 May 1953, he made an attempt on the British record at Oxford. Paced by Chris Chataway, Bannister ran 4:03.6, shattering Wooderson's 1945 standard. "This race made me realise that the four-minute mile was not out of reach," said Bannister.{{cite book |last=Bryant |first= John|date= 15 December 2010|title=3:59.4: The Quest to Break the 4 Minute Mile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrkZjNQO28oC&q=%22This+race+made+me+realise+that+the+four-minute+mile+was+not+out+of+reach,%22&pg=PA245 |location= United Kingdom|publisher=Arrow |page=245 |isbn= 978-0099469087 }}

On 27 June 1953, a mile race was inserted into the programme of the Surrey schools athletic meeting. Australian runner Don Macmillan, ninth in the 1500 m at the 1952 Olympics, set a strong pace with 59.6 for one lap and 1:59.7 for two. He gave up after two and a half laps, but Chris Brasher took up the pace. Brasher had jogged the race, allowing Bannister to lap him so he could be a fresh pace-setter. At {{frac|3|4}} mile, Bannister was at 3:01.8, the record—and first sub-four-minute mile—in reach. But the effort fell short with a finish in 4:02.0, a time bettered by only Arne Andersson (4:01.6 in 1944) and Gunder Hägg (4:01.4 in 1945).{{Cite book|title=Twin tracks : the autobiography|last=Bannister|first=Roger|publisher=Robson|year=2014|isbn=9781849546867|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/twintracksautobi0000bann/page/79 79]|oclc=869795116|url=https://archive.org/details/twintracksautobi0000bann/page/79}} British officials would not allow this performance to stand as a British record, which, Bannister felt in retrospect, was a good decision. "My feeling as I look back is one of great relief that I did not run a four-minute mile under such artificial circumstances," he said.

But other runners were making attempts at the four-minute barrier and coming close as well. American Wes Santee ran 4:02.4 on 5 June 1953, the fourth-fastest mile ever. And at the end of the year, Australian John Landy ran 4:02.0.{{Cite web|url=http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=3733&Gender=M|title=Track and Field Statistics – John Landy|website=trackfield.brinkster.net|publisher=Track and Field Statistics|access-date=6 March 2018}}

Then early in 1954, Landy made some more attempts at the distance. On 21 January 1954, he ran 4:02.4 in Melbourne, then 4:02.6 on 23 February 1954, and at the end of the Australian season on 19 April he ran 4:02.6 again.

Bannister had been following Landy's attempts and was certain his Australian rival would succeed with each one. But knowing that Landy's season-closing attempt on 19 April would be his last until he travelled to Finland for another attempt, Bannister knew he had to make his attempt soon.

{{See also|Four-minute mile}}

This historic event took place on 6 May 1954 during a meet between British AAA and Oxford University at Iffley Road Track in Oxford, watched by about 3,000 spectators. With winds of up to {{convert|25|mph|km/h|spell=in}} before the event, Bannister had said twice that he preferred not to run, to conserve his energy and efforts to break the 4-minute barrier; he would try again at another meet. However, the winds dropped just before the race was scheduled to begin, and Bannister did run.

The pace-setters from his major 1953 attempts, future Commonwealth Games gold medallist Christopher Chataway from the 2 May attempt, and future Olympic Games gold medallist Chris Brasher from the 27 June attempt, combined to provide pacing for Bannister's run. The race{{cite news | title= On This Day, 1950–2005: 6 May 1954: Bannister breaks four-minute mile | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/6/newsid_2511000/2511575.stm | access-date= 26 October 2013 | work=BBC News}}
Includes full footage of the race. was broadcast live by BBC Radio and commentated by 1924 Olympic 100 metres champion Harold Abrahams, of Chariots of Fire fame.

File:Iffley Road Track, Oxford - blue plaque.JPG at Oxford University's Iffley Road Track, recording the first sub-4-minute mile run by Roger Bannister on 6 May 1954]]

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. He took a mid-morning train from Paddington Station to Oxford, nervous about the rainy, windy conditions that afternoon.{{Cite news | author= Stephen Wilson | date= 1 March 2012 | title= AP Interview: Roger Bannister relives 4-minute mile and stays coy on London Olympic flame | url= https://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-roger-bannister-relives-4-minute-mile-231018636--spt.html | access-date= 26 October 2013 | agency= Associated Press }}

Being a dual-meet format, there were seven men entered in the mile: Alan Gordon, George Dole and Nigel Miller from Oxford University; and four British AAA runners: Bannister, his two pacemakers Brasher and Chataway, and Tom Hulatt. Nigel Miller arrived as a spectator and he only realised that he was due to run when he read the programme. Efforts to borrow a running kit failed and he could not take part, thus reducing the field to six.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/2378077/My-part-in-Bannisters-mile.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/2378077/My-part-in-Bannisters-mile.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=My part in Bannister's mile|date=2 May 2004|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=27 April 2014}}{{cbignore}}

The race went off as scheduled at 6:00 pm, and Brasher and Bannister went immediately to the front of the pack. Brasher (wearing No. 44) led both the first lap in 58 seconds and the half-mile in 1:58, with Bannister (No. 41) tucked in behind, and Chataway (No. 42) a stride behind Bannister. Chataway moved to the front after the second lap and maintained the pace with a 3:01 split at the final lap bell. Chataway continued to lead around the front turn until Bannister began his finishing kick with about 275 yards to go (just over half a lap), running the last lap in just under 59 seconds.{{Cite web | title= Too Modest by Half – Reliving Sir Roger Bannister's Four-Minute Mile | url= http://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/articles/reliving-sir-roger-bannisters-four-minute-mile.html | access-date= 26 October 2013 | date= 20 March 2012 |publisher=Oxford Royale Academy }}

The stadium announcer for the race was Norris McWhirter, who went on to co-publish and co-edit the Guinness Book of Records.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3643039.stm|title=Record Breakers' McWhirter dies|date=20 April 2004|work=BBC News|access-date=4 March 2018}} He teased the crowd by delaying his announcement of Bannister's race time for as long as possible:{{Cite web | author= Tom Michalik | title= The Four Minute Mile! | url= http://faculty.randolphcollege.edu/tmichalik/4min.htm | access-date= 26 October 2013 | publisher= randolphcollege.edu }}

{{blockquote|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 roar of the crowd drowned out the rest of the announcement. Bannister's time was 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

The claim that a four-minute mile was once thought to be impossible by "informed" observers was and is a widely propagated myth created by sportswriters and debunked by Bannister himself in his memoir, The Four Minute Mile (1955).

The reason the myth took hold was that four minutes was a round number that lay slightly out of reach of the world record (by just 1.4 seconds) for nine years, which was longer than it might otherwise have been due to the effect of the Second World War in interrupting athletic progress in the combatant countries.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} The Swedish runners, Gunder Hägg and Arne Andersson, in a series of head-to-head races in the period 1942–45, had already lowered the world mile record by five seconds to the pre-Bannister record. Knowledgeable track fans are still most impressed by the fact that Bannister ran a four-minute mile on very low-mileage training by modern standards.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

Just 46 days later, on 21 June 1954, Bannister's record was broken by his rival, John Landy, in Turku, Finland, with a time of 3 minutes 57.9 seconds, which the IAAF ratified as 3 minutes 58.0 seconds due to the rounding rules then in effect.

On 7 August, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, B.C., Bannister, running for England, competed against Landy for the first time in a race billed as "The Miracle Mile". They were the only two men in the world to have broken the 4-minute barrier, with Landy still holding the world record.

File:Bannister and Landy.jpg, with Landy looking back to gauge his lead]]

Landy led for most of the race, building a lead of 10 yards in the third lap (of four), 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.{{Cite web|url=https://thecgf.com/stories/commonwealth-sports-moments-1-roger-bannister-beats-john-landy-miracle-mile-vancouver-1954|title=Commonwealth Sports Moments #1: Roger Bannister beats John Landy in the "Miracle Mile" at Vancouver 1954|last=Mackay|first=Duncan|year=2018|publisher=Commonwealth Games Federation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517221624/https://thecgf.com/stories/commonwealth-sports-moments-1-roger-bannister-beats-john-landy-miracle-mile-vancouver-1954|archive-date=17 May 2019|url-status=live}} 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.

A larger-than-life bronze sculpture of the two men at that moment was created by Vancouver sculptor Jack Harman in 1967 from a photograph by Vancouver Sun photographer Charlie Warner and stood for many years at the entrance to Empire Stadium; after the stadium was demolished the sculpture was moved a short distance away to the Hastings and Renfrew entrance of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) fairgrounds. Regarding this sculpture, Landy quipped: "While Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back."{{Cite book|title=Public Art in Vancouver: Angels Among Lions|last1=Steil|first1=John|last2=Stalker|first2=Aileen|publisher=Touchwood Editions|year=2009|isbn=9781894898799|location=Victoria, B.C.|pages=41|oclc=305103587}}

Bannister went on that season to win the so-called metric mile, the 1500 m, at the European Championships in Bern, Switzerland, on 29 August, with a championship record in a time of 3 min 43.8 s. He retired from athletics late in 1954 to concentrate on his work as a junior doctor and to pursue a career in neurology.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11764114|title=Obituary: Roger Bannister|date=4 March 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=4 March 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/43273249|title=Sir Roger Bannister: First man to run a mile in under four minutes dies at 88|date=4 March 2018|work=BBC Sport|access-date=4 March 2018}} He was appointed a CBE the following year for "services to amateur athletics".{{London Gazette

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Bannister later became the first Chairman of the Sports Council (now called Sport England) and was knighted for this service in 1975.{{cite news | title= Supplement to the London Gazette of Tuesday, 31st December 1974 | url= http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/46444/supplements/1 | access-date= 26 October 2013 | newspaper=The London Gazette}} Under his patronage, central and local government funding of sports centres and other sports facilities was rapidly increased, and he also initiated the first testing for use of anabolic steroids in sport.{{Cite magazine | author= David Epstein | author-link= David Epstein (journalist) | title= Sir Roger's Run | url= https://si.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1187805/index.htm | archive-date= 29 October 2013 | magazine= Sports Illustrated | date= 4 July 2011 | pages= 102–106 | volume=5 | issue=1 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029184900/https://si.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1187805/index.htm | url-status=dead}}

After retiring from athletics in 1954, Bannister spent the next forty years practising medicine in the field of neurology. In March 1957, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps at Crookham, where he started his two years of National Service with the rank of lieutenant.{{cite web |title=Roger Bannister Joins Up |url=http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/653e842ee6484d62848e6564e29896c2 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=4 March 2018}}

His major contribution to academic medicine was in the field of autonomic failure, an area of neurology concerning illnesses characterised by the loss of certain automatic responses of the nervous system (for example, elevated heart rate when standing up). He ultimately published more than eighty papers, mostly concerned with the autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular physiology, and multiple system atrophy.{{Cite journal|last=MacAuley|first=Domhnall|date=1 December 2005|title=Profile: Roger Bannister|journal=The Lancet|volume=366|issue=S14–S15|pages=S14–S15|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67827-0|pmid=16360731|s2cid=34984270|issn=0140-6736|doi-access=free}} He edited Autonomic Failure: A Textbook of Clinical Disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System with C.J. Mathias, a colleague at St Mary's, as well as five editions of Brain and Bannister's Clinical Neurology.

Bannister always said he was more proud of his contribution to medicine than his running career.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-roger-bannister-obituary-four-minute-mile-athletics-academic-neurology-nervous-system-a8239301.html|title=Sir Roger Bannister, obituary: Middle-distance runner who achieved the first four-minute mile|date=4 March 2018|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=11 March 2018}} In 2014, Bannister said in an interview: "I'd rather be remembered for my work in neurology than my running. If you offered me the chance to make a great breakthrough in the study of the autonomic nerve system, I'd take that over the four minute mile right away. I worked in medicine for sixty years. I ran for about eight."{{cite news|url=https://www.bigissue.com/interviews/roger-bannister-id-rather-remembered-neurology-running/|title=Roger Bannister: "I'd rather be remembered for neurology than running" |date=5 March 2018|newspaper=The Big Issue|access-date=11 March 2018}}

File:The grave of Roger Bannister, Wolvercote Cemetery.jpg

File:Roger Bannister with family 1959.jpg

In 1955, Bannister married the Swedish artist Moyra Elver Jacobsson in Basel, Switzerland.{{Cite web|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/basle-bannister-wedding|title=Basle – Bannister Wedding|date=16 June 1955|website=britishpathe.com|publisher=British Pathé|access-date=8 March 2018}} Moyra Jacobsson-Bannister was the daughter of the Swedish economist Per Jacobsson, who served as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

They had four children: Carol E. E. Bannister (b. 1957); Clive C. R. Bannister (b. 1959), an insurance industry executive;{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/insurance/10762548/Interview-Clive-Bannister-boss-of-Phoenix-Group.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/insurance/10762548/Interview-Clive-Bannister-boss-of-Phoenix-Group.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date=12 April 2014|author= Andrew Cave|title=Interview: Clive Bannister, boss of Phoenix Group|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=21 March 2018}}{{cbignore}} Thurstan R. R. Bannister (b. July 1960), a company director in New York;{{cite web|url=http://www.directorstats.co.uk/director/thurstan-bannister/ |title=Chief Executive Officer Thurstan Roger Ralph Bannister|year=2018|website=directorstats.co.uk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312022602/http://www.directorstats.co.uk/director/thurstan-bannister/|archive-date=12 March 2018|url-status=dead}} and Charlotte B. M. Bannister (b. 1963), now Charlotte Bannister-Parker, associate priest at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford.{{cite news|url=http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/15056773.__39_Honour_and_privilege__39__of_first_woman_in_charge_of_University_Church/ |title='Honour and privilege' of Charlotte Bannister-Parker, first woman in charge of University Church|newspaper=The Oxford Times|date=30 January 2017|access-date=11 March 2018}}

In 2011, Bannister was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He died of pneumonia at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford on 3 March 2018,{{Cite ODNB |last=Watman |first=Mel |last2=Craft |first2=Alan |date=10 March 2022 |title=Bannister, Sir Roger Gilbert (1929–2018), athlete, neurologist, and college head |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380413}} at the age of 88, 20 days before his 89th birthday. He is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery near Oxford. His widow, Lady Moyra Bannister, died in Oxford on 4 November 2022, at the age of 94.{{cite news |title=Lady Moyra Bannister death notice |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/births-marriages-and-deaths-november-9-2022-6dk8zlbhm |access-date=9 November 2022 |work=The Times |date=9 November 2022}}

On the 50th anniversary of running the mile in under four minutes, Bannister was interviewed by the BBC's sports correspondent Rob Bonnet. At the conclusion of the interview, Bannister was asked whether he looked back on the sub-4-minute mile as the most important achievement of his life. 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. He also 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 also the man who held the record for the shortest period of time, at least since the IAAF started to ratify records.{{cite web|url=http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/15/63/20090706014834_httppostedfile_p345-688_11303.pdf|title=12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009.|year=2009|publisher=IAAF Media & Public Relations Department|location=Monte Carlo|pages=546, 549–50|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629134819/http://www.iaaf.org/mm/document/competitions/competition/05/15/63/20090706014834_httppostedfile_p345-688_11303.pdf|archive-date=29 June 2011|access-date=7 March 2018}}

For his efforts, Bannister was also made the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year award for 1954 (awarded in January 1955) and is one of the few non-Americans recognised by the American-published magazine as such.

In a UK poll conducted by Channel 4 in 2002, the British public voted Bannister's historic sub-4-minute mile as number 13 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.{{Cite web | title= 100 Greatest Sporting Moments – Results | url= https://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest_sporting/results.html | archive-date= 17 April 2009 | publisher = Channel 4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417062920/https://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest_sporting/results.html |url-status=dead}}

Bannister is the subject of the ESPN film Four Minutes (2005). This film is a dramatisation, its major departures from the factual record being the creation of a fictional character as Bannister's coach, who was actually Franz Stampfl, an Austrian, and secondly his meeting his wife, Moyra Jacobsson, in the early 1950s when in fact they met in London only a few months before the Miracle Mile itself took place. Bannister was portrayed by Jamie Maclachlan.

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.{{cite magazine|last1=Chavez|first1=Chris|title=Q&A with Tom Ratcliffe, director of Bannister: Everest on the Track|url=https://www.si.com/more-sports/2016/04/11/roger-bannister-documentary-film-everest-track-interview-phil-knight|access-date=14 December 2016|magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=11 April 2016}}

In the 1988 television mini-series The Four Minute Mile, about the rivalry between Bannister, John Landy and Wes Santee to be first to break the 4-minute mile mark, Bannister was portrayed by actor Richard Huw.

In 1996, Pembroke College at the University of Oxford (where Bannister was Master for eight years) named a building in honour of his achievements. The Bannister Building, an 18th-century townhouse in Brewer Street, was converted to provide accommodation for graduate students. Following extensive refurbishments during 2011 and 2012, it became part of the building complex surrounding the Rokos Quad, and was then used for undergraduate accommodation.{{Cite book|url=https://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/library/Documents/archive/architectural_history_of_pembroke_digital.pdf|title=Pembroke College Oxford: Architectural History|last=Chivers|first=Clara|publisher=Pembroke College Oxford|pages=26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114075829/https://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/library/Documents/archive/architectural_history_of_pembroke_digital.pdf|archive-date=14 January 2018}}

In March 2004, St Mary's Hospital Medical School named a lecture theatre after Bannister; on display is the stopwatch that was used to time the race, stopped at 3:59.{{Cite news|url=https://www.imperial.ac.uk/college.asp?P=5008|title=Tribute to miracle miler Sir Roger|last=Reed|first=Tanya|date=31 March 2004|work=Reporter|access-date=7 March 2018|publisher=Imperial College London|issue=139}} Bannister also 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. Bannister also purchased the cup (which bears his name) awarded to the winning team in the annual United Hospitals Cross-Country Championship, organised by London Universities and Colleges Athletics. The championship is contested by the five medical schools in London and the Royal Veterinary College.

In 2012, Bannister carried the Olympic flame at the site of his memorable feat, in the Oxford University track stadium now named after him.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/torch-relay/9390587/London-2012-Olympic-torch-relay-Sir-Roger-Bannister-heads-cast-of-greats-at-his-famous-track-in-Oxford.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/torch-relay/9390587/London-2012-Olympic-torch-relay-Sir-Roger-Bannister-heads-cast-of-greats-at-his-famous-track-in-Oxford.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=London 2012 Olympic torch relay: Sir Roger Bannister heads cast of greats at his famous track in Oxford|last=Kelso|first=Paul|date=10 July 2012|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=7 March 2018|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}

File:Roger Bannister memorial stone.jpg

On 28 September 2021, a memorial stone honouring Sir Roger, "pioneering neurologist, world champion runner", was unveiled in Westminster Abbey, in the area known as "Scientists' corner".{{cite web |title=Sir Roger Bannister honoured with new memorial stone |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/sir-roger-bannister-honoured-with-new-memorial-stone |access-date=29 September 2021}}{{cite web |title=Exonian Sir Roger Bannister Westminster Abbey memorial stone unveiled |url=https://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/exonian-sir-roger-bannister-westminster-abbey-memorial-stone-unveiled/ |website=Exeter College |access-date=5 October 2021 |date=1 October 2021}}

The 50th anniversary of Bannister's achievement was marked by a commemorative British 50-pence coin. The reverse of the coin shows the legs of a runner and a stopwatch (stopped at 3:59.4).{{Cite news|url=https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications/fifty-pence-coin|title=Fifty Pence Coin|work=The Royal Mint|access-date=7 March 2018}} There were 9,032,500 minted.{{Cite web |title=2004 Roger Bannister 50p Coin - Mintage: 9,032,500 - Scarcity Index: 3 |url=https://www.changechecker.org/coin/8/50p-Roger-Bannister.aspx |access-date=2022-11-09 |website=www.changechecker.org}} The coin was re-struck for collector sets in 2019 as part of the Royal Mint's '50 Years of the 50p coin', along with other designs.{{Cite web |title=50 Years of the 50p coin {{!}} The Royal Mint |url=https://www.royalmint.com/our-coins/events/50-years-of-the-50p/ |access-date=2022-11-09 |website=www.royalmint.com |language=en-GB}}

In the gallery of Pembroke College dining hall, there is a cabinet containing over 80 exhibits covering Bannister's athletic career and including some academic highlights.{{Cite web | title= Pembroke College " The Gallery | url= https://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/conferences/dining-rooms/gallery | archive-date= 18 October 2013 | publisher= Pembroke College |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018120819/https://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/conferences/dining-rooms/gallery |url-status=dead}}

On 6 May 2024, exactly seventy years after Bannister's sub-four minute mile, hundreds of runners converged in Oxford to run a mile in Bannister's honor. The event saw thousands run a "Community Mile", and several races for elite runners on the Iffley Track. In the elite mile, four athletes broke the four minute barrier, with Italy's Ossama Meslek clocking the fastest mile, at 3:56.15.{{Cite web |last=Dickinson |first=Marley |date=2024-05-06 |title=World record holder celebrates Bannister's sub-four mile, 70 years ago today |url=https://runningmagazine.ca/the-scene/world-record-holder-celebrates-bannisters-sub-four-mile-70-years-ago-today/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Canadian Running Magazine |language=en-US}}

This is the second time Iffley Track hosted an anniversary event for Bannister's achievement, with the previous time being in 2004.

Retired, accomplished milers including Steve Cram, Hicham El Guerrouj, Filbert Bayi, Noureddine Morceli, and Eamonn Coghlan attended, all of whom have had the mile world record to their name. Bayi ran 3:51.0 in May 1975, holding the mile world record for three months until August 1975, when John Walker of New Zealand ran 3:49.4. Cram ran 3:46.32 in 1985, holding the mile world record until Noureddine Morceli of Algeria ran 3:44.39 in 1993. Finally, on 7 July 1999, El Guerrouj ran 3:43.13, the current mile world record to this day, which is over sixteen seconds faster than Bannister's 3:59.4. Although not an outdoor record, Coghlan set an indoor mile world record of 3:49.78 in 1983, which was bettered by El Guerrouj in 1997 who ran 3:48.45.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Krqc54YSaQ |title=Supermiler Noureddine Morceli at the Bannister Miles in Oxford |date=2024-05-06 |last=Athletics Weekly |access-date=2024-07-08 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.facebook.com/athleticsweekly/videos/eamonn-coghlan-on-his-amazing-34978-mile-world-record/477728181274498/ |title=Eamonn Coghlan on his amazing 3:49.78 mile world record {{!}} "Running 3:49.78 for a world record was the most memorable achievement in my career. I wrote down that exact time beforehand as I knew my splits." An... {{!}} By Athletics WeeklyFacebook |language=en |access-date=2024-07-08 |via=www.facebook.com}}

Bannister received many honours for his achievements in sports and medicine. He was knighted in the 1975 New Year Honours,{{cite news|newspaper=The London Gazette|issue=46444|date=31 December 1974|page=1|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/46444/supplement/1|title=Supplement to The London Gazette}} and appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to sport.{{cite news|newspaper=The London Gazette|issue=61803|date=30 December 2016|page=N27|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/61803/supplement/N27|title=The London Gazette, Supplement No. 1}}

Bannister was an Honorary Fellow of both Exeter College{{cite web|url=http://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/college/rectorandfellows/honorary|title=List of Honorary Fellows|publisher=Exeter College|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140618074430/http://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/college/rectorandfellows/honorary|archive-date=18 June 2014|url-status=dead|year=2014}} and Merton College,{{cite web|url=https://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/fellows/honorary-fellows|title=Honorary Fellows|publisher=Merton College|archive-date=24 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160724101950/https://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/fellows/honorary-fellows |url-status=dead}} where he studied at the University of Oxford; he was also Honorary Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford. He received honorary degrees (Doctor of Science) from the University of Sheffield in 1978,{{Cite web|title=Honorary Graduates|url=https://calendar.dept.shef.ac.uk/calendar/21_hon_grad.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2013|publisher=University of Sheffield |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192732/https://calendar.dept.shef.ac.uk/calendar/21_hon_grad.pdf |url-status=dead}} and from the University of Bath in 1984.{{Cite web|title=Honorary graduates, 1980 to 1989|url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-information/honorary-graduates-1980-to-1989/|access-date=23 June 2018|publisher=University of Bath|type=Factsheet}} He also received honorary degrees from the University of Pavia in 1986 and from Brunel University London in 2008 (DUniv), as well as an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University in 2014.{{cite web|title=Sir Roger Bannister inspires Brookes graduates|url=http://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/news/sir-roger-bannister-inspires-brookes-graduates/|access-date=10 September 2014|archive-date=23 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140923094731/http://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/news/sir-roger-bannister-inspires-brookes-graduates/|url-status=dead}} In 2000, Bannister received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#sports}}

Bannister was made an Honorary Freeman of the London Borough of Harrow on 4 May 2004,{{cite web|url=http://www.harrow.gov.uk/info/200033/elections_and_representatives/884/freedoms_granted_by_harrow/2|title=Harrow Council – Freedoms granted by Harrow|website=harrow.gov.uk|access-date=1 May 2018|archive-date=23 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150823180213/http://www.harrow.gov.uk/info/200033/elections_and_representatives/884/freedoms_granted_by_harrow/2|url-status=dead}} and was granted the Freedom of the City of Oxford in 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decCD/Freedom_of_the_city_occw.htm|title=Freedom of the City|first=Chris|last=Lee|website=oxford.gov.uk}}

• {{Cite book |publisher=Dodd, Mead| last=Bannister |first=Roger |author-mask=0 |title=The Four Minute Mile |url=https://archive.org/details/fourminutemile0000bann|url-access=registration|year=1955}}
• {{Cite book |publisher=Putnam |last=Bannister |first=Roger |author-mask=0 |title=First Four Minutes |date=1955}}
• {{Cite book |publisher=The Robson Press |isbn=978-1-84954-686-7 |last=Bannister |first=Roger |author-mask=0 |title=Twin Tracks: The Autobiography |location=London |year=2014 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/twintracksautobi0000bann }}

• {{Cite book|title=Autonomic failure : a textbook of clinical disorders of the autonomic nervous system|date=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor-last=Bannister|editor-first=R.|editor-last2=Mathias|editor-first2=C. J.|isbn=0192628518|edition=4th|location=Oxford|oclc=39982611}}
• {{Cite book|title=Brain and Bannister's clinical neurology.|url=https://archive.org/details/brainbannistersc0000bann|url-access=registration|date=1992|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780192619136|editor-last2=Brain|editor-first2=Walter Russell|editor-link2=Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain|editor-last=Bannister|editor-first=Roger|edition=7th|location=Oxford|oclc=24318711}}

In 2014, he appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Midweek with Libby Purves, Kevin Warwick and Rachael Stirling.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040hzys|title=Sir Roger Bannister, Prof Kevin Warwick, Rachael Stirling, Diana Darke, Midweek – BBC Radio 4|publisher=BBC}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dvaGtDu0NTwC|title=The Perfect Mile|isbn=978-0618391127|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=2004|first=Neal|last=Bascomb}}
• {{cite book|last=Bannister|first=Roger|title=Twin Tracks: The Autobiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aTHUrQEACAAJ|year=2015|publisher=Biteback Publishing|isbn=978-1-84954-836-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Bannister|first=Roger|title=The First Four Minutes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uq1WHAAACAAJ|year=2004|publisher=Sutton|isbn=978-0-7509-3530-2}}

• Bale, John. Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile: Sports myth and sports history (Routledge, 2012). [https://www.amazon.com/Roger-Bannister-Four-Minute-Mile-History-ebook/dp/B009E2W1Q6/ excerpt]
• Bale, John. "Amateurism, Capital and Roger Bannister." Sport in History 26.3 (2006): 484–501.
• Bannister, Roger (1955), The Four-Minute Mile. Revised and enlarged 50th anniversary (of the race) edition, 2004, The Lyons Press.
• Bascomb, Neal (2004), [https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Perfect_Mile.html?id=dvaGtDu0NTwC The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It]. {{ISBN|0-618-39112-6}}.
• Booth, Douglas. "Sport history and the seeds of a postmodern discourse." Rethinking History 13.2 (2009): 153–174.
• Bourne, Nicholas David. Fast science: A history of training theory and methods for elite runners through 1975 (U of Texas at Austin, 2008). [https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/17760/bournen.pdf?%E2%80%A62 online]
• The First Four Minutes: ESPN Classic Television Programme.
• The Four Minute Mile TV mini-series (1988), available on DVD.
• Cameron, Julia (1993), The Artist's Way. Oxford, London: Pan Books. {{ISBN|0-330-34358-0}}.
• {{cite journal |last1=Freeman |first1=Roy |last2=Low |first2=Philip |last3=Joyner |first3=Mike |title=Obituary: Sir Roger Bannister (1929–2018) |journal=Autonomic Neuroscience |date=January 2019 |volume=216 |pages=iii–v |doi=10.1016/j.autneu.2018.09.007|doi-access=free }}
• Nelson, Cordner and Quercetani, Roberto (1985), The Milers, Tafnews Press, 1985, {{ISBN|0-911521-15-1}}, pp. 181–215
• Quercetani, R. L. (1964), A World History of Track and Field Athletics, 1864–1964, Oxford University Press. (A history of the mile/1500 m. event.)

{{Commons category|Roger Bannister}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{NPG name}}
• {{World Athletics}}
• {{Olympics.com profile|roger-gilbert-bannister}}
• {{Olympedia}}
• [http://www.britishpathe.com/video/four-minute-mile-aka-4minute-mile/query/15607 Newsreel footage] of Roger Bannister achieving the four-minute mile
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100528054427/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/The_Four-minute_Mile/ Roger Bannister and the Four-Minute Mile], original reports from The Times (archived)
• [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/may/07/athletics-running "Bannister triumphs with sub-four minute mile"], original report from The Guardian (from the Guardian archive)
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0VMZqOcDM4 Live TV coverage] of the "Miracle Mile"
• [https://www.msatrust.org.uk/ Multiple System Atrophy Trust website] – Bannister was patron of the MSA Trust
• [https://www.queensquare.org.uk/archives/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=roger+bannister&types=all&contents=all&df%5Bmonth%5D=1&df%5Bday%5D=1&df%5Byear%5D=&dt%5Bmonth%5D=1&dt%5Bday%5D=1&dt%5Byear%5D=&order=title&commit=Go Images of Roger Bannister] in the Queen Square Archives (10 images)
• [https://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-roger-bannister-2/#interview Sir Roger Bannister Biography and Interview] by American Academy of Achievement
• [http://www.histmodbiomed.org/taxonomy/term/physiology.html Roger Bannister] on the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group website (3 images)
• [https://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/life-of-sir-roger-bannister-celebrated-in-oxfords-sheldonian-theatre/ 2018 Oxford memorial event]

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{{succession box

| before=Sir Geoffrey Arthur

| title=Master of Pembroke College, Oxford

| years=1985–1993

| after=Robert Stevens

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{{succession box|before={{flagicon|SWE}} Gunder Hägg|title=Men's Mile World Record Holder|years=6 May – 21 June 1954|after={{flagicon|AUS}} John Landy}}

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{{Footer European Champions 1500 m Men}}

{{Footer Commonwealth Champions 1500m Men}}

{{SI Sportsman of the Year}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Roger}}

Category:1929 births

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