Roger Bannister

Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (1929 to 2018) was an English middle-distance runner and neurologist who ran the first mile in under four minutes. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki he set a British record in the 1500 metres and finished fourth, a result that strengthened his resolve to break the four-minute barrier. He achieved it on 6 May 1954 at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, with Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher setting the pace, and his time was 3 minutes 59.4 seconds, reached with little training while he worked as a junior doctor. A 2002 Channel 4 poll ranked the run number 13 among the 100 greatest sporting moments in the United Kingdom. He later became a neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, retiring in 1993, and said he was prouder of his research into the responses of the nervous system than of the mile.