Roger Bannister

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. ↗

— Roger Bannister

#age #become #career #decided #doctor

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

— Roger Bannister

#considerable #english #english school #event #games

I've always been very impatient. At age 10 I frankly found life boring, and I can remember age 9 having the awful thought, as it seems now looking back on it, A war! That should liven things up a bit! ↗

— Roger Bannister

#always #awful #back #been #bit

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

— Roger Bannister

#been #british #had #hold #mile

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. ↗

— Roger Bannister

#come #england #expectation #fairly #had

May is a very early time in the year and the weather is usually bad. You cannot run a fast mile race if there is a strong wind, because it makes your running uneven. ↗

— Roger Bannister

#because #cannot #early #fast #makes

Mothers, unless they were very poor, didn't work. Both of my parents had to leave education. My mother had to work in a cotton mill until 18 or 19, when she took some training in domestic science. ↗

— Roger Bannister

#cotton #domestic #education #had #leave

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. ↗

— Roger Bannister

#background #because #came #core #days

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. ↗

— Roger Bannister

#becoming #came #concentration #doctor #getting

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. ↗

— Roger Bannister

#about #actually #century #family #great