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Sir Roger Bannister, CBE, was born in Harrow in 1929 and is best known as the first man to run the mile in less than four minutes.
Roger Bannister was educated at the City of Bath Boys’ School, University College School in London, Exeter and Merton Colleges at Oxford, and at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School. He started his running career at Oxford in the Autumn of 1946, aged 17. Selected as an Olympic possible in 1948, he declined the place, to set his sights on the 1952 Games in Helsinki.
Roger Bannister finished fourth in the 1500m final in Helsinki, setting a British record of 3:46.30 in the process. Following the 1952 Olympics, having decided against giving up running, Roger Bannister decided to set himself a new goal: to be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Having intensified his training he made an attempt on the British record at Oxford in May 1953. He ran 4:03.6, shattering the existing record.
On 6 May 1954, during a meet between British AAA and Oxford University at Iffley Road Track in Oxford and watched by some 3000 spectators, Roger Bannister did it – he crossed the finish line in three minutes 59.4 seconds.
Roger Bannister continued his athletic career, running at the Commonwealth Games in 1954 (3:58:8) and the 1500m at the European Championships in Bern, with a championship record time of 3:43:8. He then retired from athletics to concentrate on his work as a junior doctor and to pursue a career in neurology.
Roger Bannister later became the first Chairman of the Sports Council and was knighted in 1975. Under his aegis, central and local government funding of sport centres and other sport facilities was rapidly increased, and he also initiated the first testing for use of anabolic steroids in sport.
Roger Bannister had a distinguished career as a neurologist before becoming Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1985. He retired in 2001.
A family man, Roger Bannister has four children and eight grand-children. He has been awarded honorary degrees from universities in the UK, Europe and the US.
In recognition of his outstanding services to the sporting and international communities, Sir Roger Bannister is awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of the University.
July 2008
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