May 6, 2024 • 10 mins
On this day in 1954, British medical student Roger Bannister became the first person to run a mile in under four minutes.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that believes it's never too late to make history.
I'm Gabe Luesier, and in this episode we're talking about
a game changing athletic feat that many people thought wasn't
(00:22):
humanly possible until one man proved it was. The day
was May sixth, nineteen fifty four, British medical student Roger
Banister became the first person to run a mile in
(00:42):
under four minutes. He set the new world record during
a competitive race in Oxford, England, finishing with a time
of three minutes and fifty nine point four seconds. He
only broke the four minute mark by fractions of a second,
but that was a nough Banister had achieved defeat that
many had considered physically impossible, and his example gave other
(01:07):
athletes the confidence to do the same. Running a mile
in less than four minutes was one of the longest
standing barriers in track and field. Middle distance runners had
made serious efforts to crack it since at least the
eighteen eighties, but despite working with the world's top coaches
and trying every training method known to mand none of
(01:29):
them could break the four minute barrier. By the early
twentieth century, many runners, coaches, and doctors had begun to
think it wasn't physically possible to run a mile that fast,
and that it might be dangerous or even deadly to try.
But then in nineteen forty five, Swedish runner Gounder Haig
(01:50):
set a new world record when he ran a mile
in four minutes and one point three seconds. Hague had
come this close to breaking four minutes, and his near
miss made other runners think that maybe chasing the goal
wasn't so crazy after all. Maybe they had just convinced
themselves it was impossible because the challenge had seemed so daunting.
(02:14):
Maybe there was no physical barrier at all. Maybe it
was just a mental one. To find out, a group
of runners in the early nineteen fifties devoted themselves to
crossing the three minute threshold, and Roger Banister became the
first four minute miler to do it. Born in Harrow, England,
(02:35):
in nineteen twenty nine, Roger Banister began running to escape
the terrors of his childhood, first school bullies and later
the air raid sirens of the London Blitz. He managed
to survive both, and later used his athletic prowess and
his intellect to earn an athletic scholarship to Oxford University.
(02:57):
He became one of the top mile runners during his
time there, and after graduating, he continued to run for
the Amateur Athletic Association. Banister also enrolled at Saint Mary's
Hospital Medical School in London with the goal of becoming
a neurologist. He never intended to become a career athlete,
and later said quote, as soon as I ceased to
(03:20):
be a student, I always knew I would stop being
an athlete. But while he was still at medical school,
Banister would continue to race competitively. In nineteen fifty one
and nineteen fifty three he won British championships in the
one mile run, though on both occasions his time still
fell short of gounder Haig's record, but Banister had a
(03:42):
good feeling about the upcoming nineteen fifty four running season.
In the course of his studies, he researched the mechanics
of running, and then used what he learned to develop
a personalized training regiment, one that would hopefully reduce his
chance of injury and improve his running speed. Pleased with
his progress, he decided to take a run at the
(04:04):
record during that year's annual match between the Amateur Athletic
Association and his alma mater, Oxford University. The race was
held on May sixth, nineteen fifty four, at the famously
shabby if Lee Road track in Oxford. Weather conditions were
less than favorable that day, with cold temperatures, strong winds,
(04:27):
and intermittent rain all conspiring to throw the runners off
their game. To make matters worse, a powerful crosswind began
to blow across the track just as the mile race
was about to start. Despite the bad weather, several hundred
people came out to watch the big match and to
see if twenty five year old Roger Banister could really
(04:49):
do the impossible. The tall, lanky blonde took his place
on the starting line alongside the two other principal runners
for the AAA, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher. The race
had been carefully planned between them, with the two Chrisses
agreeing to act as pace setters for Banister to aid
in his attempt. The starting gun was fired at six
(05:12):
p m sharp and the runners took off along the
wet clay track Brasher led the field for the first
two laps, reaching the half mile mark right on target
at one minute and fifty eight seconds. Chadaway took up
the mantle in the third lap, with Banister following closely behind.
They both hit the three quarter mile mark in just
(05:34):
over three minutes. Then, with about three hundred and fifty
yards left to go, Banister poured on the speed. He
lengthened his stride and sped past Chadaway rounding the final
bend toward the finish line. The roar of the crowd
spurred him on, and with a final burst of speed,
he broke the tape with an official time of three
(05:56):
minutes fifty nine point four seconds. The timekeeper teased the
crowd by drawing out the reveal of Banister's finishing time,
and when he finally got to the word three, the
cheering was so loud that no one even heard the rest.
Years later, Banister recalled the final moments of his record
(06:16):
breaking run, saying quote, the earth seemed to move with me.
I found a new source of power and beauty, a
source I never knew existed. Breaking the four minute mile
had been a transcendent moment for Roger Banister and most
of his rivals were just as relieved that the barrier
had finally been broken, and somehow, once they had seen
(06:39):
that it really could be done, they were able to
do it too. In fact, Banister's record only stood for
about six weeks. It was bested by Australian runner John Landy,
who finished a mile race in Finland in three minutes
and fifty seven point nine seconds. The quick and over
(07:00):
set the stage for the legendary miracle mile race between
Banister and Landy. It took place just a few weeks
later at the Empire Games in Vancouver, Canada. Landy maintained
a healthy lead for nearly the whole race, but in
the home stretch Banister pulled out all the stops once
again to claim first place. His finishing time that day
(07:23):
was three minutes and fifty eight point eight seconds, a
little slower than Landy's record, but still good enough for
the win. Afterward, Sports Illustrated named Banister its first Sportsman
of the Year, and with all that attention, he certainly
could have gone pro if he had wanted to. Instead,
Banister stuck to his plan of becoming a doctor and
(07:45):
retired from running at the end that summer. Doctor Banister
went on to have a long successful career in medicine
and served for many years as the director of the
National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London, and though he
no longer competed himself, he still stayed involved in athletics too.
(08:06):
In the early nineteen seventies he served as chairman of
the British Sports Council, and from nineteen seventy six to
nineteen eighty three he served as the President of the
International Council of Sports Science and Physical Recreation. He also
helped combat drug use in competitive sports by assisting in
the development of the first test for anabolic steroids. For
(08:29):
these achievements, but his four minute mile in particular, Doctor
Banister was dubbed Sir Banister by Queen Elizabeth the Second.
He lived happily for many years with his wife and
four children, and passed away at the age of eighty
eight on March third, twenty eighteen. In the decades since
(08:49):
Banister's landmark run, nearly two thousand athletes have followed his
lead and broken the four minute mile. As of twenty
twenty four, the current time to beat is three minutes
and forty three point one seconds, a record set by
Moroccan runner Yeshem l Garouge way back in nineteen ninety nine.
(09:11):
Some experts think that that twenty five year reign means
that runners have finally found the limit of what the
human body can do, but it's worth remembering that's also
what they said about the four minute mile. I'm gabeluesiay,
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
(09:31):
today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep
up with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have
any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my
way by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com.
Thanks to kazb Bias for producing the show, and thanks
(09:53):
to you for listening. I'll see you back here again
tomorrow for another day in history class. The batter put
the pick the per
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that believes it's never too late to make history.
I'm Gabe Luesier, and in this episode we're talking about
a game changing athletic feat that many people thought wasn't
(00:22):
humanly possible until one man proved it was. The day
was May sixth, nineteen fifty four, British medical student Roger
Banister became the first person to run a mile in
(00:42):
under four minutes. He set the new world record during
a competitive race in Oxford, England, finishing with a time
of three minutes and fifty nine point four seconds. He
only broke the four minute mark by fractions of a second,
but that was a nough Banister had achieved defeat that
many had considered physically impossible, and his example gave other
(01:07):
athletes the confidence to do the same. Running a mile
in less than four minutes was one of the longest
standing barriers in track and field. Middle distance runners had
made serious efforts to crack it since at least the
eighteen eighties, but despite working with the world's top coaches
and trying every training method known to mand none of
(01:29):
them could break the four minute barrier. By the early
twentieth century, many runners, coaches, and doctors had begun to
think it wasn't physically possible to run a mile that fast,
and that it might be dangerous or even deadly to try.
But then in nineteen forty five, Swedish runner Gounder Haig
(01:50):
set a new world record when he ran a mile
in four minutes and one point three seconds. Hague had
come this close to breaking four minutes, and his near
miss made other runners think that maybe chasing the goal
wasn't so crazy after all. Maybe they had just convinced
themselves it was impossible because the challenge had seemed so daunting.
(02:14):
Maybe there was no physical barrier at all. Maybe it
was just a mental one. To find out, a group
of runners in the early nineteen fifties devoted themselves to
crossing the three minute threshold, and Roger Banister became the
first four minute miler to do it. Born in Harrow, England,
(02:35):
in nineteen twenty nine, Roger Banister began running to escape
the terrors of his childhood, first school bullies and later
the air raid sirens of the London Blitz. He managed
to survive both, and later used his athletic prowess and
his intellect to earn an athletic scholarship to Oxford University.
(02:57):
He became one of the top mile runners during his
time there, and after graduating, he continued to run for
the Amateur Athletic Association. Banister also enrolled at Saint Mary's
Hospital Medical School in London with the goal of becoming
a neurologist. He never intended to become a career athlete,
and later said quote, as soon as I ceased to
(03:20):
be a student, I always knew I would stop being
an athlete. But while he was still at medical school,
Banister would continue to race competitively. In nineteen fifty one
and nineteen fifty three he won British championships in the
one mile run, though on both occasions his time still
fell short of gounder Haig's record, but Banister had a
(03:42):
good feeling about the upcoming nineteen fifty four running season.
In the course of his studies, he researched the mechanics
of running, and then used what he learned to develop
a personalized training regiment, one that would hopefully reduce his
chance of injury and improve his running speed. Pleased with
his progress, he decided to take a run at the
(04:04):
record during that year's annual match between the Amateur Athletic
Association and his alma mater, Oxford University. The race was
held on May sixth, nineteen fifty four, at the famously
shabby if Lee Road track in Oxford. Weather conditions were
less than favorable that day, with cold temperatures, strong winds,
(04:27):
and intermittent rain all conspiring to throw the runners off
their game. To make matters worse, a powerful crosswind began
to blow across the track just as the mile race
was about to start. Despite the bad weather, several hundred
people came out to watch the big match and to
see if twenty five year old Roger Banister could really
(04:49):
do the impossible. The tall, lanky blonde took his place
on the starting line alongside the two other principal runners
for the AAA, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher. The race
had been carefully planned between them, with the two Chrisses
agreeing to act as pace setters for Banister to aid
in his attempt. The starting gun was fired at six
(05:12):
p m sharp and the runners took off along the
wet clay track Brasher led the field for the first
two laps, reaching the half mile mark right on target
at one minute and fifty eight seconds. Chadaway took up
the mantle in the third lap, with Banister following closely behind.
They both hit the three quarter mile mark in just
(05:34):
over three minutes. Then, with about three hundred and fifty
yards left to go, Banister poured on the speed. He
lengthened his stride and sped past Chadaway rounding the final
bend toward the finish line. The roar of the crowd
spurred him on, and with a final burst of speed,
he broke the tape with an official time of three
(05:56):
minutes fifty nine point four seconds. The timekeeper teased the
crowd by drawing out the reveal of Banister's finishing time,
and when he finally got to the word three, the
cheering was so loud that no one even heard the rest.
Years later, Banister recalled the final moments of his record
(06:16):
breaking run, saying quote, the earth seemed to move with me.
I found a new source of power and beauty, a
source I never knew existed. Breaking the four minute mile
had been a transcendent moment for Roger Banister and most
of his rivals were just as relieved that the barrier
had finally been broken, and somehow, once they had seen
(06:39):
that it really could be done, they were able to
do it too. In fact, Banister's record only stood for
about six weeks. It was bested by Australian runner John Landy,
who finished a mile race in Finland in three minutes
and fifty seven point nine seconds. The quick and over
(07:00):
set the stage for the legendary miracle mile race between
Banister and Landy. It took place just a few weeks
later at the Empire Games in Vancouver, Canada. Landy maintained
a healthy lead for nearly the whole race, but in
the home stretch Banister pulled out all the stops once
again to claim first place. His finishing time that day
(07:23):
was three minutes and fifty eight point eight seconds, a
little slower than Landy's record, but still good enough for
the win. Afterward, Sports Illustrated named Banister its first Sportsman
of the Year, and with all that attention, he certainly
could have gone pro if he had wanted to. Instead,
Banister stuck to his plan of becoming a doctor and
(07:45):
retired from running at the end that summer. Doctor Banister
went on to have a long successful career in medicine
and served for many years as the director of the
National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London, and though he
no longer competed himself, he still stayed involved in athletics too.
(08:06):
In the early nineteen seventies he served as chairman of
the British Sports Council, and from nineteen seventy six to
nineteen eighty three he served as the President of the
International Council of Sports Science and Physical Recreation. He also
helped combat drug use in competitive sports by assisting in
the development of the first test for anabolic steroids. For
(08:29):
these achievements, but his four minute mile in particular, Doctor
Banister was dubbed Sir Banister by Queen Elizabeth the Second.
He lived happily for many years with his wife and
four children, and passed away at the age of eighty
eight on March third, twenty eighteen. In the decades since
(08:49):
Banister's landmark run, nearly two thousand athletes have followed his
lead and broken the four minute mile. As of twenty
twenty four, the current time to beat is three minutes
and forty three point one seconds, a record set by
Moroccan runner Yeshem l Garouge way back in nineteen ninety nine.
(09:11):
Some experts think that that twenty five year reign means
that runners have finally found the limit of what the
human body can do, but it's worth remembering that's also
what they said about the four minute mile. I'm gabeluesiay,
and hopefully you now know a little more about history
(09:31):
today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep
up with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have
any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my
way by writing to this Day at iHeartMedia dot com.
Thanks to kazb Bias for producing the show, and thanks
(09:53):
to you for listening. I'll see you back here again
tomorrow for another day in history class. The batter put
the pick the per
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