Roger Bannister, First Runner To Break 4-Minute Mile, Dies At 88
On May 6, 1954, Britain’s Roger Bannister hits the tape to become the first person to break the 4-minute mile in Oxford, England. His family said Sir Roger Bannister died peacefully in Oxford on March 3 at age 88.
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In 1954, at the age of 25, Roger Bannister made headlines around the world as the first person to run a mile under 4 minutes.
Bannister’s 3:59:4 mile unlocked the door to what was possible in track — both physically and psychologically.
It had long been thought that a sub 4-minute mile was far from achievable and perhaps deadly for those who tried.
Sir Roger Bannister was a great British sporting icon whose achievements were an inspiration to us all. He will be greatly missed.
— Theresa May (@theresa_may) March 4, 2018
British Prime Minister Theresa May led the tributes to the former athlete, who later became one of Europe’s leading neurologists and was made a knight.
“Sir Roger Bannister was a great British sporting icon whose achievements were an inspiration to us all. He will be greatly missed,” she said on Twitter.
At the same time Bannister was training on the track, he was going to school to become a doctor. At the end of 1954, he retired from sports to pursue his medical career.
Long after his record had been broken, Bannister said he considered his contributions to neurology more satisfying.
Former Associated Press writer Marcus Eliason, shared his memories of interviewing Bannister to mark the 30th anniversary of his historic track achievement.
“In 1984, while stationed in London for The Associated Press, I phoned Roger Bannister to request an interview for the 30th anniversary of his becoming the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes. His initial response was: “Is there still any interest in this?”
“One has only to look at the worldwide reaction to his death at 88 to grasp what an understatement that was. And the interview remains one of the most enjoyable I ever had.”
Bannister also accomplished another first in 1954: He was picked by Sports Illustrated to be the magazine’s first Sportsman of the Year.
As long as it took to break the 4-minute barrier, Bannister’s record lasted only 46 days. Australian John Landy beat it by running a 3:57:9 mile.
Landy and American miler Wes Santee had been threatening to be the first to break the 4-minute mark.
“As it became clear that somebody was going to do it, I felt that I would prefer it to be me,” Bannister said in an AP interview.
The current record for the mile is 3:43:13. It has been held since 1999 by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj. He is the 13th record holder.
Bannister died Saturday in Oxford, where he lived in a modest home just minutes from the track where he made history.
'Protectionism Harms,' Says Former Ex-Commerce Secretary On Steel Tariff Decision
Steel tariffs aren’t a new idea. Former President George W. Bush briefly enacted steel tariffs. NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez about the consequences of steel and aluminum tariffs.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Members of President Trump’s administration have been out and about this weekend, promoting the president’s proposal to impose steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. There’s already been considerable pushback from members of their own party, who say that this proposal, which he announced suddenly last week, could trigger a trade war that will hurt American consumers. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro defended the president’s proposal this morning on “Fox News Sunday.”
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “FOX NEWS SUNDAY”)
PETER NAVARRO: First of all, the reason why the president is doing this is because if he doesn’t do this, we will lose our aluminum and steel – aluminum industry very quickly and our steel industry very quickly thereafter.
MARTIN: This weekend, we’ve been calling people with different perspectives on this issue. In a few minutes, we’ll hear from someone whose company relies on American steel. But first, somebody who was at the table the last time steel tariffs were in play, Carlos Gutierrez. He was confirmed as President Bush’s commerce secretary after steel tariffs were rolled back in 2002. Carlos Gutierrez was kind enough to come by our studios in Washington, D.C. Mr. Secretary, good to have you on again.
CARLOS GUTIERREZ: Thank you. Always a pleasure. Thank you.
MARTIN: So first of all, can I just ask your initial thoughts about President Trump’s proposal?
GUTIERREZ: I think it’s very unfortunate. It is a – the opening salvo to what could be a trade war. We’re talking about tariffs for all steel and all aluminum imports from everywhere in the world. And the justification for that is a national security mechanism that allows the president to claim that these imports are hurting national security. It’s hard to do that when you realize that the Department of Defense only consumes about 3 percent of what we produce and less if you take into account imports. Our biggest exporter or our biggest source of aluminum and steel happens to be Canada, who’s an ally. So it’s not as if though there is an obvious national security circumstance here, and that just makes the probability of retaliation a lot greater.
MARTIN: Well, let’s talk about a couple of those things that you mentioned. First of all, President Trump, as candidate Trump, has been talking about this for some time now, even before he was a candidate actually. So it’s a promise that he has been making, and he has seemed to imply that, you know, China is the source of this. But as you just pointed out, you know, the U.S. imports – what? – maybe 2 percent of its total imports from China.
GUTIERREZ: Oh, yeah, exactly.
MARTIN: So what would be the point, given that the majority of the imports come from – what? – like, Brazil, Canada, Germany?
GUTIERREZ: Exactly. It really is designed to protect U.S. steel and U.S. aluminum. That’s the theory. What we have learned over the years is that protectionism doesn’t protect. Protectionism actually harms. And this is so much bigger than steel and aluminum because what we’re doing is challenging the world trade system that we played an important part in bringing together. So that’s a problem.
MARTIN: Well, the president seems to agree with that. I mean, he said – he tweeted on Friday morning, for example. The president tweeted that, quote, “trade wars are good and easy to win.” What is your response to that?
GUTIERREZ: I would say trade wars are bad. No one wins. And they’re very difficult to stop. That’s what history has shown us. If we go back to the – probably one of the biggest economic mistakes we made in the 20th century was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff – ironically, also done by a Republican president. And the rationale was if we raise tariffs 25 percent, we will protect our industry. We will protect our jobs. And everything will be fine. What we didn’t expect is that everyone else around the world raised tariffs 25 percent, and the whole global economy went into a recession – actually a depression. So this is not good.
MARTIN: You know, on the other hand, this country has lost thousands of jobs in the steel industry. President Trump has been saying for years that something needs to be done here. If this is a bad idea, what’s the better idea to address that problem?
GUTIERREZ: Well, if there are actors dumping steel into our market or using their excess capacity to be able to do that, then we should be surgical about how we target as opposed to a blanket tariff. And the justification that it’s national security – we can use that justification for a lot of things. The world changes. The world moves on. Let’s remember that, one time, we had an agriculture economy. Yes, steel is important, but steel regrettably is not as important today as it once was. And when someone promises that we’re going to go back to a scenario that existed in the 1980s, I would be a little bit suspicious of that.
MARTIN: That’s former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. He was kind of to speak to us from our studios in Washington, D.C. Mr. Secretary, thank you.
GUTIERREZ: Thank you very much, Michel.
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Seun Kuti Furthers His Father's Message On 'Black Times'
The son of Afrobeat icon Fela Kuti, Seun Kuti inherited his father’s band and his preference for political songwriting with infectious grooves.
Alexis Maryon /Courtesy of the artist
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Seun Kuti was just 14 when he became the lead singer of Egypt 80 — the Nigerian band that had carried the infectious groove of Afrobeat worldwide under the direction of Seun’s father, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The musician says keeping the band together after Fela’s death in 1997 was a way of sustaining his message — which often included railing against government corruption and social injustice.
“The way motherland people all over the world are viewed, the way we are led, is based on an elitist, anti-black narrative,” Kuti says. “So the message of Afrobeat music is the counter of that narrative: the pro-black, pro-people, pro-motherland narrative from our own perspective.”
Black Times, Seun Kuti’s latest album with Egypt 80, continues in that vein, examining Africa’s relationship with imperialism and nation-building — and features a legend from his father’s generation, Carlos Santana, on the title track. Kuti spoke with NPR’s Renee Montagne about the making of Black Times; hear more of their conversation at the audio link.
