It had always been a British preoccupation to hold this mile record.

I came from such a simple origin, without any great privilege, and I would say I also wanted to make a mark. It wasn't until I was about 15 that I appeared in a race.

Doctors and scientists said breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead

We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves

It is the brain, not the heart or lungs, that is the critical organ.

I was playing rugby and the other games English school children do, and there was an event which was planned in which races were run, and I simply just won these by a considerable margin

The mile has all the elements of a drama.