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.

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

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.

It seems quite impossible to walk in America.

My family actually lived in the same village for about 400 years. They had great stability until the last century. People lived and intermarried in small villages.

Every time I ran the mile I was aware of my own weakness, there was some opponent who could give me a hell of a fight, so I never went into a race with a sense of invincibility. I always had that feeling of fragility and nerves which made me run faster.

The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.