Roger Bannister

This book was originally published in 1955 except that they have added a few snippets at the end to bring it up to date to mark the 50th anniversary of Bannister's first sub four minute mile.

Bannister comes across as a bit of an Alf Tupper: the tough of the track who always manages to "run 'em" ... well, not quite in Bannister's case.

Bannister is an odd chap: modest to a fault I think. On the one hand he talks about not being good enough, standing in the shadows of giants and feeling unworthy, then the next thing you know he's chairman of this, leader of that and then the first man in the world to have run a sub four minute mile.

The first 196 pages of this book relate entirely to the original 1955 edition. We are taken step by step through Bannister's running career just about from the moment he arrived at Oxford as a medical student to just beyond his historic running triumph.

Although I found the book very readable, it is a simple story of an honest to goodness amateur runner who tried his best, had the help of some good people along the way and who never tried to convince us that he was anything other than what he is.

One interesting aspect of the story is the way that four minutes was seen as a massive barrier by the world's best runners: Bannister included. Still, according to the table at the end of the book, Bannister is one of only 19 mile world record holders in the last 50 years, all sub four minutes of course.

We could contrast Bannister's book with the likes of other sporting autobiographies I have read and we would find that Roy Keane talks about football but then interlaces it with hard drinking and fighting. David O'Leary talks about football at Leeds but interlaces it with a trial for grievous bodily harm involving some of the players under his influence.

Bannister does not dwell on anything political, violent or sleazy in any way. We are treated to an athlete from a bygone age where he essentially admits himself that make do and mend was the order of the day.

We are treated to a littany of great runners but you have to be either an historian or a lot older than me to appreciate their contribution to athletics: I had never heard of the likes of John Landy before nor J Barthel, R McMillen and I Eriksson let alone DC Law retired having lost a shoe!

Chris Brasher I have heard of and Chris Chattaway too but that was about it. Chris Brasher became a sports journalist and although i didn't especially care for his style, one thing he did say appealed to me. Brasher presented some sort of on screen essay on the telly one day and was discussing the need for nicknames being given to certain runners. He lit on Miruts Yifter the 10,000 metre runner who was known as Yifter the Shifter and wondered what would have happened had he been called Yagbag ... I liked that!

There is a lot of detail in this book: names, places, meetings, races, tactics. It's a simple story that involves the Iffley Road Track in Oxford that I pass by regularly on my way to buy eggs at a knock down price from a deli nearby. There's a sign above the fence announcing Bannister's momentous achievement.

As a post script Bannister has added a section to the book concerning what happened after his achievement. It's more of an essay on modern athletics, actually and this essay really is well worth a read.

Remembering that Bannister is an educated and intelligent man who has given much to athletics, his review essay contains a lot of simple philosophy and he pays credit to the unsung masses:
I have made some criticisms, but I do recognise that we have in this country a source of dedicated and enthusiastic unpaid supporters. We have a long tradition in our education system, and in sports clubs we have a secure framework on which to build.

Bannister's comments come at a time when the 2004 Athens Olympic games are about to start and at a time that the UK's swimming coach is railing against the sporting facilities that we have in the UK. Others say that we could being back somewhere between zero and six gold medals from Athens.

Make do and mend is still with us, 50 years on!

Speaking of the Olympic movement, Bannister tells us that

The final systematic movement towards organised sport was led ... by de Coubertin, who came to England to study sport in British public schools. He decided to revive the ancient Olympic Games ...

Read what Bannister has to say about sport, drugs and money, too. A reasonable essay to round off a reasonable book.

Duncan Williamson
1 August 2004