Legendary athlete and the first to break the four-minute mile

Born: March 23, 1929;

Died: March 3, 2018

SIR Roger Bannister, who has died aged 88, was a distinguished neurologist who became Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, but achieved global and enduring fame as the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes.

The almost legendary status accorded to Bannister’s feat was, in every respect, a matter of timing. Contrary to the mythology that later surrounded his achievement, the record itself was arbitrary; it had stood at 4 minutes 15 seconds at the beginning of the century and, after the event began to be recorded by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1913, the mile became a popular sport through the growth of newsreel coverage.

In 1931, the French middle-distance runner Jules Ladoumègue (who had already achieved a personal best of 3:49.2 in the 1,500 metres) became the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes 10 seconds. Over the next decade the time was reduced to 4:06, first by the American Glenn Cunningham and then, in 1937, by the UK’s Sydney Wooderson, who was very slightly faster.

International athletics was greatly interrupted by the Second World War, but during the early 1940s, two runners from neutral Sweden, Gunder Hägg and Arne Andersson, vied with one another and both set records at just over 4.01. But the fact that Hägg’s time of 4.01.4, set in July 1945 at Malmö, remained unbeaten for years lent a mystique to the prospect of a sub-four minute mile.

There was, too, the fact that it was a nice round number (and a mile consisted of four laps so, by noting how near a minute each had been completed, spectators could easily evaluate the likelihood of the record being set).

Another aspect of the timing was the era; the early days of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign had already seen the conquest of Everest, and Donald Campbell had begun his persistent efforts at the water speed record (he added land speed record attempts later in the ’50s). The British public had become fascinated by, and hungry for, records and firsts. (Coincidentally, the timekeeper who announced the details of Bannister’s win was Norris McWhirter, who had run for Scotland and with his twin Ross was, a couple of years later, to found and edit The Guinness Book of Records.) All this conspired to make the four-minute mark totemic.

In Bannister’s memoir, The First Four Minutes (1955) he wrote that he had been inspired by Wooderson’s comeback against Andersson at Gothenberg in September 1945, when the British runner, though he lost, regained his old form and completed the distance in 4.04.2, a new British record.

When, in May 1953, Bannister made a serious attempt at that record and, paced by Chris Chataway, finished in 4.03.6, it “made me realize that the four-minute mile was not out of reach”. He was also acutely aware that other athletes had their eyes on the landmark. In particular, the American Wes Santee and the Australian John Landy had come close to the time; Bannister thought it likely that Landy would beat him to it. At the end of 1953, Landy had reached a new personal best at 4.02; in three races in 1954, he achieved 4.02.4 and 4.04.6 (twice).

But again timing favoured Bannister; Australia’s athletic season ended in April, and Bannister knew that his rival would not compete again until June, when he was due to run at Turku in Finland. Bannister had a short window of opportunity. (And as it turned out, Landy did break the four-minute mark, and also best Bannister’s time, at Turku.)

On May 6 1954, at a meeting between the British AAA and the Oxford University team at the Iffley Road track, Bannister finally had his chance. The omens were not good. He began the day at the hospital where he worked in London, sharpening his running spikes and rubbing them with graphite, then took a train to Oxford. But the weather was windy and rainy, and Bannister was tempted not to run, but conserve his energy for a later attempt. Just before the race, however, conditions improved. Chataway and Chris Brasher (who had paced him at his May and June attempts respectively the previous year) were both co-opted to work as pacemakers.

Brasher’s times were 58 seconds and 1.58 at the half-mile mark, with Bannister tucked behind him. Chataway then moved to the front, and the bell for the last lap went at 3.01. Bannister knew that, in order to make the record, he would have to run the final lap in under 59 seconds. About halfway round the last lap, with 275 yards to go, he took the lead and began his final sprint.

McWhirter strung out the announcement for as long as he could, in order to ramp up the tension for the 3,000 spectators (the race was also being reported on the radio, with the 1924 Olympic sprinting champion Harold Abrahams, immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire, commentating).

“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,” began McWhirter. In the next sentence, he got as far as: “The time was three...” before his voice was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd.

The time had been three minutes and 59.4 seconds. Just 46 days later, Landy bettered it with 3.57.9. Bannister was thus not only the first under four minutes, but held the record for the shortest period of any champion.

Roger Gilbert Bannister was born on March 23 1929 at Harrow, Middlesex, the son of Ralph Bannister and his wife Alice. He was educated at Vaughan Primary School and then at City of Bath Boys’ and University College School in London. He went on to Exeter College, Oxford, where he took a BA in physiology, and then continued his medical training as Harmsworth Senior Scholar at Merton College, and at St Mary’s Hospital in London. He completed an MSc in physiology in 1952, and two years later graduated BM BCh, and became MRCS (and MRCP in 1957). In 1963 he received a doctorate in medicine.

He showed no particular interest in athletics in childhood (he had never worn spikes or run on a track until he arrived at Oxford, aged 17). One of the most remarkable aspects of his athletic career was the fact that – even by the standards of his own day – he did very little training. Even so, he was considered for the 1948 Olympics, but felt he wasn’t ready.

At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, he scraped into the final of the 1,500 metres after placing fifth, a disappointing result. The final, however, was much more dramatic. Although he finished in fourth place, he did so in 3.46.3, a new British record.

His last hurrahs as a runner were at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in August 1954, in a race which came to be known as the “Miracle Mile”, and at the European Championships at Bern two weeks later when he won the 1,500 metres in a record 3.43.8. In Vancouver, he was up against the record-holder, Landy; they were the only two men to have cracked four minutes. Landy led throughout, at one stage by 10 yards, but in the last lap looked over his left shoulder to check Bannister’s position. Bannister overtook on his right to win in 3.58.8; Landy finished in 3.59.6. Among the spectators was Phil Knight, then a young runner, who later cited the race as the inspiration for founding the sportwear firm Nike.

Bannister then gave up athletics to concentrate on his medical career. He was appointed CBE in 1955, and retained connections with sport as a correspondent for the Sunday Times and later as a highly successful chairman of the Sports Council, where he campaigned against drug use, for increased sporting facilities, and for which he received a knighthood in 1975. His own recreational running was curtailed after a car accident in which he injured his foot.

Sir Roger held a number of distinguished positions as a neurologist. From 1969 until 1992 he edited the standard text Brain’s Clinical Neurology (later Brain and Bannister’s Clinical Neurology) and from 1983 to 1992 Autonomic Failure. Among his specialisations were the physiology of exercise, the autonomic nervous system and heat illness.

He was a consultant at St Mary’s Hospital, consultant neurologist for Oxford Regional and District Health Authority and consultant physician and non-executive director of the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases (later the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery). He held numerous honorary degrees and fellowships and served as Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1985 to 1993. In 2012, he carried the Olympic flame at the track where he set his record; in 2017, he was appointed CH.

He married, in 1955, Moyra, the daughter of Per Jacobsson, former chairman of the IMF. They had two sons and two daughters. Roger Bannister was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2011, and died peacefully at his home in Oxford on March 3.

ANDREW MCKIE