“At the time, it was thought to be impossible for a human being to run a mile in under four minutes,” the Academy of Achievement says. Roger Bannister was, in Guinness World Records’ words, “regarded as Britain’s best middle-distance runner.” “I had set my mind on winning the 1500-meter gold medal in Helsinki in 1952,” he said, but he finished “fourth in the 1500 metres at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki - a race he had been widely expected to win,” Guinness says. In his own words, “it all came disastrously wrong when I came fourth instead of winning,” and, the Academy says, he “endured the scorn of the British sports media, who blamed Bannister’s rejection of conventional coaching and training methods.”
“The following months saw Bannister toying with the idea of giving up athletics, before he decided to set himself a new goal of becoming the First man to run a mile in under four minutes,” Guinness says. “By this time he was undertaking full-time medical studies at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School,” the Academy says, and he fitted his running around them: “I would usually miss lunch … So I would tend to take about two hours off to travel to a track, spend about 35 minutes running, but running very hard … and get back to the hospital by two o’clock.” A City of Westminster plaque at Paddington Recreation Ground reads: “Sir Roger Bannister while a medical student at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School from 1951 - 54, trained on the cinder track on this site in preparation for the first under 4 minute mile run in Oxford on 6th May 1954.”
“The scene for Bannister’s finest moment was an early race in the 1954 season at Oxford University’s ramshackle Iffley Road track,” Guinness says. On May 6, 1954, he recalled, “the weather, which was very bad, and it had been raining, it was very windy.” “So, about 20 minutes before the race, the weather seemed to improve. I said, ‘Let’s do it.’” “The two other principal runners involved for the AAA were his friends Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher,” Guinness says. “Brasher went into the lead … He took us to the half mile in two minutes,” Bannister said. “Then Chataway took over and he passed the three-quarter mile in three minutes, exactly as planned.”
“I had to do the last lap in under 60 seconds and that was quite fast,” he said. “I overtook Chataway at the end of the last bend,” and “I did collapse at the end.” Then “the announcement came, and was made by a friend of mine called Norris McWhirter”: “‘in a time of three minutes…’ Then the whole of the track exploded and nobody heard the rest of the announcement.” “That number three was the important part.” “The announcer delivered his time to the cheering crowd: 3:59.4,” the Academy says; the Paddington plaque says he crossed the line in “3 minutes 59.4 seconds.”
It didn’t stand long. John Landy’s “3:58.0 clocking in Turku in June 1954 broke the iconic mark of 3:59.4 achieved just six weeks earlier by Roger Bannister,” World Athletics wrote when Landy died in 2022. “It wasn’t, in my view, physical, but it did become to some extent psychological,” Bannister said of the barrier. Imperial College London describes him “going on to become a leading consultant neurologist at St Mary’s Hospital and the Western Ophthalmic Hospital from 1963 to 1985. He received a knighthood in 1975.” He “died peacefully in Oxford on 3 March” 2018, “aged 88,” and his memorial stone in Westminster Abbey reads “Pioneering Neurologist” and “World Champion Runner.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- A mile in under four minutes seemed impossible, until a medical student ran one. Academy of Achievement: “In 1954, a young medical student made headlines around the world … At the time, it was thought to be impossible for a human being to run a mile in under four minutes.” 1
- His name was Roger Bannister. Guinness World Records: “Born in Harrow, England, the then 25-year-old Oxford University medical student was regarded as Britain’s best middle-distance runner.” 2
- At the 1952 Olympics, he was the favorite. Guinness World Records: “finishing fourth in the 1500 metres at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki - a race he had been widely expected to win.” Bannister, to the Academy of Achievement: “I had set my mind on winning the 1500-meter gold medal in Helsinki in 1952.” 21
- He finished fourth. Bannister: “it all came disastrously wrong when I came fourth instead of winning.” 12
- The newspapers blamed his training. Academy of Achievement: “He finished fourth in the 1500-meter run and endured the scorn of the British sports media, who blamed Bannister’s rejection of conventional coaching and training methods.” 1
- He thought about quitting, then chose the four-minute mile. Guinness World Records: “The following months saw Bannister toying with the idea of giving up athletics, before he decided to set himself a new goal of becoming the First man to run a mile in under four minutes.” 2
- Now a medical student in London, he trained in his lunch break. Academy of Achievement: “By this time he was undertaking full-time medical studies at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School.” Bannister: “I would usually miss lunch … So I would tend to take about two hours off to travel to a track, spend about 35 minutes running, but running very hard … and get back to the hospital by two o’clock.” City of Westminster plaque, Paddington Recreation Ground: “Sir Roger Bannister while a medical student at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School from 1951 - 54, trained on the cinder track on this site in preparation for the first under 4 minute mile run in Oxford on 6th May 1954.” 13
- On May 6, 1954, he raced at Iffley Road in Oxford. Guinness World Records: “The scene for Bannister’s finest moment was an early race in the 1954 season at Oxford University’s ramshackle Iffley Road track.” The Paddington plaque dates the run “6th May 1954.” 23
- It was windy. Twenty minutes before the start, he said, “Let’s do it.” Bannister: “the weather, which was very bad, and it had been raining, it was very windy” … “So, about 20 minutes before the race, the weather seemed to improve. I said, ‘Let’s do it.’” 1
- His friends Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway set the pace. Guinness World Records: “the two other principal runners involved for the AAA were his friends Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher.” Bannister: “Brasher went into the lead … He took us to the half mile in two minutes. Then Chataway took over and he passed the three-quarter mile in three minutes, exactly as planned.” 21
- With one lap left, he needed it in under a minute. Bannister: “I had to do the last lap in under 60 seconds and that was quite fast.” 1
- On the last bend, he passed Chataway and ran until he collapsed. Bannister: “I overtook Chataway at the end of the last bend” … “I did collapse at the end.” 1
- The announcer said “three,” and the roar drowned out the rest. Bannister: “the announcement came, and was made by a friend of mine called Norris McWhirter” … “‘in a time of three minutes…’ Then the whole of the track exploded and nobody heard the rest of the announcement. … That number three was the important part.” 1
- The time was 3:59.4. Academy of Achievement: “the announcer delivered his time to the cheering crowd: 3:59.4.” Paddington plaque: “crossing the line 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.” 13
- Just six weeks later, John Landy ran faster. World Athletics: “His 3:58.0 clocking in Turku in June 1954 broke the iconic mark of 3:59.4 achieved just six weeks earlier by Roger Bannister.” 4
- It wasn’t physical, he said, but it had become psychological. Bannister, to the Academy of Achievement: “It wasn’t, in my view, physical, but it did become to some extent psychological.” 1
Sources
- Sir Roger Bannister (profile and interview transcript, interviews of 2000 and 2002) Academy of Achievement
- Roger Bannister: First sub-four-minute mile (Hall of Fame) Guinness World Records
- City of Westminster plaques to Sir Roger Bannister, Paddington Recreation Ground (unveiled September 10, 2000) London Remembers
- Former world record-holder Landy dies (February 25, 2022) World Athletics
- Imperial alumnus Sir Roger Bannister dies (Ryan O’Hare, March 4, 2018) Imperial College London
Notes
The “exploding heart”: a popular story says a doctor warned that a runner’s heart would explode, or that he would die, in a four-minute mile. We found no named doctor, paper or report of the time saying so, and it isn’t used. Guinness World Records says Bannister “had been told by physiologists that not only was running the four-minute mile impossible for an athlete to do, but attempting to do so was dangerous to one’s health,” but names no physiologist, and a line it prints in Bannister’s name (“Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt”) could not be traced to a book or interview. The Short says only that it “seemed impossible,” in the Academy of Achievement’s sense.
“Broken 22 more times in 46 days”: a popular clip says this; it is wrong. John Landy broke Bannister’s record once, in Turku in June 1954, “just six weeks” later (World Athletics).
Medical student, not doctor: in May 1954 he was still a medical student (“I was a clinical student,” he told the Academy of Achievement; the Paddington plaque and Guinness also say medical student). Guinness calls him an “Oxford University medical student”; the Academy says he was by then studying full time at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, which is where the Paddington plaque places his training.
The lunch break: in his own words he usually missed lunch to run hard for about 35 minutes; the Academy’s profile says he set aside “only 45 minutes a day,” the plaque “an hour each day.” The Short says only that he trained in his lunch break.
Who paced which laps: Bannister says Brasher led to the half mile and Chataway to the three-quarter mile; Guinness says Chataway took over “halfway through the third lap.” The Short says only that the two set the pace. The plaque says he ran the last lap in 59 seconds; the Short says only that he needed it in under a minute, in his words.
The old record: the Academy of Achievement says the previous mark of 4:01.3 had stood “for nine years”; Bannister says “eight years.” Neither is used.
Guinness errors not used: its page says the race was on “the morning of 6 May” (it was run in the evening; he told the Academy he spent the afternoon watching the weather), gives the time as “3:59:04,” and puts Landy’s run “the following month.”
Pictures: no rights-safe photo of the 1954 race or of Bannister in the 1950s was found; the race photos on Commons are wire prints with an unclear rights basis, so none is used. Roger Bannister is shown later in life: in three photos by Pruneau at a relay prize-giving at Teddy Hall, Oxford, on March 11, 2009, and in GooglerW’s photo of him with John Landy at Iffley Road on the 50th anniversary of the run, May 6, 2004. Chris Chataway is in Bert Verhoeff’s Anefo photo of November 14, 1972, as a British minister, not in 1954; Chris Brasher is remembered by his memorial plaque in Ennerdale, Cumbria, photographed by David Medcalf on July 6, 2022. The Helsinki Olympic Stadium is shown from above during the 1952 Games on July 19, 1952 (not his 1,500-meter final), and its tower in 1952. St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington is shown on April 27, 2022, and the City of Westminster plaque at Paddington Recreation Ground on October 18, 2015. The Iffley Road track is shown on July 30, 2013, Iffley Road with the track’s blue plaque on April 15, 2010, and the sign outside the track, which gives the time, on May 3, 2014. The stopwatch is a generic vintage Minerva, photographed by Ansgar Koreng on October 19, 2018, not one used in 1954. Bannister’s memorial stone in Westminster Abbey was photographed by Mx. Granger on January 29, 2022.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Satie, Gymnopedie No. 1 (Lent et douloureux) (Robin Alciatore, piano, public domain); Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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