0:00:05 > 0:00:09'Good evening and welcome to the Iffley Road Athletic Ground, Oxford,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13'for the OUAC vs Amateur Athletic Association match...'
0:00:13 > 0:00:19The four minutes itself, you know, there was this huge history.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21The lure of the mile still exists.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23If I'd had a choice about one world record to break,
0:00:23 > 0:00:24it would've been the mile.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27The mile has always been the blue ribboned event.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30It had a place in British hearts and always has done.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33People could easily understand that, if you're running four minutes, you
0:00:33 > 0:00:36were going to have to be running somewhere around 60 seconds a lap.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It's about the right amount of time for drama to unfold.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42'First call for the one mile run.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44'All athletes please check in with the clerk.'
0:00:44 > 0:00:50The sub-four minute mile certainly always establishes you as a runner.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54I remember as a kid running behind a car at 15mph,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56so I could actually understand what it meant.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58You need the luck, you need good weather,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01just perfectly timed training.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04If I'd broken a four-minute mile, that would have meant as much to me,
0:01:04 > 0:01:08almost, as breaking the world record did in the 10,000 metres.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11'This is the second call for the one mile run.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14'Please could all athletes check in with the clerk.'
0:01:14 > 0:01:18I grew up just before people were breaking four minutes for a mile.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21You could not have been brought up in my generation of track and field
0:01:21 > 0:01:24without having Roger as a massive influence.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Bannister was probably my first really big hero.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31You knew there was a heritage to particularly the mile,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35if nothing else that, you wanted to belong to.
0:01:35 > 0:01:36It is the tradition, for me.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39It is the fact that it was Bannister.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41'This is the final call for the one mile.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44'Can athletes please make their way to the start?'
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Even beyond track and field athletes, it's a benchmark that
0:01:47 > 0:01:50people still understand as something that is absolutely momentous.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55'In lane one, representing Oxford University Athletic Club, Yale and
0:01:55 > 0:01:58'University College, GF Dole.'
0:01:58 > 0:02:01This one span of about a year,
0:02:01 > 0:02:06we had Everest climbed and the Queen crowned.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10'Representing the Amateur Athletic Association, CG Chataway.'
0:02:10 > 0:02:13They were looking for another huge achievement
0:02:13 > 0:02:15and so the four-minute mile
0:02:15 > 0:02:18was rapidly compared to Everest.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20'In lane two, representing the
0:02:20 > 0:02:24'Amateur Athletic Association, CW Brasher.'
0:02:24 > 0:02:29I've never experienced an event of that tremendous excitement.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31He came off a wartime diet,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34he did it on a track that was
0:02:34 > 0:02:38costing him probably about a second and a half a lap.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40'In lane three, representing Oxford
0:02:40 > 0:02:44'University Athletic Club and Magdalen College, AD Gordon.'
0:02:44 > 0:02:46It was a magical barrier.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48As many people have commented, it is
0:02:48 > 0:02:50sort of the Everest of track and field.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53There was this question of, can we even go there?
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Most of the commentators told him he couldn't possibly do it.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01There's probably nothing more challenging than somebody telling you you can't do it.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04I don't think it was just about track and field. It was about exploration.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Anybody trying to run under four minutes for the mile might actually
0:03:08 > 0:03:10endanger their lives.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12The four minutes mile was an achievement on behalf of humanity.
0:03:13 > 0:03:19'In lane four, representing the Amateur Athletic Association, RG Bannister.'
0:03:20 > 0:03:25Roger Bannister is the best example of doing something when your brain says no.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27'Runners, to your marks.'
0:03:27 > 0:03:29But your heart says, yes, you can.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05'This country is at war with Germany.'
0:04:07 > 0:04:09I can remember I was sailing my boat
0:04:09 > 0:04:12at the local recreation ground pond,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16when I heard the first air raid siren
0:04:16 > 0:04:22and I remember having had a slightly guilty thought - "Life is very dull.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24"What would happen if there were a war?"
0:04:24 > 0:04:26'More searchlights come into action.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29'You see them reach straight up into the sky and occasionally they catch
0:04:29 > 0:04:31'the cloud and seem to splash on the bottom of it.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35'Just a few people here walking rather hurriedly towards the air raid shelters...'
0:04:35 > 0:04:40When I heard this air raid siren, I didn't know whether bombs would
0:04:40 > 0:04:46start dropping immediately, so I tucked my sailing boat under my arm,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49sprinted back home as soon as I could.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54- WINSTON CHURCHILL:- The Battle of Britain is about to begin.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03So bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its
0:05:03 > 0:05:09Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12"This was their finest hour."
0:05:14 > 0:05:22My father was in the Admiralty and so this whole section of government
0:05:22 > 0:05:26was moved to Bath, away from the city of London,
0:05:26 > 0:05:31because the Blitz was catching any buildings and public places.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35- NEWSREADER:- I'm standing on top of a very tall building.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41The whole of the skyline to the south is lit up with a ruddy glow.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Almost like a sunrise or a sunset.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53For two nights, the city of Bath was very, very badly damaged
0:05:53 > 0:06:00and the house we lived in, the atrium above the stairway fell in
0:06:00 > 0:06:03and the blast blew out all the windows.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06- NEWSREADER:- German aircraft carried out a number of attacks
0:06:06 > 0:06:07on Great Britain last night.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Enemy aircraft have been reported over towns on the south coast,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13the west of England, as well as over the London area.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19I remember having a discussion with my parents as to whether we should
0:06:19 > 0:06:25stay to have a potentially third night of this attack.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29We eventually decided to take
0:06:29 > 0:06:34food and blankets and walk to Limpley Stoke,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37where there was a great forest.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41And so we spent the night camping out.
0:06:46 > 0:06:53I was directed to a comprehensive school called Beechen Cliff School.
0:06:53 > 0:06:59I lived on one side of the city, which was called Landsdown,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03and I had to get to a hill on the other side of town.
0:07:04 > 0:07:12I had about 2-3 miles and so, with my satchel, I would walk or
0:07:12 > 0:07:17half run down Landsdown Hill,
0:07:17 > 0:07:22through the city with the Roman baths and the Assembly Rooms and
0:07:22 > 0:07:27then, just before the school, there was a Beechen Cliff and a very,
0:07:27 > 0:07:34very steep pathway with large steps and I used to run up this.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37And so that was really my training.
0:07:38 > 0:07:44I won the cross-country there when I was 11, 12, 13.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47I expected to be given the cup.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51Someone had said, if you win a cup three times, then it's given to you.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54This was a massive cup, absolutely beautiful cup.
0:07:54 > 0:08:01And the staff heard that I'd expected to be given it as I had won it three times, a record time,
0:08:01 > 0:08:07and they then gave me a replica, which was about so high.
0:08:07 > 0:08:13That was my earliest trophy and therefore my most treasured trophy.
0:08:13 > 0:08:20I did have a capacity to run and enjoyed running.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24I think there's a part of me that was a loner.
0:08:25 > 0:08:32I had a bicycle when I was about 13 and would ride
0:08:32 > 0:08:37from Bath to London to visit my friends,
0:08:37 > 0:08:42which is about 110 miles or something.
0:08:42 > 0:08:48That was a sort of physical achievement which probably not many
0:08:48 > 0:08:51people of my age would have done.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Or perhaps indeed their parents wouldn't have allowed them to do it.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03'This is London calling. Here is a newsflash.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08WINSTON CHURCHILL: 'Yesterday morning at 2:41,
0:09:08 > 0:09:13'General Jodl signed the act of unconditional surrender
0:09:13 > 0:09:16'to the Allied Expeditionary Force.'
0:09:16 > 0:09:19CHURCH BELLS RING
0:09:21 > 0:09:27At the end of the war, as a kind of celebration of the war being over,
0:09:27 > 0:09:32there was an athletics meeting held at the White City Stadium.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37And in the mile, there was Sydney Wooderson and Arne Andersson.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39We only just got into the ground
0:09:39 > 0:09:42because somebody pushed over a fence.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46There was such a yearning to see sport again.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53Just on the last bend, Sydney Wooderson came up to challenge
0:09:53 > 0:09:59Arne Andersson. It just looked for a moment as whether Sidney Wooderson
0:09:59 > 0:10:04might do it. But then Andersson strode away from him.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07So there I was, I was seeing two world record holders
0:10:07 > 0:10:10and I found that most inspiring.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22Someone said, possibly Wellington, that the next worst thing...
0:10:23 > 0:10:26..to losing a war was winning a war.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35If you think about the victory, the very long war,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37a lot of war weariness,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39the anticipation is presumably
0:10:39 > 0:10:42that there will be some light at the end of the tunnel.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48You've got to remember the incredible levels of privation
0:10:48 > 0:10:51that the UK goes through with rationing in the war.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55And then people are very, very hungry and very, very cold.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Right up to the early 1950s.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Bread rationing was introduced for the first time in 1946.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04It hadn't been rationed during the war.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08So that gives an indication, doesn't it, that the wartime shortages and
0:11:08 > 0:11:11the sense that people must have had that, once the war was over,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15things would go back to normal, and everything would get much better.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18There's actually quite a big time lag before that starts to happen.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24When I arrived at Oxford in the fall of '52, er...
0:11:24 > 0:11:27eggs, butter, sugar were still rationed.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29There were still shortages.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33When I moved from the college after the first semester,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36one of the first things my landlady asked me was,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38"What day would you like your egg?"
0:11:39 > 0:11:41One egg a week.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43I would describe it as having endured.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47They'd done the right thing. They're pleased they've done the right thing.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49They've been vindicated in doing the right thing.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53There begins to be a creeping awareness, I think, of loss of power and status.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57All these things made the country
0:11:57 > 0:12:04feel that the past glories of Empire were lost and gone for ever.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17I wasn't really an athlete.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21All I was concerned with was getting the exams for Oxford.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24Oxford had changed a lot from before the war.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29It was much less luxurious in the way it treated undergraduates.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32But it was still really very old-fashioned.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37Throughout the war, students had managed to take
0:12:37 > 0:12:42the entrance exam for Oxford and passed it.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46But they were immediately then conscripted into the Army.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52So there were whole cadres of students
0:12:52 > 0:13:00who had gone through the war and came back aged 23, 24,
0:13:00 > 0:13:05and there was one person who'd been an acting brigadier!
0:13:05 > 0:13:09All of these ex-servicemen will have produced much more interesting
0:13:09 > 0:13:13tutorials all round and a much more serious sense of purpose.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16I was 17 at the time.
0:13:16 > 0:13:22And the difference in experience that they'd had of the world,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24loss of life,
0:13:24 > 0:13:29was something which I just wasn't even capable of understanding.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32You had these people who come back and they are...
0:13:32 > 0:13:35They've achieved a huge amount...
0:13:35 > 0:13:39and they've been pushed into positions of responsibility very, very early.
0:13:39 > 0:13:45I felt that we had to do something to try to match.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Although we couldn't be in the war, something, perhaps sporting,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53which would have a significance.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Bannister may have felt that he needed to prove himself in a world
0:13:57 > 0:13:59dominated by older, returning servicemen.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03Perhaps it is the case that warfare leaves people
0:14:03 > 0:14:07with the feeling that what they're doing after it isn't really very
0:14:07 > 0:14:11significant, and pushes them further.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15I think different people would have taken that in different ways.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Some people took it and it turned them into Marxist rebels.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23Some people took it and it turned them into nothing more than chartered accountants.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32When Sir Roger entered Oxford in 1946, he was sort of,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35really, an average runner by all accounts.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38I wanted to be a runner.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43I remember running on this Exeter College grass with somebody who was
0:14:43 > 0:14:46an oarsman and the groundsman said,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50"I remember Jack Lovelock," who was at Exeter College.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54"He had such a neat style.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56"I don't think you'll make a runner," he said to me!
0:14:58 > 0:15:06My first race was in the freshman's sports in the December of 1946
0:15:06 > 0:15:11and I came second and I did a time of 4.52.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17Roger, as a medical student, was a conscientious student.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Like most medical students, really had to do a pretty full day.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26And the training that I did was usually on my own,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30because I couldn't take the afternoons off.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33I think Oxford is a place, whether you're talking about
0:15:33 > 0:15:37the university or just the Rhodes Scholarship Programme
0:15:37 > 0:15:40that is known for the ideal of sound body and sound mind.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42I think Sir Roger really epitomises that.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47I would run as hard as I could rather than, erm,
0:15:47 > 0:15:53doing a great deal of longer work, which didn't seem to me to have
0:15:53 > 0:15:59a relevance to releasing everything that I possessed.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03In the Oxford and Cambridge Sports that year,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06there was a great deal of snow and ice,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09so they didn't hold proper trials,
0:16:09 > 0:16:15but there were the two who'd run in the mile the previous year and they
0:16:15 > 0:16:19said, "Well, we've seen this chap Bannister around and he's been
0:16:19 > 0:16:22"awfully good at shovelling the ice and the snow,
0:16:22 > 0:16:26"to try to get the third of a mile track clear.
0:16:26 > 0:16:27"Let's put him in as third string."
0:16:28 > 0:16:33I think it's pretty clear that Sir Roger had the innate biological or
0:16:33 > 0:16:35genetic make up to do what he did.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37So I said, "Well, what do I do as third string?"
0:16:37 > 0:16:40They said, "Well, you keep at the back, and don't worry."
0:16:40 > 0:16:43And beyond that, one thing that we know now is that really maybe the
0:16:43 > 0:16:45more important kind of talent
0:16:45 > 0:16:48in endurance running is how rapidly you respond to a training stimulus.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53I got to the last lap of the mile
0:16:53 > 0:16:56at the White City Stadium.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59And suddenly, I felt, well, I can accelerate.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03And so, I accelerated round the rest of the field,
0:17:03 > 0:17:05so that was really the start.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08His progression was sort of stunning.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10He went from being a decent freshman miler
0:17:10 > 0:17:12to being a national calibre runner
0:17:12 > 0:17:16and, in short order after that, to be an international calibre runner.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19I think that there's something in my family background.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25My father had ambition and he had ability.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29But it wasn't really possible for him
0:17:29 > 0:17:34to move into anything more important.
0:17:34 > 0:17:39I think a single-mindedness was the consequence of feeling,
0:17:39 > 0:17:45well, he hasn't been able to achieve this, but perhaps I might.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59I decided not to run in the '48 Games, er...
0:17:59 > 0:18:07in order to improve my chances to run in the '52 Games in Helsinki.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Before the 1952 Olympics,
0:18:10 > 0:18:15I had paced Roger in a time trial over 1,200 metres.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18I was predicted to be the favourite
0:18:18 > 0:18:22by others as well as Harold Abrahams.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27He did, I think, 2 minutes 52.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32Which was far quicker than anybody had done it before.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37The press got very, very uptight about our prospects in athletics.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40I remember they named about five or six athletes,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42all expected to win a gold medal.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45And of course, Bannister was expected to win one.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47But for the last-minute insertion of
0:18:47 > 0:18:51an extra round in the '52 Olympics, he would certainly have won.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53STARTER'S PISTOL
0:18:54 > 0:18:57They had three races on three successive days.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01I had not prepared for that.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04My fault, but there was nothing I could do about it.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09I got to the shoulders of the field in the final.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15I gave the instruction to my legs to run faster,
0:19:15 > 0:19:20which had always hitherto worked, and there was just nothing there.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28He was clearly disappointed to finish out of the medals.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31I was so desperately upset when he didn't win.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Had he won the gold medal in Helsinki, he would have retired right on the spot.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36It was a shattering experience.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49The King had been ill for a while.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54And he saw off Princess Elizabeth and the young Philip on a very
0:19:54 > 0:19:59successful journey to many different parts of the Empire.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05And the king gets iller and iller in London, so she is in Kenya,
0:20:05 > 0:20:10when suddenly she is told of the death of her father.
0:20:11 > 0:20:17She flies home and immediately assumes the burdens of state.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27'In a welcome of bells, the Queen arrives at Westminster.'
0:20:30 > 0:20:32The coronation was a great event.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35What I did for the coronation was to take a sleeping bag and go sleep
0:20:35 > 0:20:39on the pavement in London, and watch the procession go by.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41The morning of the coronation,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45the news of the conquest of Everest arrived with such amazing timing.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50You had this beautiful young Queen, it was a wonderful pageant.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Somewhere up the line, the sound was getting louder.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57You could almost trace the Queen's progress
0:20:57 > 0:20:59by how close that sound was coming.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02I got a fairly distant view of the Queen.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07I got a very close-up view of a beaming Winston Churchill and I was
0:21:07 > 0:21:10blown away by the view of the groomed horses.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18The coronation was partly a ceremony, pomp, glory, heritage occasion.
0:21:18 > 0:21:19But it was also given modernity,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21because of the Queen's youthfulness and glamour.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26And then there was also the youthfulness of the man who'd conquered Everest.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30We did have a little radio at base camp and someone tuned in to
0:21:30 > 0:21:35the BBC in London, and the BBC announcer was just
0:21:35 > 0:21:38describing the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41And then he broke in to the Coronation...
0:21:41 > 0:21:47- RADIO CRACKLES:- 'I'm able to announce that the New Zealander, Hillary,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51'has succeeded in conquering Mount Everest.'
0:21:51 > 0:21:55And then, almost for the first time, I felt, "My God, we've climbed this,
0:21:55 > 0:22:00"and we've had authoritative support from the BBC in London.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02"We've done it!"
0:22:03 > 0:22:09We were absolutely amazed that the news of the climbing on Everest came
0:22:09 > 0:22:12on the morning of the Coronation.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16It was looked upon as a good omen.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19And a gift to the Queen.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23Think of the way in which a little bit of colour and glamour is coming
0:22:23 > 0:22:26back into British life. Rationing is ending.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32And then the Queen comes into this as an intensely glamorous figure.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34The Coronation, Everest,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38they contributed to this sense that there was a lot of confidence in the
0:22:38 > 0:22:41idea that Britain was now moving forward.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44Suddenly, things feel a whole lot better.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48It was the grey grimness of the war
0:22:48 > 0:22:51and the post-war era that was coming to an end.
0:22:51 > 0:22:52It's a different world.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54And it's a much better world.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02We really didn't know whether it was
0:23:02 > 0:23:06humanly possible to reach the top of Mount Everest.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11I was very interested in the problems of climbing.
0:23:11 > 0:23:16The Everest problem was a physiological problem.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19At an altitude of 29,000 feet,
0:23:19 > 0:23:24the question was whether that was the physiological barrier.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30One had this feeling in your mind all the time,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33that maybe you were just pushing things
0:23:33 > 0:23:37a bit beyond what humans were meant to do.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40And you couldn't ignore that feeling.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45I was extremely well aware of what was happening and very hopeful that
0:23:45 > 0:23:46they would succeed.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52In a way, the two things were linked.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58The triumph of Everest and possibly the triumph of the four-minute mile.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Sir Roger is very devoted to Britain and British tradition.
0:24:02 > 0:24:03He saw it on this continuum of
0:24:03 > 0:24:08achievements with Sir Edmund Hillary's summiting of Mount Everest
0:24:08 > 0:24:10as something that would rebuild the psyche of
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Great Britain after World War II.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19I did find a great inspiration from the climbing of Everest.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23The anticipation for what Sir Roger did was seeing other great runners
0:24:23 > 0:24:27sort of inch up to that barrier and fail, and fail, and fail, and fail.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30As if there really was some magical wall there.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32I thought, well, this is something
0:24:32 > 0:24:35which was hitherto not thought possible.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37It's a question of, "Is this even possible?
0:24:37 > 0:24:39"Who's going to maybe break through this barrier?"
0:24:39 > 0:24:44They've done it. There is something comparable about the four-minute mile.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58I had a plan to retire.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Hopefully having won the gold medal.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08And I felt that I had not done myself justice.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10I came back home,
0:25:10 > 0:25:11had a bit of a holiday
0:25:11 > 0:25:15and then I started training much more seriously.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Roger had really, for two years, nearly two years,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21had this as his principal objective.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23He said to me, "Would you pace me
0:25:23 > 0:25:27"in an attempt to do the first mile inside four minutes?"
0:25:27 > 0:25:33The fact that so many people had been attempting it for so long
0:25:33 > 0:25:37and had got so close, the Swedes during the war,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39yet hadn't managed to achieve it,
0:25:39 > 0:25:44made people feel that there was a barrier of some kind.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Psychologically, I thought, but some thought physiological.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51As the Swedish runners have chipped away at the record and brought it
0:25:51 > 0:25:54down and brought it down and brought it down, once they got to 4.01,
0:25:54 > 0:25:56they really stalled right there.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59Just at the precipice of making history.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02The Swedes had the great runners Andersson and Hagg.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04They ran miles
0:26:04 > 0:26:08in 1944 and 1945 and, when the war ended, things weren't
0:26:08 > 0:26:12very good in Europe, and things took a long time to catch up.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14For nine years, almost a decade,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17it was stuck and so I think that just made the quest to break through
0:26:17 > 0:26:20that sort of invisible barrier feel that much more real,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22and that much more intense.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24People understood what the mile was.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26It was made up of four equal laps.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28They could understand that stage
0:26:28 > 0:26:31and the four minutes that popped up in front of the world.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34I think that really sort of injected some intensity
0:26:34 > 0:26:37into the drama of the chase, because here,
0:26:37 > 0:26:39you have people approaching this,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42and sort of a segment of the media wondering if it's even possible.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50I was working in London and so was Chris Brasher.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55And Roger was working very hard at St Mary's Hospital.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00By then, we'd formed a team with Franz Stampfl the coach.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05He said, "I can turn you into a champion."
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Franz Stampfl coached Chris Brasher first
0:27:08 > 0:27:15and then...Chris Chataway joined and we gradually formed
0:27:15 > 0:27:19this tight group of the four of us.
0:27:19 > 0:27:20Franz Stampfl,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24one of my regrets is that so little attention is paid to him.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Because I think he's a major factor in the whole story.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31A very warm and supportive person.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39We fell into a pattern of meeting him twice a week at the Kings Road track.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43He was never in the conventional coaching mode of saying pick up
0:27:43 > 0:27:46the left foot a bit less, or whatever.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48It was all inspiration.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51He was very, very good at that.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56He really helped you believe that you could do better than you thought you could.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59We did, principally, interval training,
0:27:59 > 0:28:0210 x 400 metres and that kind of thing.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05And then we would have supper at a restaurant.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07And by the time you had listened to Franz,
0:28:07 > 0:28:09and Franz never stopped talking,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13and by the time you had listened to Franz for an hour, over supper,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17you were absolutely convinced that the only thing in the world
0:28:17 > 0:28:21that was worth doing was to get a superb world record.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23So, 1953, he sort of assembles.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28He takes a scientific approach of kind of assembling a team around him, with Chataway and Brasher.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33As the weeks went by, aims for each lap and so on,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36and tactics were focused.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40It became not just a joint effort,
0:28:40 > 0:28:46but an effort that we were all three tremendously committed to.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Twice in 1953,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51he sets out with his pacesetters and makes attempts at Oxford,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54but is foiled by the weather.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56We were close friends by then.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59To be in on this great joint venture together was a great thing.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03Sir Roger certainly looks like he's in the driver's seat.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07He made an attempt in 1953,
0:29:07 > 0:29:10which produced a time of 4:02.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14This was his major, major objective,
0:29:14 > 0:29:17to get inside four minutes during 1954
0:29:17 > 0:29:20which he had decided it was going to be his last year.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24And in that time, a couple of other players come on the scene.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29The American, Wes Santee, starts to approach the four-minute barrier.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33And then kind of out of nowhere, the Australian John Landy runs 4:02.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Because of the situation we had in Australia
0:29:36 > 0:29:39where there was really nobody in 1953
0:29:39 > 0:29:43who could run with me, so I had to really set the pace.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46I think there was an expectation
0:29:46 > 0:29:49that one or another of them was going to do it.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52December of 1953, that's summertime in Australia.
0:29:52 > 0:29:53He's mid-season, essentially,
0:29:53 > 0:29:55while Bannister is stuck in British winter.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00All three of them had run 4:02 exactly.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Every time one of them raced, that would hit the news,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06and they were getting closer and closer.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10It was anyone's guess who was going to be the first,
0:30:10 > 0:30:11between the three of them.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16John Landy was a good runner and a very strong runner.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Who could tell that
0:30:19 > 0:30:23Landy wouldn't have got it before he could next have an opportunity?
0:30:23 > 0:30:26When I was running immediately after the war,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28we did have the advantage of not being
0:30:28 > 0:30:31affected greatly by the war and those other countries,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34particularly in Europe, were affected by the war.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39Clearly, we were anxious about what John Landy would do
0:30:39 > 0:30:43and I certainly felt that he would break the four-minute mile.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45Landy might break through.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Landy might break this, the four-minute mile.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49There's really nothing Bannister can do about it.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52The reason why the four-minute mile
0:30:52 > 0:30:56was run in May of 1954 was simply that
0:30:56 > 0:31:00John Landy was then on his way to Finland...
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Sir Roger sets the date in early 1954,
0:31:03 > 0:31:05when it's sort of now or never.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08..where he had been guaranteed
0:31:08 > 0:31:12pacing and good tracks and good weather,
0:31:12 > 0:31:17that was why it was brought forward to be the first event of the season.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21If he didn't do it in early 1954, it wasn't going to be him.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24We looked at the calendar and what
0:31:24 > 0:31:26was available and there was a match of
0:31:26 > 0:31:31the Amateur Athletic Association against Oxford University.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34We knew the track, Iffley Road, very well.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36And so we decided to go for that.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39In order to be legitimate,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42it had to be within a meeting and it was in a meeting
0:31:42 > 0:31:47between the Amateur Athletic Association and Oxford University,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51and Chris Chataway, Chris Brasher and I were the three in the
0:31:51 > 0:31:54Amateur Athletic Association team.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57He has, sort of, an independent streak about him
0:31:57 > 0:32:01that allowed him to do this. And that manifested in two ways.
0:32:01 > 0:32:06He was surrounded by people, reporters and other people,
0:32:06 > 0:32:08even other runners who were telling him, look,
0:32:08 > 0:32:10this just isn't something that's possible.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14What we were principally aiming at in our training
0:32:14 > 0:32:18was ten laps in 60 seconds with a very easy lap in between.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20And we were having difficulty, a couple of weeks before,
0:32:20 > 0:32:22hitting the correct targets.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27You can get to four flat, you can get to 4:01, the other runners,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29as they inched closer to the four-minute barrier
0:32:29 > 0:32:30sort of hit this wall.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34And when I asked Sir Roger if that ever sort of affected him,
0:32:34 > 0:32:35and he himself wondered if this
0:32:35 > 0:32:38really was a barrier beyond which humans
0:32:38 > 0:32:41could not go and he said, "Absolutely not!
0:32:41 > 0:32:46"I'm a scientist. 4:01 and 3:59 are two seconds apart just like 4:03 and
0:32:46 > 0:32:48"4:01 are two seconds apart." And that was it for him.
0:32:48 > 0:32:53He was very, one would say, scientific about it.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Much more than the average runner.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00And I think you needed that sort of independent streak
0:33:00 > 0:33:02in order to break the barrier. By the same token,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05I think Sir Roger would have had
0:33:05 > 0:33:09every reason to say, "This isn't what I should be doing right now."
0:33:09 > 0:33:11Chris Brasher and Roger
0:33:11 > 0:33:16had a weekend in Scotland walking
0:33:16 > 0:33:20and they always reckoned that that gave them a shot in the arm.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22He's totally enmeshed in his medical studies.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25He's extremely busy. He's not sleeping enough.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29He has his lunch break to train to break the world record.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33Training for May 6th was going reasonably well.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36But the only doubt on the day was the weather.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43We didn't publicise our intentions at all.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47In fact we were extremely careful not to drop any hints.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51I didn't want to advertise the fact,
0:33:51 > 0:33:55because if the conditions were impossible,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58I would say the attempt is off.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00We told the McWhirters but they were
0:34:00 > 0:34:04journalists and athletic statisticians
0:34:04 > 0:34:06and we knew that they could be trusted.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10This was quite a big athletics event for Oxford.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Because I knew there would be famous athletes competing.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17I was in that first mile because I
0:34:17 > 0:34:21was at that point Oxford's top miler.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26There was this vague rumour that Bannister was going to attempt a fast time.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30I really went into it almost as half spectator
0:34:30 > 0:34:32and half competitor.
0:34:34 > 0:34:41This was a marquee event, all by itself, this race.
0:34:41 > 0:34:42I was at Guinness in Park Royal.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44I worked in the morning
0:34:44 > 0:34:49and then got in my car and drove to Oxford, late morning.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52I was living in what were called digs.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56A room in somebody's house. A little beyond the Iffley Road track.
0:34:56 > 0:34:57I would have bicycled in.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02Laid my bike against a tree and gone in to change
0:35:02 > 0:35:05and chatted with team-mates.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Sir Roger went to the hospital that morning.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12He and Brasher and Chataway, those guys went to work that day.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14A group of us from my college,
0:35:14 > 0:35:19St Catherine's College Oxford, decided to go along,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22although curiously two of them, rather laid-back,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25thought it looks as though it's going to rain,
0:35:25 > 0:35:26and so they opted out.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29When I got to Iffley Road, I thought it was all right.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32The flag above the church
0:35:32 > 0:35:36opposite, it was fluttering slightly,
0:35:36 > 0:35:41which was worrying, because wind is
0:35:41 > 0:35:45the biggest enemy, even with Roger having us in front of him.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50I met Franz, not planned, on the train going up to Oxford.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55And by that time it was raining and it was windy.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58And I said, you know, this weather is no good.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02So I was really in a very
0:36:02 > 0:36:04doubtful state of mind.
0:36:05 > 0:36:12And Franz Stampfl, he said, "If you don't take this chance today,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16"then you may never get another chance."
0:36:16 > 0:36:20And in that case, no four-minute mile for Britain.
0:36:20 > 0:36:25He said to me, "You can run a 3:56 mile.
0:36:25 > 0:36:26"That's what I think you can do."
0:36:28 > 0:36:30When Roger got down to the stadium,
0:36:30 > 0:36:34I think it was a little bit after me.
0:36:34 > 0:36:39It was clear that he still had some doubts about the weather.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41There was a flag, a St George's flag,
0:36:41 > 0:36:45flying on the church steeple at the top of the track.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48I used that during the afternoon as a wind gauge.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51- TANNOY:- First call for the one-mile run,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53all athletes please check in with the clerk.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55Being poverty-stricken students,
0:36:55 > 0:37:00we weren't going to pay to sit in the stand, but we decided we would
0:37:00 > 0:37:07buy a cheaper ticket and just stand just beyond the spectator stand and
0:37:07 > 0:37:11this happened to give us the perfect view of the finishing line.
0:37:14 > 0:37:20It wasn't until half an hour before that I really made up my mind that,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23if I didn't attempt it on this occasion,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27I might never get another attempt before John Landy did it.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29So that was really the final crunch.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33I may say, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher were getting a bit
0:37:33 > 0:37:34impatient with me.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38They said, "We've come here to do this, well, are we going to do it?"
0:37:38 > 0:37:41- TANNOY:- This is the second call for the one-mile run.
0:37:41 > 0:37:42Please, could all athletes check in...
0:37:42 > 0:37:46Norris McWhirter did notify the BBC
0:37:46 > 0:37:49that they ought to have a camera there,
0:37:49 > 0:37:54because there might be something interesting in the mile.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59It added, I suppose, to the tension and the excitement of the day,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02looking around at what was quite a full stadium.
0:38:02 > 0:38:08The crowd was of about 1,500, which is a lot, for Oxford.
0:38:08 > 0:38:13Realising that nobody else knew what it was
0:38:13 > 0:38:16that we were going to attempt to do.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19- TANNOY:- This is the final call for the one-mile.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22Can athletes please make their way to the start?
0:38:23 > 0:38:26I did not see face-to-face any of
0:38:26 > 0:38:31the three, Chataway, Brasher or Bannister,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34until we were gathering at the starting line.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36They were almost enclosed in a bubble.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41They were so focused on what they were doing.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45- TANNOY:- In lane one, representing Oxford University Athletic Club,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Yale and University College, GF Dole.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53In lane two, representing the Amateur Athletic Association,
0:38:53 > 0:38:54CW Brasher...
0:38:56 > 0:39:00I got to the starting line
0:39:00 > 0:39:04and Chris Brasher, I was on the pole,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Chris Brasher was immediately on my right.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12- TANNOY:- ..the Amateur Athletic Association, RG Bannister.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16In lane five, representing the Amateur Athletic Association...
0:39:17 > 0:39:21Relief, as it always is, when, eventually
0:39:21 > 0:39:25the minutes had ebbed away and we were actually there ready to go.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27I was determined not to get boxed in.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30That was as far ahead as I was thinking.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33I saw that the flag on the church steeple
0:39:33 > 0:39:35was not blowing as strongly,
0:39:35 > 0:39:40and I just took that as a sort of final comment by the weather
0:39:40 > 0:39:42that you've got to take a chance.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Runners, to your marks.
0:40:00 > 0:40:01GUNSHOT
0:40:07 > 0:40:10We had no idea, really, that the attempt was on.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15Brasher had not got far enough ahead to be able to pull in.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18And as we went into the turn,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22I eased off a little bit so that I wouldn't keep him on the outside.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27Chris Brasher, as planned, went straight into the lead
0:40:27 > 0:40:30and Roger did say,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33I forget, I think it must have been about halfway through
0:40:33 > 0:40:35the first lap, you know, "Faster, faster."
0:40:35 > 0:40:38He goes off, very full of running.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40I feel so fresh.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43I haven't done anything for five days before it.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Which was my usual preparation for a race.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50You feel so eager, so I say, "Faster, faster."
0:40:50 > 0:40:53Chris, and this was his huge contribution to the occasion,
0:40:53 > 0:40:55took no notice and
0:40:55 > 0:40:59went on at the pace that he was setting which was actually correct.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02I had some fantasies of being able
0:41:02 > 0:41:06to stay with them for a reasonable time
0:41:06 > 0:41:10but after about a quarter of a mile I knew that this was something,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12I can't keep this up.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17So he took no notice, and we came through the quarter mile in 58
0:41:17 > 0:41:19which was absolutely right.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21By the time they got to
0:41:21 > 0:41:24the end of the first quarter, I would have been, say,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26ten yards or more back.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31- TANNOY:- 57.7 seconds, 440 yards.
0:41:31 > 0:41:3357.7, I think.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36And Norman Barrett and I, my friend
0:41:36 > 0:41:39who was with me, looked at each other.
0:41:39 > 0:41:40"Very fast!"
0:41:40 > 0:41:43Chris was still on schedule at about
0:41:43 > 0:41:45a couple of minutes for the two laps.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47I was very definitely watching it all.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51By the end of the second lap, he was still going as planned.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55The half-mile was announced at 1:58.3.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01And there were gasps from the spectators.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03I mean, this is serious running.
0:42:03 > 0:42:08- TANNOY:- The half mile, 1:58.3.
0:42:08 > 0:42:15I was surprised when Brasher kept the lead after
0:42:15 > 0:42:17the end of the half.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20It was planned that he would go to 2.5
0:42:20 > 0:42:25laps and I would get as close to 3.5 as I could.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31Brasher kept on for another 220 yards
0:42:31 > 0:42:34and Chataway took over on the middle of the back stretch.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37He was staying around the bend on the third lap,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41so I overtook him at the beginning of the back straight.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43If you watch the film, you see that Brasher,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47at that point, really slowed down.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49I ran the third lap with no problem.
0:42:49 > 0:42:54I was concentrating hard, not to let the pace slip at all.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58At the bell, the time was 3:00.7 seconds.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01And this was announced.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06- TANNOY:- The time at three-quarters distance, 3:00.7 seconds.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09The crowd began to go mad.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11And they were roaring.
0:43:11 > 0:43:18Chris Chataway took over and the time then was 3:01.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23My friend remembers a guy in front of me holding his head in his hands.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25He couldn't believe what was happening.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29Not surprisingly we were slowing,
0:43:29 > 0:43:35and I was rather concerned but I heard that the lap time of 3:01 and
0:43:35 > 0:43:39realised that I had to do a last lap in 59.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43Past the third lap, I was beginning to have difficulty.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Chataway was still in the lead,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50still led around the bottom turn of the last lap...
0:43:50 > 0:43:54I didn't want to overtake him too soon.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58..and led until I think maybe a little past
0:43:58 > 0:44:00the middle of the back straight.
0:44:00 > 0:44:05I waited and didn't overtake Chris
0:44:05 > 0:44:08until the beginning of the back straight.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Bannister blew by him very decisively
0:44:14 > 0:44:16and Chataway did not slow down.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20Roger swept past me on that back straight, and he looked superb.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22He looked absolutely terrific.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25He was so well-known for his devastating finish.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30We all said, "Can he reproduce it at this pace?"
0:44:30 > 0:44:32I was in the last turn,
0:44:32 > 0:44:37probably coming in to the last turn when he went down the last straight.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41And I could see that he was not losing anything.
0:44:41 > 0:44:42He was flying.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46I had no particular recognition of the difficulties,
0:44:46 > 0:44:51except I had to run as hard as I could for the tape.
0:44:51 > 0:44:56Gradually felt fatigue, ascending my legs,
0:44:56 > 0:45:00but just managed to get to the tape, threw myself at it.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03He just flung himself over the line.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07But I wasn't sure that I had broken it.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11It was, it was very emotional.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14It was terribly exciting.
0:45:14 > 0:45:20As I came down the last straight, I could see the excitement.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22People jumping about and so on.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24We'd gone through this terrible war,
0:45:24 > 0:45:28and so there was a sort of trepidation
0:45:28 > 0:45:33and everyone was thinking, "Well, has it all been in vain?"
0:45:33 > 0:45:35When I came down to the finish,
0:45:35 > 0:45:39I almost had to find my way to the finish line because people were
0:45:39 > 0:45:40beginning to congregate.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42So we were left waiting for a few minutes.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46Was it the world record, but not under four minutes?
0:45:46 > 0:45:49The three principal runners were
0:45:49 > 0:45:54clustered with their immediate friends and supporters,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57right by the finish line, waiting to hear.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00I put my arms round them.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03And of course there were a lot of
0:46:03 > 0:46:06pictures immediately after the finish,
0:46:06 > 0:46:12but I didn't know, and I couldn't tell them, until a time had elapsed.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17There was silence. There was a waiting for the announcement.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19And there was a delay.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21It seemed to take forever for them to announce.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25Norris McWhirter had this very English sort of laid-back feel.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27But he did have a sense of drama.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32And he began to announce the result.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36- TANNOY:- Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result
0:46:36 > 0:46:38of event nine, the one mile.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40Here is the result...
0:46:40 > 0:46:44of event number nine, the one mile.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48- TANNOY:- First, number 41, RG Bannister,
0:46:48 > 0:46:50Amateur Athletics Association and
0:46:50 > 0:46:53formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Then he went on, of course,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58to relate the fact that Bannister was the holder
0:46:58 > 0:47:01of the English native and British national
0:47:01 > 0:47:03and British allcomers' record for the mile.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05And the crowd groaned.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08And you don't normally get that in an announcement.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12I knew I must be close, but it was not at all certain
0:47:12 > 0:47:14that I had broken it.
0:47:14 > 0:47:20Second was CJ Chataway of the Achilles Club and then came a long
0:47:20 > 0:47:22list of Chataway's credentials.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26And I turned to Norman and I said, "He must have done it!"
0:47:26 > 0:47:30- TANNOY:- With a time that is a new meeting and track record...
0:47:30 > 0:47:33And then there was silence and a pause...
0:47:33 > 0:47:35and McWhirter said...
0:47:36 > 0:47:37..the winner's time...
0:47:39 > 0:47:40..is a new track record.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45Yes? And so, what?
0:47:45 > 0:47:47After another pause...
0:47:48 > 0:47:52..the winning time, subject to ratification,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56will be a new English native, British national...
0:47:56 > 0:48:00- TANNOY:- ..allcomers' European,
0:48:00 > 0:48:02British Empire...
0:48:02 > 0:48:05And pending approval, a new world record.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07And we gasped all round.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12Then he said, after another long pause...
0:48:13 > 0:48:14- TANNOY:- The time was...
0:48:14 > 0:48:16..in a time of...
0:48:21 > 0:48:24..three minutes...
0:48:24 > 0:48:29and then the number of seconds was obscured by the crowd's excitement.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32- TANNOY:- Three minutes...
0:48:32 > 0:48:36Everyone exploded, and people ran all over the track,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39and people didn't know how to express their joy.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44There hadn't been joy of this kind since the war.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46There was a sense, once the time had been announced,
0:48:46 > 0:48:50that it was just a little too much to process.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Oh, wow!
0:48:52 > 0:48:54That was a great moment.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58People lifted Bannister, like a Roman hero, onto shoulders,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01and they carried him round the track.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03This is something to think about.
0:49:03 > 0:49:08This is something that they thought was impossible, and by golly,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11it is possible, and I saw it happen.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18Once it was done, it wasn't low-key any more.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22The sports night then was
0:49:22 > 0:49:25on the night of the race.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29We all went up to the BBC, interviewed there
0:49:29 > 0:49:31and then it was masses of press and so on.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34It was something to write home about.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36Very definitely. And I did.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39And I seem to remember that Harold Macmillan
0:49:39 > 0:49:42was handed a note in the House of Commons and he stood up,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45with the permission of the Speaker,
0:49:45 > 0:49:47and said, "I've just been handed a
0:49:47 > 0:49:50"note which tells me that Roger Bannister
0:49:50 > 0:49:55"ran a mile in 3:59.4."
0:49:55 > 0:49:57And all the MPs cheered!
0:49:57 > 0:50:01Of course, Brasher had arranged that
0:50:01 > 0:50:04we went to the Sloan Court restaurant
0:50:04 > 0:50:05with our girlfriends.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09"In view of this remarkable achievement by an Englishman,
0:50:09 > 0:50:14"I propose the house adjourns for 3:59.4 seconds!"
0:50:14 > 0:50:20I don't think I was aware of what the impact might be
0:50:20 > 0:50:24until we got the early newspapers at about two o'clock in the morning.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35In order to, sort of, capture the real excitement
0:50:35 > 0:50:37that there was about it, and the atmosphere,
0:50:37 > 0:50:40there was a kind of feeling that
0:50:40 > 0:50:44this was the kind of start of the new Elizabethan age.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46It was the opening of a new era,
0:50:46 > 0:50:48a moment of national renewal after the war.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51It's a watershed moment. There are great achievements by Brits,
0:50:51 > 0:50:53the economy is starting to really boom...
0:50:53 > 0:50:57Everest, the Coronation and the four-minute mile would provide this
0:50:57 > 0:51:00kind of reassurance that Britain is still a great country.
0:51:00 > 0:51:05Everest was conquered, and we had the Coronation, all on the same day.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07And then the first four-minute mile.
0:51:07 > 0:51:08They were like...
0:51:10 > 0:51:13They were like giving a glass of water to a man dying of thirst.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16I am pleased that it was done.
0:51:16 > 0:51:22I'm pleased that it was done with the help of my friends.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25I was very lucky to have my two friends,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30who helped to make some of the running early on.
0:51:30 > 0:51:37And I certainly attribute a lot of it to their presence in the race.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40And I am pleased that it was in Britain.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42Everest had been climbed.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45It was the Queen's reign starting,
0:51:45 > 0:51:49so all these things seemed to have a symmetry.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54As I have said, I thought winning Olympic races
0:51:54 > 0:51:58is more important than the four-minute mile.
0:51:58 > 0:52:02It so happens that the rest of the world thinks otherwise.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19And it is Landy, running quite easily, relaxed and beautifully.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21Not quite such a long stride as Bannister.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23Landy comes down the straight.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25No sooner does Sir Roger Bannister
0:52:25 > 0:52:27break the magical four-minute barrier then,
0:52:27 > 0:52:30the very next month, John Landy runs 3:58.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34And this sets up, later in the year, one of the greatest,
0:52:34 > 0:52:35most dramatic races of all time.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45I wound up going to the British Empire Games in Vancouver,
0:52:45 > 0:52:47where Landy raced against Bannister.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50My father thought that that would be kind of the ultimate present for me,
0:52:50 > 0:52:51and he was right.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55With his beautiful, prancing stride, ready, poised,
0:52:55 > 0:52:57here goes Landy, can Bannister catch him?
0:52:57 > 0:52:59There is none of his famed spurt at the moment.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02Landy is, I think, drawing slightly away.
0:53:02 > 0:53:03Landy is running beautifully.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06No, Bannister's coming up on him now. 150 yards to go,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09and Bannister is gaining ever so slightly with each stride.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11And then Bannister shifted to another gear,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14and the crowd was so loud,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17Landy couldn't hear him. But Landy turned to the inside to see how far
0:53:17 > 0:53:20back Bannister was. And Bannister was right on his shoulder.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23So then, when he looked around, Bannister had gone by him.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26150 yards to go, and Bannister is coming up to Landy's elbow.
0:53:26 > 0:53:27Bannister has passed Landy.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31Landy comes into the straight, and it's going to be Bannister's race.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33He's striding absolutely magnificently,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36as Bannister breasts the tape now, and Landy's second...
0:53:36 > 0:53:40That moment really bestowed a love for track and field.
0:53:40 > 0:53:41It intensified it enormously.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45And what would my life be if that hadn't happened?
0:53:45 > 0:53:51It was... It was probably the best bonding experience I'd had with my
0:53:51 > 0:53:52father in my whole life.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55So it really had a significant role to play for me, personally.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58There are a handful of names in the world,
0:53:58 > 0:54:01people will instinctively know who you're talking about.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03The first four-minute mile was
0:54:03 > 0:54:06voted THE outstanding British sporting achievement
0:54:06 > 0:54:08of the 20th century.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Neil Armstrong, John Glenn.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13People that have done things for the very first time.
0:54:13 > 0:54:14Sir Edmund Hillary.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17That sort of calibre of achiever that people hold
0:54:17 > 0:54:18Sir Roger Bannister in.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22Britain didn't have too many world sporting heroes.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25But Roger Bannister was this person
0:54:25 > 0:54:28who kind of overarched all of that somehow.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31As amazing as summiting Mount Everest was,
0:54:31 > 0:54:33now, around 3,500 people have done that.
0:54:33 > 0:54:39Whereas only 1,314 men have run under four minutes in the mile.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43Bannister had the mental and physical ability
0:54:43 > 0:54:48to push himself through that barrier and show the way to others.
0:54:48 > 0:54:49I went to school that day.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53My history teacher Jim Norton was also the basketball coach.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56And he said, "I suppose you've all read that the four-minute mile was
0:54:56 > 0:54:58"broken yesterday. I just want to tell you,
0:54:58 > 0:55:01"as a man who spent his life in physical education,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04"it's physically impossible. I think those watches were wrong."
0:55:04 > 0:55:07If I'd finished my career and had never broken the world mile record,
0:55:07 > 0:55:11I would've felt as though I'd missed out on something.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13And suddenly I was on my own with a
0:55:13 > 0:55:16lap to go, and the bizarre thing was, the whole last lap,
0:55:16 > 0:55:20I was replaying in my mind the lines from Bannister's book about how he
0:55:20 > 0:55:23felt on the last lap of his historic race.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26I remember getting about 20, 30 metres from the line.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28Kind of thinking, "I'm going to do it."
0:55:28 > 0:55:31I could see the clock. And as I crossed the line I kind of point at
0:55:31 > 0:55:33it with this stupid grin on my face.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36And I remember doing the lap of honour.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Because of Bannister, I was running around that last lap
0:55:38 > 0:55:41thinking, "Wow, you know, you're part of history."
0:55:41 > 0:55:43The announcer said,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45it's happened again and announced
0:55:45 > 0:55:48that the time of 3:59.6 had been run.
0:55:48 > 0:55:52Out of great respect, I didn't break Bannister's track record of 3:59.4,
0:55:52 > 0:55:57and he came out on the track, I got to meet him, shake his hand,
0:55:57 > 0:55:58have my picture taken.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02It really changed my life. It's one of the greatest human achievements
0:56:02 > 0:56:04ever. Something that I would put on par with going to the moon.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07Because it's a question of, can we actually do this?
0:56:07 > 0:56:09If we can show ourselves we can do this,
0:56:09 > 0:56:12then there's all sorts of other things we know we can do.