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The First Four Minutes [Special Edition] (Paperback)

by Sir Roger Bannister (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: The History Press Ltd; 50Anniversary Ed edition (24 Feb 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0750935308
  • ISBN-13: 978-0750935302
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 197,112 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #37 in  Books > Biography > Sport > Athletics

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Product Description

Product Description

On 6 May 1954 Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes, establishing himself as one of the most famous sportsmen in history. Bannister has written a substantial new introduction for this 50th anniversary edition of The First Four Minutes, reflecting on his experiences in 1954, his life since then and the evolution of mile running over the last five decades. The First Four Minutes, first published in 1955, covers not only the great race but also those preceding it (including the 1952 Helsinki Olympics) and the ones that followed, where Bannister triumphantly proved that his record time was more than just a one-off. He retired from competition in 1955 and went on to pursue a distinguished career as a neurologist. He was Chairman of the first executive Sports Council from 1971 to 1974. During his years in office the organisation developedthe Sport for All programme and the first effective drugs test for anabolic steroids, a test still used today. He was Master of Pembroke College, Oxford for eight years and still lives in the city. He is chairman of the St Mary's Hospital Medical School Development Trust.


About the Author

After becoming the first man to run a sub-four-minute-mile Roger Bannister retired from competition and went on to pursue a distinguished career as a neurologist, chairman of the Sports Council and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. He continued to run until 1975 when a car accident injured his ankle. He was knighted the same year. He lives in Oxford.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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The First Four Minutes
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars More than just running, 4 May 2004
The First Four Minutes chronicles Roger Bannister's international track running career including the titular first sub four-minute mile ever run. Although written as a sporting autobiography the book contains much insight into Bannister's personal development throughout his career and the important role sport played in it. Bannister acknowledges in a new introduction that “... [his] hope was that the whole experience might help others to fill the gap between school and work”, and his thoughts on the psychology of competition deserve that effect. The text is elegant and clear, and the narrative remarkably gripping given that the outcome of his races is part of athletics' folklore. 50 years after it was written this book is a pleasure to read.

I stumbled onto The First Four Minutes completely by chance, I have no particular interest in track athletics nor in 50-year-old world records; it was a happy accident that this book caught my attention. A brief glance at the text, and the photographs depicting important events from the book, convinced me that an impulse buy was in order.

The book tells of Roger Bannister's athletics career in, mostly, chronological order; starting with his childhood love of running and finishing with his retirement from international competition after the Empire Games in 1954. Along the way Bannister describes how his running prowess earns peer respect at school, and later helps him to find his feet as a young freshman at university in Oxford in the 1940s.

The book's charm lies in Bannister's ability to infuse the text with the pleasure he takes in running. It is clear that Bannister loved to run not only for the satisfaction inherent in the sport but also for the opportunities running offered him and the balance it gave to his academic and professional life. For Bannister, the challenge of combining international athletics with his academic work as a medical student increased his enjoyment of sport rather than limiting the time he could dedicate to training; indeed he laments the increasingly mechanistic and life-consuming approach to running favoured by some of his competitors. Bannister takes his cue from the ancient Greeks in the philosophy that well-being demands both a healthy mind and a healthy body. Bannister was also known for the fact that he was self-coached and through the book he promotes mental self-sufficiency as an important part of the value of sport.

In some ways Bannister seems keen to promote himself as the kind of 'gentleman athlete' depicted in Chariots of Fire preferring not to train too much or to employ a coach. He seems to overplay an air of laissez-faire in his attitude running which is perhaps a weakness of the book.

The First Four Minutes is a pleasure to read. Bannister's prose is conversational and informative, combining elegant descriptive language and an exciting narrative. The races are particularly enthralling; it was difficult to read some of the passages fast enough, and was always a surprise to look back and realise how many pages had passed by in a flash. The updated sections in the new edition include a new introduction, an epilogue about Bannister's life after international running and discussing issues in modern sport and several letters written by Bannister in the few years following his world-record. These are well worth reading but the main attraction of the book must be the original text.

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