Healing hands and fleet of foot, Roger Bannister did it all
THE sad news that Sir Roger bannister has died is a great loss to the world of athletics. What he achieved was historic. A man running a mile in less than four minutes made headlines around the world. What a truly wonderful gentleman.
DAVID HARVEY, Chippenham, Wilts. I OWE my life to Sir Roger bannister. In 1958, I contracted malaria and dysentery while I was a young airman at RAF Khormaksar in Aden. I lost 4st in just a week and was admitted to the british Medical Hospital in Steamer Point, with a temperature of 106f. The doctor who treated me was Captain Roger bannister of the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), who used his professional skills to cure me of these terrible illnesses, which, under other conditions, could have proved fatal. On returning to RAF St Athan in Wales, I bumped into a colleague who was shocked to see me. He had been asked to pack up my kit, as it was thought I would die. I salute Sir Roger, who remains in my thoughts after 60 years.
PHILLIP E. SILLICK, Swansea. DR ROGER bANNISTER was my neurology tutor at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, between 1967 and 1970. We used to gather in the stairwell of the hospital, awaiting his arrival for ward rounds. He would then bound up the stairs to the third floor, breathlessly pursued by even the fittest members of our football and rugby teams. He often gave open lunchtime lectures, and his expositions of the complexities of neuropathology were delivered with clarity, precision and grace. These lectures were extremely popular, with latecomers sitting on the stairs between seats or standing at the back. Deservedly popular with staff and students, he was also adored by his patients, many of whom extolled his virtues to students such as me. A much-loved clinician and teacher, Sir Roger will not be forgotten. CAROLINE MOZELLE SHREEVE,
Whitland, Carmarthenshire. IT’S astonishing to think that Roger bannister had to turn down the offer of a bouquet of flowers from a woman fan in case it affected his amateur status as an athlete.
C. D. ALLAN, Alsager, Cheshire.