Our concept of a family holiday was going to a guest house in the Lake district or Wales, where walking was part of the holiday.

I raced supremely well. I felt I was as well fitted to do it as I had ever been, and as perhaps I might ever be. I went climbing three weeks before, because I was feeling fed up with running.

I was involved in music, acting, and some running, but my firm wish was to become a doctor. That was the formative age when I had decided on the pattern of my career.

If a man coaches himself, then he has only himself to blame when he is beaten.

I couldn't touch my toes with straight legs, but I could break 4 minutes for the mile.

My athleticism was really the core to social acceptance, because in those days the overwhelming number of students came from more of a public school background than I did.

I couldn't disappoint people. I did not want to fail and exhaust myself, because I was the kind of runner who trained so little that I couldn't race again within another 10 days.