OXFORD SPORT: May 6–Roger Bannister Runs 4-Minute Mile

Sir Roger Bannister–breaking the 4-minute barrier in
1954–and recently in an interview.

May 13, 2014–In 1954, 60 years ago, Roger Bannister was the first person ever recorded as running a mile under four minutes. The record was set on the Oxford University track.

As Sir Roger says in an interview for Oxford Today, it was the year after Mt. Everest had been climbed (on May 29, 1953), and Queen Elizabeth II was newly  crowned, and Britain was looking for new challenges.

At the time, some doctors feared that the four-minute floor would be defeated only at the cost of the runner's life. The 1954 Pathé news clip looks as thought that could have been the case!

http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-05-13-going-sub-four