The golden era of the amateur sportsman

Roger Bannister was one of the heroes of a glorious period for Britain – which is now, sadly, long gone

There never truly was an Eden in the world of sport, a place where innocence prevailed and darkness was banished. The serpent has always been present, a reminder of human frailty. But if there ever was a British demi-eden it was glimpsed after the war, when a group of remarkable men achieved things that made them immortal.

They couldn’t wish away the austerity of those grim post-war years with a wand, but their feats brought them fame (not celebrity, its bastard cousin) and gave joy to others.

One of those men was Roger Bannister, a postgraduate medical student at Oxford University, who on May 6 1954 became the first person to run a mile race in under four minutes: 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds, to be exact. On Saturday Sir Roger Bannister, CH, left us, at the age of 88, and the last link with the most lustrous era of British sport was snapped.

Looking back at those golden days, when athletes really were amateurs who ran and jumped for fun, to take their minds off more serious matters, it is natural to feel wistful – and a bit envious. Nowadays sporting bodies hurl bucket-loads of dosh at athletes who, despite months of arduous training, sometimes find it difficult to stay upright in their skates. Oh for another CB Fry, who equalled the world record for the long jump, also at Iffley Road, between puffs on a cigar.

Fry, a sportsman of unmatched virtuosity, was the supreme amateur. He captained England at cricket, represented England at football, and was a decent enough rugger-bugger to have played for the Barbarians. A friend of Prince Ranjitsinhji, the great batsman, who played with him at Sussex, Fry helped to represent India at the League of Nations, and famously turned down the throne of Albania because “it seemed a damn bore”.

Two other great amateurs, Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams, gold medallists at the Paris Olympics in 1924, were celebrated in that entertaining film, Chariots of Fire. Bannister also “medalled”, as people did not say in those more literate, less sentimental times, taking gold in the Commonwealth Games of 1954. Can you imagine how Clare Balding, mwah mwah, might have marked the occasion? You can certainly imagine how Bannister would have resisted any attempts at cheer-leading.

His golden mile (and Abrahams, by chance, was in Oxford to catch it) capped an extraordinary run of success by British sportsmen. In 1953, Coronation year, when Edmund Hillary led his men to the peak of Everest, Gordon Richards finally won the Derby at the age of 49, Stanley Matthews eventually became an FA Cup winner with Blackpool at 38, and Leonard Hutton, the first professional captain of England, was at the helm as our cricketers beat Australia for the first time since 1932-3.

Richards had been knighted days before the greatest of his many great days. Matthews and Hutton were dubbed in time, along with Hillary. How proud they stand, those fabled men, in our sporting life. Proud, and undiminished. With not a urine sample in sight.

Acting as pacemakers for Bannister on that May day were two other students, Chris Chataway and, representing Cambridge, Chris Brasher. Bannister became a leading neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. Chataway, who was also knighted, served in Edward Heath’s government in the Seventies. Brasher, appointed CBE, founded the London Marathon. There was an awful lot of talent on that track.

The world has changed; in many ways for the better. But pioneers like Bannister will always be cloaked in glory, particularly when they succeed with modesty and a sense of proportion. There was no blubbing in victory, and certainly none in defeat. No boasting, no selfies with fans, no asinine questions about “how it feels”.

Bannister did one great thing, for which he took the world’s salute, and lived a life worth living. It’s the end of a glorious chapter in our island story.

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