Without the concentration of the mind and the will, performance would not result.

When I was about to break a world record and become well known, my mother used to say that for her the important thing was for me to become a doctor - a career which had not been possible in her generation and in her society. Sport was something to be set aside.

It's amazing that more people have climbed Mount Everest than have broken the 4-minute mile.

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.

It seems quite impossible to walk in America.

Life was very simple. My parents had come from the North of England, which is a fairly rugged, bleak, hard-working part of England, and so there was not the expectation of luxury.

No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamt existed.