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

My concentration was really on getting to university and becoming a doctor. My parents let me know that school marks were important. Achievement was something which came by hard work.

My introduction to track racing was through the background of cross country running, which is not a sport perhaps as popular in America as it is in England.

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

It seems quite impossible to walk in America.

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 trained for less than three-quarters of an hour, maybe five days a week - I didn't have time to do more. But it was all about quality, not quantity - so I didn't waste time jogging, ever.