It had always been a British preoccupation to hold this mile record. — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
My introduction to track racing was through the background of cross country running, which is not a sport perhaps as popular in… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
May is a very early time in the year and the weather is usually bad. You cannot run a fast mile race… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
My family actually lived in the same village for about 400 years. They had great stability until the last century. People lived… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I enjoy singing, and the instruments which truly move me are the horn, the trumpet and the cello. — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
If there was the opportunity to climb a mountain, or to go ballooning, or some adventurous activity, I would always be keen… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
My athleticism was really the core to social acceptance, because in those days the overwhelming number of students came from more of… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I was involved in music, acting, and some running, but my firm wish was to become a doctor. That was the formative… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I think that is a universal adolescent feeling, trying to find your place. The adolescent who is perfectly adjusted to his environment,… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Our house was bombed, and the roof fell in. We were sitting under the stairs of the basement, and we were quite… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
When I was about to break a world record and become well known, my mother used to say that for her the… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I raced supremely well. I felt I was as well fitted to do it as I had ever been, and as perhaps… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I've always been very impatient. At age 10 I frankly found life boring, and I can remember age 9 having the awful… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
The reason sport is attractive to many of the general public is that it's filled with reversals. What you think may happen… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I was always a great bundle of energy. As a child, instead of walking, I would run. And so running, which is… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Mothers, unless they were very poor, didn't work. Both of my parents had to leave education. My mother had to work in… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Whether we athletes liked it or not, the 4-minute mile had become rather like an Everest: a challenge to the human spirit,… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I couldn't disappoint people. I did not want to fail and exhaust myself, because I was the kind of runner who trained… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
It's a question of spreading the available energy, aerobic and anaerobic, evenly over four minutes. If you run one part too fast,… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
My concentration was really on getting to university and becoming a doctor. My parents let me know that school marks were important.… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I wanted to be a neurologist. That seemed to be the most difficult, most intriguing, and the most important aspect of medicine,… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Life was very simple. My parents had come from the North of England, which is a fairly rugged, bleak, hard-working part of… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
The Athletic Association competed against the University. So there was an event. You cannot break world records unless it is an established… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
There were only 170 neurologists in Britain then and, whether spoken or unspoken, there was this insidious feeling. How can Bannister, a… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I lived on the top of one hill and the school was at the top of another hill. Nobody ever went to… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
You get very tired, and there was a certain amount of pain and you slow up. Your legs are so tired that… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Your spikes, which were really quite long then, would catch the material of the track and your shoe would get heavier. I… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I was playing rugby and the other games English school children do, and there was an event which was planned in which… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
It is a paradox to say the human body has no 'limit.' There must be a limit to the speed at which… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Our concept of a family holiday was going to a guest house in the Lake district or Wales where walking was part of the… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Mothers, unless they were very poor, didn't work. Both of my parents had to leave education. My mother had to work in a cotton… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
My concentration was really on getting to university and becoming a doctor. My parents let me know that school marks were important. Achievement was… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
If there was the opportunity to climb a mountain, or to go ballooning, or some adventurous activity, I would always be keen to do… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport as about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
May is a very early time in the year and the weather is usually bad. You cannot run a fast mile race if there… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
My family actually lived in the same village for about 400 years. They had great stability until the last century. People lived and intermarried… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
The human spirit is indomitable. No one can ever say you must not run faster than this or jump higher than that. There will… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
Doctors and scientists said breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
I had always wanted to become a neurologist, which is one of the most demanding vocations in medicine. Where do you stop, after all,… — Roger Bannister Copy Share Image
