A truly great figure. The book that chronicles his mile achievement (along with Santee and Landy), the Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb, is a fantastic read.

A sad day. He was a great runner and a good person by all accounts. He will be missed

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My foray into time trialling at the age of 60
https://sixtyplustimetrialling.wordpress.com/

Back in his day, cinder tracks were state of the art.

To some degree, the first sub 4 was more or less staged with pacers....but then when Bannister and Landy both ran sub 4 at the Empire Games in 1954 that was awesome. Often before getting ready for a running race, this is the video I would watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP_NzZP_LK0

It must have been cool living in my dad's generation in 53/54....Everest Summit + 4 Min Mile in subsequent years.

One year, on a biz trip to England after getting all done, instead of staying at a Heathrow Airport Hotel, I stayed at an inn on Iffly Rd, so I could go run mile repeats at the track where Bannister broke the 4 min. It was only a 45 min drive and 45 lbs fare from Oxford. Combined, it was cheaper than staying at Heathrow and the experience of a lifetime:

Thanks for sharing...

RIP Sir Roger. The book he wrote "The First 4 Minutes" is one of the best books on endurance sports I've read. Highly recommended. When I'm doing my trail run this week I'll remember Bannister and how he rhapsodized in his book about his XC runs which were a joyful release from his med studies and the pursuit of the sub 4.

I was just thinking of this 4 minute thing as I heated some food in the microwave....for 4 minutes.

It is interesting how some block of 4 minutes can last an eternity, whereas other blocks evaporate with no effort. Not all blocks of time are created equal....some go down in history....other blocks of 239 seconds, we just give away without thinking!!!